Jon Raymond, "Denial," with Lisa Wells Book Event

1521 10th Avenue,Seattle WA 98122

02 August, 2022

Description

This evening of reading and conversation brings together Jon Raymond, up from Portland, and Lisa Wells, now living here in Seattle but having lived to the south of here until recently. Jon Raymond, who has been doing screenplay work with director Kelly Reichardt for several films, in addition to book writing, is the author of three earlier novels (The Half-Life, Rain Dragon, Freebird) and an award-winning story collection (Livability), is here with his future-set new novel, Denial (Simon & Schuster). “Denial is a short, sharp book, a subtle exploration of what justice means on the other side of human-driven climate calamity. Jon Raymond has created a scarily plausible future, and against this future considers one of the pivotal questions of our age—how to hold responsible those who, in the dizzying days before the worst of things, profited off the planet’s destruction. There are no easy answers in this novel, only a deeply humane look at the chasm between crime and punishment, cause and consequence.”—Omar El Akkad. “Denial is a riveting tale that dares to imagine the afterlife of meaningful climate action. Jon Raymond wonders beautifully what it might feel like to summon the collective will to alter our society's suicidal arrangement. A thrilling and boldly hopeful ode to moving on, however imperfectly.”—Claire Vaye Watkins. Though she works in non-fiction writing and poetry, Lisa Wells knows similar ground for subject matter, here in-person after virtually appearing last year when her most recent book, Believers (newly in paper, Picador), was initially published, going on to be a finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Prize. “Believers is a young woman’s book of wandering at a time when our human footprint on earth matters more than ever. Lisa Wells follows a cast of unruly and colorful characters who believe their work on the land and with one another is a healing force . . . She never loses sight of her inspired objective, to restore and revive what she refers to as ‘the promised land.’”—Gretel Ehrlich, The New York Times Book Review. “Believers . . . grapples with the question of how to go forward in the shadow of endings — not only our own, but the endings of species and ecosystems, of cultures and of language . . . The question is not of what we face but how we can face it bravely and creatively.”—Lydia Millet, Los Angeles Times. Lisa Wells is also an editor at The Volta and at Letter Machine Editions. This is scheduled to be live/in-person at Elliott Bay Book Company.