Artist Grayson Perry to guest edit the New Statesman
Turner Prize-winner and cultural commentator will guest-edit a special issue of the New Statesman, themed around the 'Great White Male'.
Main picture: Grayson Perry (left) talks to Martin Amis
The Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry is to guest-edit a special issue of politics and culture magazine and website the New Statesman, due out on Thursday 9 October.
Perry, who won the Turner Prize in 2003, is best known for his ceramics and textiles, but his characteristic mix of plain-speaking erudition and good humour have seen him become a spokesperson for contemporary art - something that, like politics, is often seen as high-brow and out of touch.
Last year, his Reith Lectures for BBC Radio 4 helped redefine the appreciation and understanding of contemporary art.
He is also known for cross-dressing and often appears - both in person and in his work - as a female alter-ego Claire.
Perry will be joined by friends and supporters, as well as regular NS contributors, for a special issue examining the phenomenon of THE GREAT WHITE MALE: the white, middle-class, middle-aged, heterosexual man who dominates western society.
Features will include a conversation between Perry and Martin Amis on creativity and masculinity, an essay from Perry and contributions from the GQ editor, Dylan Jones, the critic A A Gill, the philosopher Alain de Botton, the feminist author Roxane Gay and more. The hugely popular artist and potter will be using his issue to launch a "New Man's Manifesto", with help from Stephen Fry, Margaret Atwood, Mary Beard and Rowan Williams.
Perry has designed a special cover for the issue, which satirises the conventional grey-suited image of politicians.
With characteristic humour Perry says of his guest editorship: 'Being allowed to guest-edit the New Statesman is a great privilege and a lot of fun. Unlike the people we are writing about in this issue, I am unused to wielding such power and find it intoxicating. I hereby announce my candidacy for the London mayoral election,' though the New Statesman makes clear that this last statement is likely to be a joke: 'Grayson Perry will not be running for mayor. As far as we know.'
To mark the guest edit, Perry will take part in a special NS event at the Royal Institution on Monday 13 October, where he will be in conversation with Miranda Sawyer. Tickets are available now from: www.newstatesman.com/events
Previous guest editors of the New Statesman, the award-winning weekly politics and culture magazine and website, include: RussellBrand, whose revolution-themed issue in 2013 caused a global internet sensation; the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, whose edit triggered a rift between Lambeth Palace and Downing Street; the Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, whose issue won an Amnesty International UK award for human rights journalism; Richard Dawkins; the former Labour leadership contender David Miliband; and Jemima Khan, who is now associate editor of the magazine.
