Funny Weather - Art in an Emergency

'A brave writer whose books open up fundamental questions about life and art' - Telegraph

In this inspiring collection of essays, acclaimed writer and critic Olivia Laing makes a vivid and politically-engaged case for the importance of art - especially in the turbulent weather of the twenty-first century.

We are often told art can't change anything. In Funny Weather, Laing argues that it can. It changes how we see the world, it exposes inequality, and it offers fertile new ways of living.

Across a diverse selection of essays, Laing profiles Jean-Michel Basquiat and Georgia O'Keeffe, interviews Hilary Mantel and Ali Smith, writes love letters to David Bowie and Freddie Mercury, and explores loneliness and technology, women and alcohol, sex and the body.

Written with originality and compassion, Funny Weather is a celebration of art as a force of resistance and repair - and as an antidote to a frightening political moment.

About the author

Olivia Laing is a widely acclaimed writer and critic. She’s the author of several books, including The Lonely City, Everybody and Funny Weather. Her first novel, Crudo, was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller and won the 2019 James Tait Memorial Prize. Her work has been translated into twenty-one languages and in 2018 she was awarded a Windham-Campbell Prize for non-fiction.

Summary

Olivia Laing, prize-winning, bestselling author of The Lonely City and Crudo, returns with a career-spanning collection of essays on the power of art in times of crisis.

Additional text

Laing’s arts writing is sharp-minded, and her manner is generous toward both subject and reader

Report

A brave writer whose books open up fundamental questions about life and art Telegraph

Product details

• Authors: Olivia Laing, Laing Olivia
• Publisher: Picador Uk
• Languages: English
• Age Recommendation: from age 18
• Product format: Paperback
• Released: 31.05.2021
• EAN: 9781529027655
• ISBN: 978-1-5290-2765-5
• No. of pages: 368
• Dimensions: 130 mm x 196 mm x 25 mm
• Subjects: Fiction > Narrative literature > Essays, feuilletons, literary criticism, interviews; Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Art; POLITICAL SCIENCE / Political Freedom, Cultural Studies, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Human Rights, The arts: general issues, ART / Individual Artists / Essays, SELF-HELP / Creativity, Political activism, MUSIC / Essays, History of Art, Gay & Lesbian studies, Social attitudes, Sex and sexuality, social aspects, Relating to LGBTQ+ people, Literature: history and criticism, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / LGBTQ+, Society and Social Sciences, Coping with loneliness / solitude