Elisa Faison launches SKIN CONTACT, with Joanna Pearson
Schedule
Tue, 23 Jun, 2026 at 06:00 pm
UTC-04:00Location
752 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd (Historic Airport Rd, Next to The Root Cellar), Chapel Hill, NC, United States, North Carolina 27514 | Chapel Hill, NC
A newly open marriage brings discovery, excitement, and upheaval to a young couple, and to the friends and lovers in their orbit.Flyleaf will offer seating for up to 120 in-person guests, with priority access given to folks who purchase the book. Please indicate in the "Customer Comments" field (at checkout) if you’d like 1-2 seats held for you at the event!
If you do not plan to attend the event but would like a copy of the book signed for pickup or shipping, please use the comments field at checkout to specify your personalization preference (to your name, to another name, or just the author's signature).
Thirty years old and reeling from her mother’s recent death, Frances feels as if she’s lost her sense of purpose, her joy. Her husband, Ben, will do anything to help her. So when she suggests that they open their marriage, he’s willing—and maybe even a little intrigued.
They invite a young woman into their bedroom, create a joint dating profile, and go on dates with other exploring couples, with mixed but often exciting results. Over the next five years, they explore their sexualities, navigating through jealousy, betrayal, desire, and obsession—and the friends and lovers in their circle find themselves asking new questions about their own lives and relationships.
When Ben finds himself falling in love with another woman, just as Frances realizes she’s ready to settle down and have a baby, they’re forced to confront the consequences of their experiment.
With warmth, humor, and sharp insight, Elisa Faison explores marriage’s many forms and possibilities—and announces herself as an exciting new voice in fiction.
Elisa Faison is a freelance editor living in Carrboro, North Carolina with her partner and one-year-old twins. She has published stories in The Missouri Review, Electric Literature, Smokelong Quarterly, and more. Her story “Motherlove” was the recipient of the 2024 Peden Prize, awarded by The Missouri Review and judged by Rachel Yoder. Her story “Group Sex” was the third most-read story of 2023 in Electric Literature. Formerly, Elisa worked as a bookseller at Flyleaf Books and the book reviews editor at The Carolina Quarterly. She holds a PhD in English from UNC Chapel Hill.
Joanna Pearson is the author of the novel Bright and Tender Dark, two short story collections, and a book of poetry. Her stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories, The Best American Mystery and Suspense, and many other publications. She has won the Drue Heinz Literature Prize and been a finalist for the Shirley Jackson Awards, the Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize, and the Virginia Literary Awards. She lives in North Carolina, where she works as a psychiatrist.
Where is it happening?
752 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd (Historic Airport Rd, Next to The Root Cellar), Chapel Hill, NC, United States, North Carolina 27514
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
