Jordan Prosser in conversation with Barry Pierce

About this event

We are thrilled to be welcoming Jordan Prosser , rising star of Australian literature and award-winning screenwriter, to Cheapside to discuss his second novel, Blue Giant . “Blue Giant is a welcome blast of profane fizz. […] By turns deranged and hilarious, this is a Bildungsroman about closing your eyes and dreaming big as the earth burns.” – The Guardian Planet Earth is cooked. Abby Horne wants off. Abby always believed she was destined for great things. But her dream career as an industry-disrupting fashion designer went up in smoke, and her aspirations to become a world-renowned yogi and/or save the endangered tigers proved equally fruitless. She’s in her early thirties, suffering the unbearable burdens of adulthood and anonymity, when she wakes up after a drunken bender with an all-new, all-consuming purpose in life: to be the first person on Mars. Perfect timing – Danish tech entrepreneur Tor Skovgaard is currently recruiting for a one-way mission to colonise the red planet. Abby knows this is it: her last-ditch bid for fame and glory. And if she can’t be humanity’s saviour… she’ll settle for being its martyr. “Brimming with satire and glorious trainwreck characters” – Siang Lu A vibrant, whip-smart novel about one woman’s quest to make her mark on the world, Blue Giant is an unruly eulogy for millennial optimism, a deranged love letter to a generation torn between helplessness and selfishness, an anthem for anyone who’s ever paused their doom-scrolling to ponder their place in the vast universe. Perfect for fans of Halle Butler and Olivia Laing’s Crudo . “A blistering send-up” – Sami Shah Jordan Prosser is an author and screenwriter based in Melbourne, Australia. He won the Peter Carey Short Story Award in 2022. His debut novel, Big Time , was shortlisted for the Matt Richell Award for New Writer of the Year at the ABIAs, the Aurealis Award for Best Science Fiction Novel, and longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize. Jordan will be joined by Barry Pierce , freelance book critic and culture writer. He has bylines in the Irish Times, Sunday Times and the Big Issue , is a fashion writer for HERO and HEROINE , and has written opinion and culture pieces for British GQ, Dazed, i-D and AnOther . Ticket price includes a glass of wine or soft drink.