She was the author of "Shelter", a long-running column in The Village Voice between 1997 and 2006, and in New York Observer between 2006 and 2007.
[1] A selection of her columns in The Village Voice appear in the book Five Flights Up, published in 2006 by Princeton Architectural Press.
Playwright Tony Kushner, in his review of it, wrote, "Toni Schlesinger’s book describes this relationship of the accidental to the profound, the domestic to the totally weird; she visits, draws out and celebrates this permanent impermanence better than anyone ever has."
Prior to her affiliations with The Village Voice and New York Observer, Schlesinger was a writer and columnist for the Chicago Reader from 1977 to 1992, where she collaborated with illustrator Tom Bachtell.
Schlesinger's theatrical career as a writer, designer and performer includes the following works: