LAURIE ANDERSON became a household name in 1981, when her 8-minute avant-garde monologue ‘O Superman’ became the world’s strangest-ever hit single. Anderson, now 71, is an artist whose work encompasses whatever she needs it to, from performance to music, from CD-ROM to virtual reality. Interviewed in Denmark, she discusses the dizzying breadth of her reading
This bookish magazine for summer 2018 presents a landmark interview with OLLY ALEXANDER and a free-roving parade through the novel THE BLACK TULIP. OLLY ALEXANDER, lead vocalist with British pop group YEARS & YEARS opens up about being young, gay and famous, explains a key literary reference in a new song, and namechecks, among others,
Former Pulp frontman JARVIS COCKER is a voracious bookworm and an ideal addition to the Happy Reader pantheon. In this winter issue he discusses his reading habits and literary foibles with the great poet SIMON ARMITAGE. Accompanied by glorious photographs by ALASDAIR McLELLAN, the chat covers everything from the stories of Carson McCullers to the
A model who owns a bookshop. A movie actress who put it all on hold to clinch an art history degree. For every ounce — and there are many ounces — of celebrity possessed by the new Happy Reader cover star, there is at least one equal measure of bookishness. Photographed here by WOLFGANG TILLMANS,
The actress KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS is hailed as a national treasure in not one but two countries, having reached the top of her profession in both Britain, her country of birth, and France, the country she has come to call home. She is also a voracious reader, et voila — the perfect impetus for two
The inexhaustable curator HANS ULRICH OBRIST is one of the most important figures in contemporary art. Over two in-depth conversations at the Serpentine Gallery in London, he explains how at a young age his imagination was fired up by a medieval library in Switzerland, and how today his work is still energised by the ideas,
For the actor Ethan Hawke, literature has always been both an inspiration and a motif. In our special interview, also taking in music, fame and family, the Brooklyn-based father of four reveals the books that have made him who he is. Meanwhile in Sweden, The Saga of Gösta Berling by the Nobel Laureate Selma Lagerlöf has
The expansive reading habits of the musical genius GRIMES and the seductive secrets of Émile Zola’s extraordinary consumerist novel AU BONHEUR DES DAMES.
A labyrinthine tour through the mind of stage and screen legend ALAN CUMMING, and an exploration of a doomy and mysterious early sci-fi novel, THE PURPLE CLOUD.
A dazzling date with the comedian AZIZ ANSARI, plus a sun-drenched odyssey through the pages of Corsican travel classic GRANITE ISLAND.