Minor Black Figures: Brandon Taylor in Conversation

Description

Booker-Prize shortlisted Brandon Taylor discusses his latest novel – Minor Black Figures: the story of a gay Black painter navigating desire, creativity and the art world.

Brandon Taylor returns to Brixton House this summer for the only London date on his UK tour, delving into the captivating characters at work and at play in Minor Black Figures, his “most accomplished novel” (The New York Times).

Expect an illuminating conversation exploring faith, friendship, and what it means to be a Black artist making art amid the mess and beauty of life itself.

There will be an opportunity to ask Brandon your own questions, purchase a copy of Minor Black Figures from the Round Table Books pop-up, and get your book signed by the author.

Wyeth is a newcomer to New York, a young Black painter who is trying to find his place in the contemporary Manhattan art scene. He shares a studio with his friends and earns money working for a gallery and an art restorer but he’s struggling with his portrait painting, unable to truly capture the life of his subjects.

Then he meets Keating, a white former priest struggling with his faith. The two men seemingly have nothing in common, and yet Keating shows Wyeth how to see the world anew. The hot summer progresses, filled with art openings, walks around the city, and Wyeth’s search for a long-forgotten Black artist. But as the men grow closer, the differences between them become more stark, until Wyeth and Keating must decide what they are willing to risk – for art and for love.

Brandon Taylor is the author of the novels The Late Americans and Real Life, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, and named a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice and a Science + Literature Selected Title by the National Book Foundation. His collection Filthy Animals, a US bestseller, was awarded the Story Prize and shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize. His criticism has been published in the New York Times, Bookforum and the London Review of Books and in his newsletter, Sweater Weather.
@brandonlgtaylor

Joshua Rivers is a writer, poet and cultural producer who creates enchanting and enlivening spaces for deeper relational intimacy. He is the creator of the award-winning platform Busy Being Black, which centres and celebrates queer Black creative, cultural and spiritual vitality. He was named by PR Week as one of the UK’s most influential communications professionals, for his ongoing commitment to uplifting the voices of LGBTQ people in the UK and around the world.

busybeingblack.com

A Black women-led marketing agency connecting books and films with Black audiences and underserved communities through events, digital campaigns, and strategic partnerships.

@darkmattermktg

A Black and Brown owned, inclusion-led bookshop and community interest company based in the heart of Brixton. They sell books for every reader and run community projects dedicated to representation, community and joy.

@roundtablebooks

Minor Black Figures: Brandon Taylor in Conversation

23 June-23 June

Booker Prize-shortlisted author Brandon Taylor joins host Joshua Rivers to discuss his latest novel, Minor Black Figures — the story of a gay Black painter navigating desire, creativity, and the art world.

Brixton House & Dark Matter present

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Performances