Olivia Laing

Olivia Laing was born in Great Britain in 1977. The writer has published sis non-fiction books, two of which have also been translated into German, and two of which are forthcoming. For her debut »To the River« (2011), the author walked from the source to the mouth of the River Ouse, where Virginia Woolf drowned in 1941. DLF praised the »moving, lucid prose in which the element of water is always present«. »The Lonely City« (2016) explores the experience of loneliness that the author found herself confronted with in her mid-30s in New York City – and found herself in the best of company, as it were, as she notes when looking at the life and work of Edward Hopper, Andy Warhol, and David Wojnarowicz: »an almost tender book – a tribute to all outsiders in art, who are honored and made visible by an equally lonely person«, according to SWR Kultur. Olivia Laing published her first novel »Crudo« in 2018. The real-time account of the turbulent summer of Brexit negotiations in 2017 was a »Sunday Times« top ten bestseller and was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Olivia Laing writes about art and culture for the »Guardian«, »the Financial Times«, and the »New York Times«, among others, and has written catalog essays for a number of contemporary artists, including Andy Warhol, Agnes Martin, Derek Jarman, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Chantal Joffe. In 2021, she published »Everybody«, an investigation into bodily oppression and the struggle for freedom. Her most recent book, »The Garden Against Time« (2024), is dedicated to gardening and the dream of paradise on earth. It was a Sunday Times number one bestseller. Olivia Laing is a member of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize in the non-fiction category in 2018. Her books have been translated into 21 languages.

She is non-binary.

Olivia Laing lives in Suffolk.

Status: May 2024

To the River: A Journey Beneath the Surface
Canongate
Edinburgh, 2011

The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone
Canongate
Edinburg, 2016

Crudo
Picador
London, 2018

Everybody: A Book About Freedom
Picador
London, 2021

The Garden Against Time
Picador
London, 2024