Culture The photo that shaped me: Olivia Laing on Annie Leibovitz’s “The Girls” I’ve had a copy of this photo of Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon on my desk for years. When I got married, I dug it out. By Olivia Laing
Music & Theatre The night that changed my life: Olivia Laing on the New York cabaret that helped her discover her queer identity By Olivia Laing
Books Deborah Levy’s memoir The Cost of Living shows freedom for a female writer isn’t easy – but it is possible By Olivia Laing
Conflict Is Not Abuse: why do we have a tendency to overstate harm? Sarah Schulman's book concludes that learning from conflict can be done, though this may mean redefining safe spaces. By Olivia Laing
From zombie parades to Stranger Things: why is our culture obsessed with monsters? “A monster is a fear assuming a form” is a pretty neat definition with which to embark on a… By Olivia Laing
Mudlarkers, cocklers, and artists: discover the Thames Estuary with Rachel Lichtenstein Estuary: Out from London to the Sea takes the reader on a journey through a space that can be lethal… By Olivia Laing
Everyone Is Watching asks us to question who really makes a city Megan Bradbury's novel of derelict New York of the 1970s was generative even as it was falling apart, inspiring artists… By Olivia Laing
A Martian up a ladder throwing paint at a canvas Bowie never stopped collaborating, never stopped travelling between media, walking through walls with a light-footedness that few have ever… By Olivia Laing
I Love Dick is an assault on power – especially the oblivious kind At the core of Chris Kraus' I Love Dick is the question: what does it mean to be an intelligent and ambitious… By Olivia Laing
On the threshold: The Early Stories by Truman Capote A new collection offers an intriguing glimpse of Capote as a boy: precocious, provocative, spirited and strange, a “pocket Merlin” spinning tall tales. By Olivia Laing
Edmund de Waal’s The White Road follows the journey of creativity White is a dangerous colour – and de Waal's journey shows the human cost of porcelain. By Olivia Laing