Celia Paul & Olivia Laing: Letters to Gwen John

Although born 20 years after Gwen John’s death, Celia Paul has always felt a strong affinity with the older artist. In Letters to Gwen John (Cape), described by Julia Blackburn as ‘a miraculous, door-opening book’, Paul has created in words and images an imaginary correspondence, and a spell-binding portrait of two women artists creating work against the grain, and entirely on their own terms.

Paul was in conversation with the polymathic Olivia Laing, whose latest book is Everybody (Picador).