Triumphant . . . A brave writer whose books open up fundamental questions about life and art - Telegraph
Luminously wise and deeply compassionate . . . A fierce and essential work - HELEN MACDONALD, author of H IS FOR HAWK
Wonderfully freewheeling . . . Constantly surprising . . . Inspired - Guardian
The Lonely City is a stunning homage to how extreme loneliness can make us more hospitable to the strangeness of others – to the risks and innovations of art and artists. Laing has written a classic that will be cherished for years to come - DEBORAH LEVY, author of SWIMMING HOME
A new kind of literature . . . Endlessly, compulsively fascinating - New Statesman
Unusually brave . . . Sublime - The Times
Laing cuts close to the bone of a universal yet often unrelatable state - Financial Times
A gifted critic and biographer . . . a fascinating, eerie piece of writing - Sunday Times
One of the finest writers of the new non-fiction . . . Compelling and original - Harpers Bazaar
Exhilarating . . . beautifully integrated, original, compassionate - Independent
From the Author
Olivia Laing is a writer and critic. Her first book, To the River (2011) is the story of a midsummer journey down the river Virginia Woolf drowned in. It was a book of the year in the Evening Standard, Independent and Financial Times and was shortlisted for the 2012 Ondaatje Prize and the Dolman Travel Book of the Year. Her second, The Trip to Echo Spring (2013), explores the liquid links between writers and alcohol. Hilary Mantel described it as 'one of the best books I've read on the creative uses of adversity'. It was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Prize and the Gordon Burn Prize, and was a book of the year in the New York Times, Time, Observer, Times, Economist and Statesman. Her new book, The Lonely City (2016), is an investigation into loneliness by way of art, including Andy Warhol, Edward Hopper and David Wojnarowicz. Peter Carey described it as "continually unexpected, stimulating and beautifully structured." Laing has been the deputy books editor of the Observer, and writes for The Guardian, New York Times, Frieze and New Statesman among other publications. She is a MacDowell and Yaddo Fellow, was 2014 Eccles Writer in Residence at the British Library.and has received grants from the Arts Council and the Authors’ Foundation. She lives in Cambridge, England.
From the Inside Flap
When Olivia Laing moved to New York City in her mid-thirties, she found herself inhabiting loneliness on a daily basis. Increasingly fascinated by this most shameful of experiences, she began to explore the lonely city by way of art. Moving fluidly between the works and lives of some of the city's most compelling artists, Laing conducts an electric, dazzling investigation into what it means to be alone, illuminating not only the causes of loneliness but also how it might be resisted and redeemed.
From the Back Cover
A dazzling investigation into loneliness, art and the modern city - 'A fierce and essential work' Helen Macdonald
About the Author
Olivia Laing is the author of four acclaimed works of non-fiction, To the River (2011), The Trip to Echo Spring (2013), The Lonely City (2016) and Everybody (2021). Her first novel, Crudo, was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller and won the 2019 James Tait Memorial Prize. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and in 2018 was awarded a Windham-Campbell Prize for non-fiction. Her work has been translated into 19 languages.
Laing writes on art and culture for many publications, including the Guardian, Financial Times and New York Times. Her collected writing on art, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency, was published in 2020. She lives in Suffolk.
Instagram: @olivialanguage | olivialaing.com
