Olivia Laing

Olivia Laing is a highly acclaimed British cultural critic, novelist, and writer, best known for her works such as "Crudo," "The Lonely City," "The Trip to Echo Spring," and "To the River." Born and raised in St. Peter, Buckinghamshire in Chalfont, Laing went on to study English at Sussex University. However, she did not complete her studies and became involved in social protests, leading her to live wild in the Sussex countryside.

Before becoming a fiction author, Laing worked as a Deputy Books Editor at The Observer between 2007 and 2009. She also worked as a culture and art critic for several publications, including New Statesman, Frieze, and The Guardian. In addition to her work in print, Laing has written catalog essays for various modern artists such as Andy Warhol, Derek Jarman, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Chantal Joffe.

Laing's debut fiction work, "Crudo," was published in 2018 and quickly gained critical acclaim. The novel, a real-time account of the turbulent summer of 2017, was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller and a New York Times notable book of 2018. It was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize and the Gordon Burn Prize and won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 2019.

In addition to her work as a novelist, Laing is also an accomplished non-fiction writer. Her book "The Lonely City" has been translated into 17 languages and sold over 100,000 copies worldwide. Her collected essays, "Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency," were published in 2020. Laing's writing on art and culture has appeared in numerous publications, including the Guardian, Observer, Financial Times, and Frieze. She has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature since 2018 and was awarded the Windham-Campbell Prize for non-fiction in the same year. Her latest book, "Everybody: A Book About Freedom," was published in 2021. Laing's next book, "The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise," is set to be published in 2024.