Bex Frankeberger, "Antigone at the Rot Party" (w/ Anna Claire Weber)
About this Event
White Whale is honored to host our former Podmate, Bex Frankeberger, in celebration of their debut novel! Antigone at the Rot Party is a genre-bending work of translation, fiction, and theater that invites the reader into a queer retelling of an ancient story. Bex will be joined by local writer and dear friend of White Whale, Anna Claire Weber.
A mysterious invitation slides under the door. Antigone opens it, holds it to the light, tries to discern its color, wonders about its faint scent of decay. But there is no mistake: she has been invited to the Rot Party. The question is: who will join her?
Antigone at the Rot Party is a post-modern translation of a pre-modern classic, asking age-old questions with new fervor and wit. What do we owe the dead? Can we be brave enough to act in their memory? Can we be brave enough to love? Bex Frankeberger’s debut—kind of a play, kind of a novel—filters Antigone through queer theory and contemporary philosophy, bringing us uncannily close to the perennial nature of power and hubris. Against both, it jolts us to recognize that principled defiance is still the most potent, and timeless, of antidotes.
You are cordially invited to join Antigone at the Rot Party.
“In this glorious refrain, Bex Frankeberger cast a spell on their reader that slices across times and genre. Antigone at the Rot Party cracks fresh meaning and vivid storytelling. The future is ancient.”—Samantha Hunt, author of The Unwritten Book and The Dark Dark
“In a year where the classics seem especially relevant, Bex Frankeberger’s Antigone at the Rot Party does what all great reinterpretations must do: it seduces us into a story we already know. This is a strange, queer vision of Antigone, a bold declaration of a book that sharply critiques the intoxicating rot of power unchecked. But at its core, it’s a loving tribute to Frankeberger’s love for the original, the kind of text born out of literary obsession. Antigone at the Rot Party makes you remember why we spend our lives reading.” —Isle McElroy, author of Satellite and People Collide
“Antigone at the Rot Party resists comparison. It is a singular text that is full of depth, research, thought, and life. Bex Frankeberger splits Antigone open and exposes all of our rot—personal and collective, societal and familial. It is funny and moving and took my breath away. Frankeberger is a new favorite voice.” —Alexa Brahme, author of Good News
BEX FRANKEBERGER is a writer. Antigone at the Rot Party is their first novel. They were a 2024-2025 McCormack Writing Center Reading Fellow and their work has been published here and there, including Mizna and DizzyTV. Raised in southern California, they often reside elsewhere.
ANNA CLAIRE WEBER is a nonfiction writer who works in books and marketing. Previously, she was the translation editor for The Offing and the events director at White Whale Bookstore. In 2021, she won the NAIBA Joe Drabyak Spirit Award for Handseller of the Year. If you met her there, she probably made you buy Piranesi. Currently, Anna is the marketing and communications manager for Words Without Borders, the home for international literature. Her current writing focuses on the Polish town of Szubin during World War II and a POW camp just outside of it. Someday, she'll have published pieces to include in this bio, but "when" is a secret. Please don’t ask her what her favorite book is! It’s all of them!
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