Olivia Laing

Freelance

Olivia Laing is a British writer of non-fiction about literature, art and landscape. She is the author of The Trip to Echo Spring: Why Writers Drink (2013) and The Lonely City (2016). She lives in New York.

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Written by Olivia Laing

Painting of a person with closed eyes lying in water and vibrant flowers. The background features blue, green and yellow hues.

essay

Biology

A flowered planet

For all their intricate symbolic force, from the Paleolithic to today’s herbalism, plants are still a deep mystery to us

Olivia Laing

Painting of a woman sitting on a bed in a dimly lit room reading a letter with a suitcase and bags on the floor around her.

essay

Cities

Me, myself and I

Loneliness can be a shameful hunger, a shell, a dangerous landscape of shadowy figures. But it is also a gift

Olivia Laing