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Funny Weather

Art in an Emergency
By Olivia Laing
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Funny Weather by Olivia Laing explores the intersection of art and politics, examining how art can offer solace and inspire change in turbulent times. Through essays on a range of artists and writers, Laing delves into the creative process and the impact of art on society. It's a heartfelt meditation on the power of creativity to affect personal and collective transformation.
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Format: Paperback / softback
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

You might enjoy this book if you appreciate insightful essays that explore the intersection of art and society. Olivia Laing delves into how artists respond to and shape tumultuous times, offering a rich collection of reflections that encourage you to view the world through a more creative and empathetic lens.

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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.

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.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description
In this remarkable, inspiring collection of essays, acclaimed writer and critic Olivia Laing makes a brilliant case for why art matters, especially in the turbulent political weather of the twenty first century. Funny Weather brings together a career's worth of Laing's writing about art and culture, examining its role in our political and emotional lives. She profiles Jean-Michel Basquiat and Georgia O'Keefe, 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. With characteristic originality and compassion, she celebrates art as a force of resistance and repair, an antidote to a frightening political time. We're often told art can't change anything. Laing argues that it can. It changes how we see the world. It makes plain inequalities and it offers fertile new ways of living.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Olivia Laing's Funny Weather is lauded for its intelligent and empathetic exploration of art and culture. Reviewers praise Laing's ability to connect deeply with her subjects, offering insights into artists' lives with a blend of passion and curiosity. Described as both soothing and galvanising, the collection is timely, shedding light on the emotional impact of modern challenges. The writing is celebrated for its warmth and thoughtfulness, simulating a rich conversation with an insightful guide who brings art to life in the reader's mind.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781529027655

Publisher: Pan Macmillan

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 29 April 2021

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: Picador

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education, Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 22.0mm

Width: 130.0mm

Height: 197.0mm

Weight: 252g

Pages: 368

Collections

Arts & Culture Biography & Memoir Education & Reference LGBTQ+ Non-Fiction Olivia Laing Politics & Current Affairs

About the Author

Olivia Laing is the author of three acclaimed works of non-fiction. To the River (2011) was shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize and the Dolman Travel Book of the Year. The Trip to Echo Spring (2013) was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Prize and the Gordon Burn Prize. The Lonely City (2015) won the Eccles British Library Writer's Award, was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism and has been translated into fifteen languages. Her first novel, Crudo, was published in 2018 to great critical acclaim. It was a Sunday Times bestseller and was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and the Goldsmiths Prize. In 2018 she was awarded a Windham-Campbell Prize for non-fiction.

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