Synopsis
'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.
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Reviews
“Like all great critics, Olivia Laing combines formidable intelligence with boundless curiosity and fabulous taste, but she also has a rare quality of intimacy; an ability to connect the reader to a work of art or literature with a directness that lights it up like nothing else. It’s why I read her”James Lasdun
“A warm, thinking, enticing sweep of a book, like spending the afternoon with your brainiest friend”Kate Mosse, author of The Burning Chambers
“Her observations and poetic incisiveness on art, writers and politics are a gift. This is a fascinating, excursive, tonic of a book”Sinead Gleeson, author of Constellations
“The hospitality of world view in Olivia’s writing is a vital force in our disputatious present”Maria Balshaw, director of Tate
