The Common Press Bookshop is excited to welcome Peter Scalpello, Adam Zmith, and Liam Konemann for a fantastic panel event!
Over the course of a wonderful evening, the authors will be in conversation about their personal experience of queerness and self-discovery, and examine how they delve into queer history through the narrative medium of their choice - fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The discussion will be followed by a Q&A with the audience.
Join us for an evening that promises to be equal parts heartfelt, fun, and illuminating!
UPDATE: Unfortunately Liam won't be able to join us on the night due to illness. We wish him a fast recovery!
About Limbic:
Limbic is Peter Scalpello’s glittering ode to sex, intimacy, and queer discovery. Taking us on slippery nights out fuelled by chemsex, on drunken lads’ holidays, and into the quiet violence of small domestic moments, this is a world where tracksuits hide queer desire, where shame masks vulnerability, where wallets hide wraps of crystal meth.
From the eager trepidation of teenage sex, to the ecstasy of parties, to the stigma around HIV, Limbic is at once a therapy and a celebration, showing how queer learning can be both soft-edged and brutal at once. An exploration of masculinity, addiction and trauma, this is a revelatory collection of poems; wise, tender, and vital.
About Deep Sniff:
3, 2, 1... inhale, deep. From the Victorian infirmary and the sex clubs of the 1970s, poppers have released the queer potential inside us all. This is the intriguing story of how poppers wafted out of the lab and into gay bars, corner shops, bedrooms and porn supercuts.
Blending historical research with wry observation, Adam Zmith explores the cultural forces and improbable connections behind the power of poppers. What emerges is not just a history of pub raids, viral panics and pecs the size of dinner plates. It is a collection of fresh and provocative ideas about identity, sex, utopia, capitalism, law, freedom, and the bodies that we use to experience the world. In Deep Sniff what starts as a thoughtful enquiry into poppers becomes a manifesto for pleasure.
About The Arena of the Unwell:
The Arena of the Unwell follows 22-year-old Noah as he is drawn into the co-dependent relationship of two older men in the indie music scene. In the absence of any real purpose, Noah spends his nights drifting between North London pubs and music venues, and his days sleeping off hangovers in the stock room of the floundering record shop where he works. He tries not to think about what’ll happen when his NHS-allocated therapy hours run out and he’s left alone with his mind again. Then his favourite band Smiling Politely announces a last minute set in a small venue. When the crowd turns violent, Noah runs into the street, where he meets Dylan, the charming local barman he’s never quite had the courage to approach.
As Smiling Politely prepare to release their first album in five years, Noah finds himself pulled deeper into the toxic relationship between Dylan and his brooding, enigmatic friend Fraser. A story of connection - to music, to memory, to the wrong people. An amazing debut novel, and one to watch for 2022.
About the Authors:
Peter Scalpello is a queer poet and sexual health therapist from Glasgow. His poems have been published in Penguin's literary magazine Five Dials, Parspar Press’s Scintillas: New Maltese Writing, Pilot Press's A Queer Anthology of Healing and A Queer Anthology of Wilderness, Gutter Magazine, Impossible Archetype, Anthropocene, Fruit Journal, The Selkie, and Queerlings, among others. In 2021 they were nominated for a Forward Prize and Pushcart Prize. In 2020, he was shortlisted for the Creative Future Writers' Award, and longlisted for the Desperate Literature Prize, and the University of East Anglia 'Show Me Yours Prize'. He has performed his poems at events alongside Danez Smith and Andrew McMillan, and has read at Fringe: Queer Film & Arts Festival 2020, Granta's Feminist Erotica readings, Homotopia Festival 2020, and University of Glasgow's Stay at Home Fringe 2020. Their pamphlets Acting Out and chem & other poems were published by Broken Sleep Books in 2021. Limbic is their first collection.
Adam Zmith received a London Writers Award for 2019-20. He is currently working on his debut novel, Vanilla, and a collection of essays. As a promiscuous writer, Adam has published short stories, produced short films and co-written a stage show. He is also one of the hosts and producers of The Log Books, a podcast about LGBTQ+ history. Before moving into a creative practice, Adam worked as a journalist and social media editor, most recently at The Economist.
Follow him on Twitter @AdamZmith
www.adamzmith.com
Liam Konemann is a queer Australian writer based in London. He writes music journalism, fiction and poetry with a focus on queerness and masculinity. His work has appeared in Dazed, HUCK, NME and more, and he published his debut non-fiction title The Appendix: Transmasculine Joy in a Transphobic Culture as part of 404’s Inklings series, and his debut novel publishes in Spring 2022. @LiamKonemann
Doors open at 6.30pm and the event will begin at 7.00pm. Please have your tickets with you. Peter, Adam, and Liam will be available to sign copies of their books afterwards. All featured books will be available for purchase on the night.