Iain McKinna's Blog ; February 2026.
We are pleased to announce our involvement in The Lonely City by Olivia Laing. It's the 10th anniversary of the publication of the book and I was asked to produce and direct the audiobook for Canongate Books with Tilda Swinton narrating.
This was Tilda's first audiobook and it was such an honour to know that Offbeat was the studio of her choice as well as the publishers Canongate Books with who we have a long relationship.
It's an amazing book and ties in artistic themes connected to Loneliness in New York with chapters on Andy Warhol, David Wojnarowicz and Henry Larger. The audiobook is 9 hours long and the majority of it was recorded over two intense days in February 2026. I was amazed by Tilda's consistency and quality of performance which never wavered at any point in her narration. We both marvelled at certain points in the read at how lucky we were to be involved in such an incredible project. I certainly felt lucky myself to be involved with such a consummate professional.
We used the 'punch and roll' method of recording for this project, and Canongate CEO Jamie Byng came to Edinburgh to sit on day three for the final chapter.
Author Olivia Laing will be contributing a chapter to the audiobook which is due for release in June 2026
“Wonderful and necessary” – Anne Enright
“Constantly surprising” – Guardian
“Stunning” – Deborah Levy
“Compulsively fascinating” – New Statesman
“Daring and seductive” – The New York Times
"Watching Iain and Tilda working on The Lonely City by Olivia Laing was a masterclass in Audiobook production". Jamie Byng / CEO Canongate Books
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