Maryse Meijer - "Rag" - Kevin Elliott

"An unsettling glimpse into the seething underworld of toxic masculinity . . . Like Samantha Hunt and Carmen Maria Machado, Meijer wields strangeness to amplify the emotional realities of her narrators . . . Meijer's stories are an indictment of the indignities women—and other men—face every day as they dodge or appease the dangerous impulses and appetites of misogyny. A rich, beautiful, and utterly terrifying book."—Kirkus (starred)

A reading and discussion with Maryse Meijer, author of the new short story collection Rag. A Q&A and signing will follow the event.

At 57th Street Books

RSVP HERE (Please note that your RSVP is requested but not required.)

About the Book: From the author of Heartbreaker, a disquieting collection tracing the destructive consequences of the desire for connection.

A man, forgotten by the world, takes care of his deaf brother while euthanizing dogs for a living. A stepbrother so desperately wants to become his stepsibling that he rapes his girlfriend. In Maryse Meijer’s decidedly dark and searingly honest collection Rag, the desperate human desire for connection slips into a realm that approximates horror.

Meijer’s explosive debut collection, Heartbreaker, reinvented sexualized and romantic taboos, holding nothing back. In Rag, Meijer’s fearless follow-up, she shifts her focus to the dark heart of intimacies of all kinds, and the ways in which isolated people’s yearning for community can breed violence, danger, and madness. With unparalleled precision, Meijer spins stories that leave you troubled and slightly shaken by her uncanny ability to elicit empathy for society’s most marginalized people.

About the Author: Maryse Meijer is the author of the story collection Heartbreaker (FSG, 2016), which was one of Electric Literature’s 25 Best Short Story Collections of 2016. Her work has appeared in Meridian, Portland Review, Washington Square Review, Indiana Review, and actual paper. She lives in Chicago.

About the Interlocutor: Kevin Elliott has worked as a bookseller, events coordinator, and store manager for the past 17 years. His experience spans new, used, and nonprofit bookstores with a literacy mission. His reading interests are wide, but he is particularly interested in translated literature and served as a judge for the 2016 Best Translated Book Award. He is currently the manager of 57th Street Books in Chicago, IL. Like all good book people, he has a cat that keeps him honest.