Join us for a special evening presented by the Manchester Writing School and the Pop Screen Cultures Research Group – André Forget in conversation with Reuben Martens.

Canadian novelist André Forget will be reading from and talking about his debut novel, In the City of Pigs (2022, Dundurn Press), which chronicles the story of a failed musician obsessed with avant-garde art who enters a shadowy world where bohemian excess meets the avaricious interests of a real estate cabal in Toronto, ON.

André and Reuben will also talk about the influence of the 1974 neo-noir film Chinatown (dir. Roman Polanski) on André’s writing, and how the filmic medium can inspire the novel writing process. They will also discuss how art is used and abused under the neoliberal capitalist system, its role in people’s lives, and the way narrative gives structure and meaning to experience.

The event will open with a drinks reception and a small array of amuse-gueule (alcohol-free and vegetarian/vegan options will be available). Excerpts from the film Chinatown will be screened. There will be a book signing and novels will be available for purchase at the event. If you have any questions ahead of the event or for the Q&A, please email R.Martens@mmu.ac.uk.

About the author:

André Forget was born in Toronto and now lives in Sheffield. He is the author of In the City of Pigs (2022, Dundurn Press) and the editor of After Realism: Twenty-four Stories for the Twenty-first Century, an anthology of short fiction published by Véhicule Press in 2022. He has written journalism and literary criticism for a variety of publications in Canada and the United States, including The Walrus, Maisonneuve, The Globe and Mail, The Literary Review of Canada, and Southwest Review, and he is currently working on his second novel.

About the moderator:

Reuben Martens is a poet, sound artist, screenwriter, and Lecturer in Film & Media Studies at Manchester Metropolitan University. With David Janzen, Reuben forms part of the international sound art collective Local Haunts (currently located in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Alberta, Canada).