Description
Join us in celebrating the launch of Sechelt author Lisa Baldissera’s new story collection, Dead Peasant, published by the wonderful Book*hug Press. The author will be in conversation with Tyee culture editor Dorothy Woodend.
In Dead Peasant, Baldissera weaves writing conventions from the visual arts with the imaginative possibilities of magic realism and autofiction. The stories reveal the fraught circumstances and neglected emotions of an underclass who toil below the glossy economies of the international high-art world, including artists and art workers.
Here, characters from across centuries are haunted by war, floods, and their parental histories. An auction-house worker vomits blueberries on an art-collecting oligarch. An aspiring curator converses with Lindsay Lohan about an exhibition of horse paintings before tragedy strikes. An archivist studies planet Earth from space, reflecting on tax havens and the embattled ecology.
Through these startling, affective, incisive, and fun stories, Baldissera chronicles the unique challenges of the art world and the damage it inflicts on those struggling to get by. Like the eviscerative work of Rachel Cusk and the dark humour of Miranda July, she satirizes the neoliberal double-speak of the ‘creative economy’ and its punifiying forces, to ask, what is it, truly, that art can do now?
This event is free, but please RSVP here as capacity is limited. Books will be on hand for sale and signing. Please note this event is at 6:30 p.m.! Due to a technical issue with Eventbrite, the time may display differently for you.
About Upstart & Crow:
Upstart & Crow is a not-for-profit creative studio and literary incubator that champions writers, readers and stories, and the role they play in shaping our lives. We develop original programs, support artists and revel in creative projects focused on Literature In Translation / Climate Solutions / Poetry / Civic Dialogue / Community & Skills Building … all with the aim of elevating the role of literature and storytelling in our lives. Find us on Granville Island, Gibsons and online at upstartandcrow.com.
Accessibility:
The main studio of our shop is accessible for folks with mobility aids. There is a washroom on the main floor available for attendees. As part of disability justice and community care for the chronically ill, vulnerable and elderly, we ask that you refrain from attending if you feel sick.
Questions: hello[at]upstartandcrow.com.
