![Cover art by Desiree Des, "Subway Wall," 2013, digital photograph, from the series "Avoiding the Self-Portraits." ©2015 Desiree Des; all rights reserved by the artist. [Release Reading for Conjunctions:65, Sleights of Hand: The Deception Issue]](http://www.conjunctions.com/images/event_image.php?id=129629 "Cover art by Desiree Des, \"Subway Wall,\" 2013, digital photograph, from the series \"Avoiding the Self-Portraits.\" ©2015 Desiree Des; all rights reserved by the artist.")
NEW YORK, NY—On Thursday, December 3rd, at 7:00 p.m., Book Culture (536 West 112th Street) will celebrate the release of Conjunctions' Fall 2015 issue on the theme of deception, Sleights of Hand, with readings by Porochista Khakpour, Laura van den Berg, and Gwyneth Merner, introduced by editor Bradford Morrow.This event is free and open to the public. No tickets are required, but seating is first come, first served. To RSVP and share this reading with others, see the Facebook event page.
An internationally distributed magazine of provocative, risk-taking fiction, poetry, and narrative nonfiction, Conjunctions publishes fearless writing for dangerous readers. Work from Conjunctions can frequently be found in the Best American and Pushcart Prize anthologies and in Harper’s. The journal features contemporary masters such as Joyce Carol Oates, Edwidge Danticat, Russell Banks, Ann Lauterbach, and Jonathan Lethem; as well as astonishing new voices like Sequoia Nagamatsu, Chinelo Okparanta, Julia Elliott, and H. G. Carrillo.
As Karen Russell has said, "Conjunctions is a translation into a multiverse of stories and poems and essays and even weirder hybrid forms, the mutant menagerie of literary fiction. I read it with Christmas pleasure."
Book Culture is one of New York City's premier and essential independent sources for ideas and literary art. In addition to carrying a vast selection of spectacularly curated material, the store runs a thriving events series, including recent or upcoming discussions and readings featuring Joy Williams, Eileen Myles, Maggie Gyllenhall, Benjamin Moser, and many others.
To receive notifications of upcoming Conjunctions readings, book fairs, and other events in the metro area, follow the journal on Facebook and Twitter, or ask to be emailed about NYC events.
ABOUT THE READERS
Born in Tehran and raised in the Los Angeles area, POROCHISTA KHAKPOUR is the author of Sons and Other Flammable Objects (Grove Atlantic), a New York Times "Editor's Choice," Chicago Tribune "Fall's Best," and California Book Award winner. Her second novel, The Last Illusion (Bloomsbury), was called "a literary gem full of sadness, guts, and wonder" by Library Journal. In 2015, CCM will publish her children's book; and in 2017, Sick, a memoir of chronic illness and addiction, will appear from HarperPerennial.
One of today's most innovative and exciting new presences in fiction and other artforms, GWYNETH MERNER is a multi-disciplinary artist working in Western Massachusetts. A selection of her artists books is housed in the Special Collections Library at Washington University in St. Louis, and she is the recipient of the Nancy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Book Design. Her music is available from Bezoar Formations and is featured on Rhizomatic St. Louis, Volume 2 on the Close/Far label.
LAURA VAN DEN BERG is the 2014 recipient of the prestigious Bard Fiction Prize and an O. Henry Award. Her first collection of stories, What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us (Dzanc) was shortlisted for the Frank O’Connor International Award. Her second collection, The Isle of Youth (FSG), was named a "Best Book of 2013" by over a dozen venues, including NPR, The Boston Globe, and O, The Oprah Magazine. Of her first novel, Find Me (FSG), published this year, The Guardian said, "[It] lingers and aches in the memory."
