Join Norman Erikson Pasaribu on Friday the 29th April as he heads to Austenland and every bibliophile’s dream bookshop, Topping & Co. Bath, for his UK tour of the Booker longlisted Happy Stories, Mostly (trs Tiffany Tsao). For full details of the event, and to register for your ticket, head over to the event page.

ABOUT THIS EVENT
Norman Erikson Pasaribu was born in Jakarta in 1990. His debut poetry collection Sergius Seeks Bacchus (also published by Tilted Axis) won first prize in the 2015 Jakarta Arts Council Poetry Manuscript Competition and was shortlisted in the 2016 Khatulistiwa Literary Award for Poetry. We are delighted to announce an exclusive event with Norman in Bath.

Playful, shape-shifting and emotionally charged, Happy Stories, Mostly is a collection of twelve stories that queer the norm. The book has been longlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022 and is on the Republic of Consciousness 2022 Shortlist. 

Inspired by Simone Weil’s concept of ‘decreation,’ and often drawing on Batak and Christian cultural elements, these tales put queer characters in situations and plots conventionally filled by hetero characters.

The stories talk to each other, echo phrases and themes, and even shards of stories within other stories, passing between airports, stacks of men’s lifestyle magazines and memories of Toy Story 3, such that each one almost feels like a puzzle piece of a larger whole, but with crucial facts – the saddest ones, the happiest ones – omitted, forgotten, unbearable.

A blend of science fiction, absurdism and alternative-historical realism, Happy Stories, Mostly is a powerful puff of fresh air, aimed at destabilising the heteronormative world and exposing its underlying absences.

Supported by English PEN and the Metal Southend International Writers’ Residency Programme

Tickets: £9.99 Book & Ticket / £4 standard

Venue: Topping and Company Booksellers of Bath, York Street, Bath, BA1 1NG

Doors open: 7PM (Start-time: 7:30PM)