Olivia Laing’s The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone is getting a new audiobook edition with an iconic narrator.
Actor Tilda Swinton will lend her voice to a 10th-anniversary edition of Laing’s book, which chronicles their move to New York City and contains thoughts on artists including Andy Warhol, Henry Darger, and Klaus Nomi. A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, which was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award, “Although art may be generated by loneliness, writes Laing in this illuminating, enriching book, it has a significant ‘capacity to create intimacy.’”
Swinton, the Oscar-winning actress known for her roles in films including Orlando, Michael Clayton, and We Need To Talk About Kevin, is relatively new to audiobook narration. In 2025 she narrated the audiobook edition of Nan Shepherd’s The Living Mountain. A critic for Kirkus wrote of her work, “Tilda Swinton’s rendition of Nan Shepherd's poetic prose mesmerizes. Her tone is exceptionally clear, her pace adds drama, and her style of narrating is immersive.”
On Instagram, Laing revealed that the 10th anniversary of their book will also be marked with “a special limited-edition hardback, with a new afterword by me and the cover I always dreamt of, from David Wojnarowicz’s Rimbaud in New York series. It shows Rimbaud on 42nd Street, such a key location in the book.” There will also be a live event at Union Chapel in London on June 23 featuring Laing in conversation with author Charlie Porter.
The new audiobook edition of The Lonely City will be released on June 2, with the new hardcover version slated for publication on June 4 in the U.K. A paperback 10th-anniversary edition will be released in the U.S. by Picador on Oct. 13.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
