BookSwell

Join us for PEN Presents: Justin Torres's BlackoutsPEN America Los Angeles is delighted to present beloved author Justin Torres upon the release of his new novel, Blackouts. This hybrid text is a collage of vignettes, image, and blackout poetry born from a true artifact, Sex Variants: A Study in Homosexual Patterns. Ekphrastic and archival, Torres pieces together the fictional histories of the narrator and his peer, “playful raconteur” Juan Gay, as well as the real-life creator of Sex Variants, Jan Gay, a woman whose scholarship was historically co-opted. In conversation with Torres is Angela Flournoy, author of The Turner House. She is a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine, and her nonfiction has appeared in many publications, including The Nation, The Los Angeles Times, and The New Yorker. Join us for a conversation about authorship, the art of fiction, and the possibilities of the novel. This free program will be followed by Q+A and a book signing.