The Sellout: An Evening with Paul Beatty

Overview

It's not every day that someone is called the modern-day Mark Twain. It's not every day that an American writer wins Britain's Man Booker Prize either. Thanks to his novel The Sellout, Paul Beatty achieved both — and now he's coming to Brisbane to talk about it. It's not every day that you get to hear a critically acclaimed author discuss his work, too.

At An Evening with Paul Beatty on May 21, he'll chat about the book that turned the literary world upside down with its purposefully challenging concept: after The Sellout's narrator is forced to weather personal tragedy and a spate of other struggles, he decides to reinstate slavery and segregate the local high school. Only a writer with his smarts could turn the situation into an insightful, intelligent, satirical gem that turns an uncomfortable topic into an absurdist scenario, and raises a plethora of questions in the process.

Sydney Festival director Wesley Enoch will host the chat, and, drawing attention to race relations closer to home than The Sellout's Californian setting, spoken word artist Fred Leone will present a new poem inspired by his Tongan and South-Sea Islander heritage. The latest event in UPLIT's in-conversation series, expect a powerful, memorable, thought-provoking evening.