Panel: Queer Defiance in Fiction

In honor of the Pride Month and the paperback release of Songs of No Provenance by Lydi Conklin, P&T Knitwear is proud to welcome Lydi Conklin (Songs of No Provenance), Jenny Fran Davis (Dykette), & Sarah Thankam Mathews (All This Could Be Different) for a panel discussion on queer defiance, mistakes, and the complexities of artmaking.

We'll discuss queer sexuality, paths toward understanding, the complexity and humanity of queer people making mistakes, and how these themes play out in these authors' respective novels, and in fiction itself.

The evening will begin at 6pm with a happy hour at the P&T Cafe, and live music from Emily Bielagus and John Shakespear! The panel discussion will begin at 7:00pm, with book signing to follow!

Tickets and books are available both on eventbrite and at the door.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS
Lydi Conklin has received a Stegner Fellowship, four Pushcart Prizes, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, a Creative Writing Fulbright in Poland, a grant from the Elizabeth George Foundation, and fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, Bread Loaf, Sewanee, Emory, Hedgebrook, Djerassi, Headlands, Loghaven, Lighthouse Works, and elsewhere. Their fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, One Story, McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, and VQR. They have drawn cartoons for The New Yorker and Narrative Magazine, and graphic fiction for The Believer, Lenny Letter, and the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago. They’ve served as the Helen Zell Visiting Professor at the University of Michigan and are now an Assistant Professor of Fiction at Vanderbilt University. Their story collection, Rainbow Rainbow, was longlisted for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Award and The Story Prize. Their novel, Songs of No Provenance, was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.
Jenny Fran Davis is the author of Dykette and Everything Must Go, a novel for teenagers. She lives in Brooklyn and is working on her next book, which will be published in 2027.

Sarah Thankam Mathews is the author of the National Book Award shortlisted novel All This Could Be Different, essays for and the newsletter thot pudding. Mathews was born in India, grew up in Oman, and now lives in New York.

ABOUT THE MUSICIANS:
Emily Bielagus is a singer/songwriter, guitarist, performer, and former co-owner of the LA lesbian bar The Ruby Fruit. She has composed and recorded music for a variety of media including theater, podcasts, and film. A founding member of the Brooklyn-based queer country trio Kings, you can now see Emily scream-singing all over LA with her rock ‘n roll band Wild Yawp.

Brooklyn-based songwriter and fiction writer John Shakespear's two full-length records have received attention from NPR, American Songwriter, and the Boston Globe, earning comparisons to indie-rock stalwarts like Fleet Foxes and Elliott Smith. He a member of the New York City-based band Crisis Public Relations, and he bears no known relation to William Shakespeare.

Housekeeping notes:

• This is a ticketed in-store event with limited amphitheater-style seating.
• Doors open at 6:00pm, with the talk starting around 7:00pm.
• Books will be available for purchase at the event.
• Cost of a book bundle ticket reflects the total cost of the feature event book (MSRP plus tax). Each book bundle ticket guarantees ticket holders one (1) copy of the feature event book.
• The talk will be followed by a book signing. Books signed at P&T Knitwear events must be purchased from P&T Knitwear.
• If you would like a signed copy and cannot attend the event, we're happy to take your pre-order. We ship most places!

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