This event takes place on crowdcast, Charis' virtual event platform. Register here.
Charis welcomes Lauren John Joseph in conversation with Davey Davis for a celebration of At Certain Points We Touch. From an electrifying new voice, a "stone-cold masterpiece" (Olivia Laing) of queer friendship, first love, and unbridled youth.
It's four in the morning, and our narrator is walking home from the club when they realize the date is February 29th-the birthday of the man who was something like their first love. Piecing together art, letters, and memory, they set about trying to write the story of a doomed affair that first sparked and burned a decade ago.
Ten years earlier, our young narrator and a boy named Thomas James fall into bed with one another over the summer of their graduation. Their ensuing affair, with its violent, animal intensity and its intoxicating and toxic power plays initiates a dance of repulsion and attraction that will cross years, span continents, drag in countless victims-and culminate in terrible betrayal.
At Certain Points We Touch is a story of first love and last rites, conjured against a vivid backdrop of London, San Francisco, and New York-a riotous, razor-sharp coming-of-age story that marks the arrival of an extraordinary new talent.
Lauren John Joseph was born in Liverpool and lives in London. Their film and performance work has been shown internationally across the UK, US, Europe, and Asia. They are the author of the plays Boy in a Dress and A Generous Lover, and the experimental prose volume Everything Must Go. At Certain Points We Touch is their first novel.
Davey Davis is the author of the novels the earthquake room and X. They write a weekly newsletter about art, culture, sexuality, and popular queer discourse at itsdavid.substack.com. They tweet at @k8bushofficial.
This event is free and open to all people, especially to those who have no income or low income right now, but we encourage and appreciate a solidarity donation in support of the work of Charis Circle, our programming non-profit. Charis Circle's mission is to foster sustainable feminist communities, work for social justice, and encourage the expression of diverse and marginalized voices. https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/CharisCircle?code=chariscirclepage
Please contact us at info@chariscircle.org or 404-524-0304 if you would like ASL interpretation at this event. If you would like to watch the event with live AI captions, you may do so by watching it in Google Chrome and enabling captions: Instructions here. If you have other accessibility needs or if you are someone who has skills in making digital events more accessible please don't hesitate to reach out to info@chariscircle.org. We are actively learning the best practices for this technology and we welcome your feedback as we begin this new way of connecting across distances.
By attending our virtual event you agree to our Code of Conduct: Our event seeks to provide a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), class, or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Sexual language and imagery are not appropriate. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from this event and all future events at the discretion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to info@chariscircle.org immediately.
AN OBSERVER BEST DEBUT NOVEL OF THE YEAR * AN ESQUIRE BEST BOOK OF 2022 * A STYLIST BOOK YOU CAN'T MISS IN 2022
"SEARING"-Harper's Bazaar
"SMART, SPARKLING, TWISTED" -Attitude
"SCREAMINGLY FUNNY, SCANDALOUSLY HOT, OPULENT, DEEP" -Jeremy Atherton Lin, author of Gay Bar
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice
A thrilling portrait of political terror and the violent pleasures found in warehouses, bathrooms, and dungeons across New York City, X is a novel that delves into the psyches of characters on the margins
Daniel Shenkin born into a working class community of the 19th century scarred and buried in the bowels of the coal mines and forged in the Ironworks of his black South Wales valley. He gambles, loves and bare knuckle fights for survival. He is determined to form a union. The protest he leads turns into a revolt. Working men and soldiers are killed or wounded.