About

'Fiction – no – life is better because Bryan Washington is writing' – Ocean Vuong

Award-winning author Bryan Washington joins Mr B's Emporium on a rare UK visit to chat to them about his latest novel, Palaver – already a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction in the US.

Palaver follows a queer son's new life in Japan, which is soon disturbed by a visit from his estranged mother looking to reconnect. It's a life-affirming novel of family, mending, and how we learn to love, written with understated humor and an open heart, moving through past and present and across Houston, Jamaica, and Japan.

For this event, they have partnered with EMBLAZE, an imprint of Bath Spa University's Paper Nations, which celebrates the talent and creativity of writers of colour and rural writers across the South West, nurturing inclusive communities and providing support to help their voices shine.

About the book

IN TOKYO, the son works as an English tutor, drinking his nights away with friends at a gay bar. He's entangled with a married man, too. But while he has built a chosen family in Japan, he is estranged from his family in America, particularly his mother, whose preference for the son's troubled, homophobic brother pushed him to leave home. Then, in the weeks leading up to Christmas, ten years since they've last seen each other, the mother arrives uninvited on his doorstep.

Separated only by the son's cat, the two of them clash. The mother, wrestling with memories of her youth in Jamaica and her own complicated brother, works to atone for her missteps. The son initially struggles to forgive, but as they share meals, conversations and an eventful trip to one of the oldest cities in Japan, both mother and son start to reckon with the meaning of 'home' – and whether, perhaps, they can find it in each other.

Tickets

Book + Ticket gives you a free ticket with a copy of the book, all tickets include 15% off any books purchased on the night, and author talk, and signing.

Book+Ticket £14.99
Standard Ticket £8.00
Student Ticket £7.00

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