The Disappearers: Marlon James in conversation with Doug Jones

This is an in-person only event and registration is required. RSVP here. This event takes place at the First Baptist Church of Decatur, 308 Clairemont Avenue Decatur, GA 30030. Doors open at 6:30pm. Event begins promptly at 7:00pm.

Charis and the Georgia Center for the Book welcome Marlon James in conversation with Doug Jones for a celebration of , a propulsive novel about the M**der of a gay man in 1980s Jamaica and its tragic consequences.

In 1988, eight men in Kingston, Jamaica, begin rehearsals for a play. The men are strangers to one another and each has a different reason for being involved. But they all share one inescapable truth: All of them are gay―a “battyman” in Jamaican argot―and all of them must contend with the dangers that such a truth lays bare.
One night a mob savagely attacks them, killing one of the men. For the survivors, their recovery is as much emotional as it is physical. As their bodies heal, each man grapples with the violence, the hatred, and the rage that the attack made plain. Some try to ignore what the attack has unearthed, while others double down on retribution.
In The Disappearers, Marlon James has written a riveting and deeply human story of men forced to make compromises to survive what the society they live in demands. It is both a dramatic page-turner and an unflinching exploration of queer life in Jamaica during the 1980s and 1990s.

About the author

Marlon James is the Booker Prize–winning and New York Times bestselling author of A Brief History of Seven Killings; the bestselling and National Book Award finalist ; as well as the bestselling ; ; and John Crow’s Devil. In addition to the Booker Prize, James’s novels have won the American Book Award, the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, and the Los Angeles Times Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, and have been finalists for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the NAACP Image Award. In 2019, Time magazine named him one of the one hundred most influential people in the world. Born in Jamaica, James lives in New York City.

About the conversation partner

Doug Jones is an alumnus of Morehouse College and received his MFA from Columbia University. His debut novel, (Simon & Schuster, April ’25) was longlisted for both the 2026 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award and the 2025 First Novel Prize. His work has been included in the anthologies (Zando Projects / Get Lifted Books), Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature & Art (Third World Press) and Sojourner: Black Gay Voices in the Age of AIDS (Other Countries Press). He has written for LitHub.com, Black Issues Book Review and Venus Magazine. An inaugural fellow of the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, Doug’s early work received recognition from the Hurston/Wright Foundation. Doug lives in Atlanta, GA.

About the Event

All attendees must register for the event by selecting a ticket. There will be a limited number of free tickets. You may choose: a free ticket without a book, a single ticket with a book, or a ticket for 2 people that includes one book.
If you choose the book with ticket option, you will bring your ticket (digitally or on paper) with you to pick up your copy of the book at the event. All books not picked up at the event on 9/18 will be available for pickup at Charis Books and More (184 S. Candler St, Decatur) for 2 weeks.

Doors open at 6:30 pm. Event begins promptly at 7:00 pm.
COVID 19 SAFETY PROTOCOLS + ACCESSIBILITY:
Masks: Face masks are strongly encouraged but not required.
Social Distancing: Attendance will be capped below capacity to ensure social distancing.

The First Baptist Church is fully wheelchair accessible, with accessible parking. Please contact us at [email protected] or 404-524-0304 if you have other seating or accessibility needs or would like to request ASL interpretation.

Event Code of Conduct: By attending our event you agree to our Code of Conduct: Our event seeks to provide a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), class, or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment in any form. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from this event and all future events at the discretion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to [email protected] immediately.

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