Debora is a fan of Olivia Laing, and is going along to see them at WORD Christchurch.
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The Silver Book: Art & Desire in Italy: Olivia Laing (UK) Tuesday 3 September 6pm to 7pm at The Piano
In this special digital event, they speak to Kiran Dass live from their home in Suffolk.
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We asked Debora about Olivia Laing:
I see Olivia Laing has rocked your reading world in 2026 and you’ve read 6 of their books! What made you hop on board the Olivia Laing train?
"I’ve had many of their books in my TBR list for ages, so when their latest book was about to come out, I started to work on that list. Everybody – A Book About Freedom was my first. It is a nonfiction book that draws on the work of the psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich and his search for freedom, weaving his life and work through the lives of different figures in the 20th century, exposing their struggles, fight and take on freedom. I absolutely adore this book because it contracts and expands on different concepts of freedom from the individual to the collective body, from politics, historical movements to mental health and sexuality making it obvious the personal body can’t exist in isolation."
The Silver Book, which is the focus of their talk at WORD Christchurch, is a fiction story about an artist who worked with Pier Paolo Pasolini, the infamous Italian film director and an essential cultural pilar of the 20th century, whose film “Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom” had a profound impact in me as a teenager. I loved how Olivia Laing depicted the build-up of the making of that film in a way it’s impossible not to see history repeating itself today.
What are you looking forward to hearing from Olivia at WORD?
"I’m looking forward to hearing about their research/writing process, which they hint about in all their books, and it fascinates me, I would love to know more about how they find and select the pieces of information that we end up reading about. In all their books they weave a very delicate tapestry of personal memory with historical and biographical facts, resulting, to me, in a mesmerising web of details enveloping the theme of the book."
Debora's comments on Olivia's books
"... This one, stretches out to Pier Paolo Pasolini and the making of Salò (the violence of this film got me traumatised as a teenager). However, the novel recovers the urgency to expose and dismantle fascist ideas and the role art has in this process."
"Out of all Olivia Laing's books I've read so far, this is my favourite. I love how they manage to connect so many dots apparently unrelated, and weave a fabric of facts mixed with personal stories and biographical information. Could not recommend more."
"Another Laing's book that I loved, this one intertwines their personal story of restoring a garden, with Milton's "Paradise Lost', climate change, and the history of the garden itself. The book reflects on land ownership, entitlement and conservation processes of both physical spaces and memory. Beautiful, poetic and relevant to anyone interested in personal and collective memory. You might want to do some gardening after reading it."
"Yep, you read it right, Olivia Laing. Again! This time they go deep into the arts with a collection of essays written published through many years. Again, Laing's ability to connect dots, that only curiosity driven researchers can, is outstanding. Here, we come across artists and their processes, many political positions and how we can look at art in search for answers that go beyond the surface. Gorgeous! '"
WORD Christchurch Festival 2026
- More librarian picks of WORD 2026
- Get a copy of the WORD programme at libraries or check it out online.
- Visit our WORD Christchurch 2026 page
- WORD Christchurch's website
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