P. Paramita + Haley Jakobson: Appetite

Join us for an event with writer and professor P. Paramita for a discussion of their debut novel APPETITE.
About this Event

Moderating the conversation is Haley Jakobson, author of Old Enough. This event will be hosted in the Strand Book Store's 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street.

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ACCESSIBILITY:

Strand Book Store is an ADA compliant venue. The event space is accessible via elevator. Please ask a Strand employee upon arrival for directions to accessible seating if preferred.

ASL interpretation is available for this event by request only. Please reach out to our events team at [email protected] by July 23 to request.

For further information on accessibility in this space, or to make a request, please contact [email protected].

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A propulsive and utterly original debut about a young chef chasing her dreams—and the pro wrestler she idolizes who derails everything

How far will you go to feed your ambitions?

Zarina, a prep cook at a fancy New Haven restaurant, is underpaid, overworked, and might as well be invisible. The only upside: they get to take home leftover ingredients. Every night, Zarina whips up modern spins on the Bangladeshi dishes she grew up eating, all while enjoying her second greatest passion: professional wrestling. Namely, Zarina’s hero Sierra Myst—the massively successful, high-flying heel who’s built like a superhero and is every bit as confident and daring as one.

One night, Zarina posts online about one of Sierra Myst’s wins, and the most improbable thing happens: Sierra reaches out to Zarina. She's elated at the chance to become closer with her idol, and at first, their friendship is everything Zarina’s ever dreamed of. Zarina’s confidence grows, their world gets bigger, and opening their own restaurant doesn’t feel quite so impossible. But as the weeks fly by, Zarina starts to feel more like Sierra’s unpaid personal assistant and relationship counselor—and her desire to make Sierra happy eclipses their own goals and threatens everything they’ve worked for.

Deliciously propulsive and ultimately uplifting, Appetite is about the unique torture of being a twenty-something who’s torn between the person someone else wants you to be and the person you really are.

P. Paramita is a Bangladesh-born, New Haven-based writer, professor, and pop culture enthusiast. Paramita’s work has appeared in Teen Vogue, them, Color Bloq, Autostraddle, Southampton Review, and Dogwood Journal, where she was a finalist for the Dogwood Literary Award in Nonfiction.

Haley Jakobson is a queer author and playwright living in Brooklyn, New York. In her work she explores queerness, girlhood, brains, and bodies. Haley’s debut novel is a New York Times Editor’s Choice and is described by Vogue as being “full of winsome bisexual chaos.” Her sophomore novel, CAVEGIRL, is forthcoming from Penguin Random House and Dutton Books. Haley is a gemini apologist and a killer follow on Instagram.