Deji Olukotun’s debut novel, Nigerians in Space (January 2014), explores three interlocked narratives traversing time and space. Joel Whitney, editor and co-founder of Guernica, joined him at WORD Bookstore in Brooklyn to discuss the novel. As a way of introduction, Whitney describes the novel as a “noir-ish” crime novel.
Adelle Waldman’s The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. has been favorably compared to Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City (1985) as a portrayal of the contemporary New York City literary scene. McInerney himself drew the comparison when he sat down with Waldman in Barnes & Noble. Waldman, like the literary scene itself, focuses her story in Brooklyn. Though intentionally obscured, the novel unfolds unmistakingly in Fort Greene and Crown Heights. Amidst the rapid gentrification, Nathaniel (Nate) finds himself dating fellow freelance writer Hannah. Over the course of the novel, Nate’s inaction and apathy leads to the eventual unraveling of their relationship. At the most fundamental level, Nathaniel P. is the story of two people gradually allowing distance to taint their relationship.
Much is the same premise with Paul Rome’s We All Live In The Same Room. Narrator Tom lives with Raina and their son, Ben, in, as the title suggests, a one bedroom apartment. Its rent controlled, of course. Despite sharing the small space, like the characters of Waldman’s novel, Tom and Raina spend the duration of the story drifting ever farther away from each other. Though Tom and Raina are more proactive about hurting each other than Nate and Hannah, ultimately they are all victims of emotional unforseen emotional distance. Given the similarities, the two authors form an ideal pairing, and NYU Bookstore brought them together for a discussion moderated by Paul Morris of Pen America.
The Center for Fiction hosted authors Adam Wilson and Peter Mountford for a reading from their new books and a discussion between them. Wilson’s collection of stories What’s Important is Feeling will be released next week while Mountford’s novel The Dismal Science was released in January.
Molly Antopol, named one of the 5 Under 35 by the National Book Foundation in 2013, released a collection of short stories, The UnAmericans, earlier this month. She read from the book at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn with Justin Torres, author of the novel We The Animals.
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The Flamethrowers appeared on many best of 2013 lists, and to celebrate the release of the paperback edition of the book, Rachel Kushner read from the novel at Powerhouse Arena. She was joined by critic James Wood.