81C in historic Charlotte Amalie is hosting a ticketed author appearance event for Tiphanie Yanique, in celebration of her new publication Monster in the Middle. The event takes place on Wednesday, October 27th at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are required for entry and elegant attire is encouraged.
The event will feature a social mixer, where guests will have an opportunity to enjoy fine wines and mingle, followed by an author reading, Q&A, and book signing by the author.
Each ticket grants access to the event, one copy of Monster in the Middle, and unlimited drinks.
To purchase tickets, please visit 81CVI.COM.
“Tiphanie Yanique’s tremendous talents and incredible storytelling will astound you and leave you breathless.” — Edwidge Danticat
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tiphanie Yanique is the author of the award-winning novel Land of Love and Drowning, as well as the poetry collection Wife. Winner of the 2014 Center for Fiction First Novel award, and a National Book Foundation 5 under 35 honoree, she has also received a Rona Jaffe Award and a Fulbright scholarship. Her short fiction has been published in The New Yorker and anthologized in Best American Short Stories 2020. Originally from the Virgin Islands, she now lives in Atlanta, where she is a professor at Emory University.
ABOUT MONSTER IN THE MIDDLE
A deeply influential storyteller, Tiphanie Yanique is known for her outstanding ability to take readers on a journey through time, place, and relationships. Yanique is praised for weaving “lurid, yet layered and literary” (NPR) prose that “echoes the richness of Gabriel García Márquez and Toni Morrison” (Buzzfeed). The success of her first novel Land of Love and Drowning garnered widespread acclaim for mastering the “feat of tropical magical realism” (Vanity Fair) and won top awards such as the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, the OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, and more. A National Book Foundation’s 5 Under 35 honoree, Tiphanie Yanique has proved herself a master of multigenerational stories that explore intimacy, race and colonialism in America, and Monster in the Middle is no exception.
When Fly and Stela meet in twenty-first-century New York City, it seems like fate. He’s a Black American musician from a mixed-religious background who knows all about heartbreak. She’s a Catholic science teacher from the Caribbean, looking for lasting love. But are they meant to be? The answer goes back decades—all the way to their parents’ earliest loves.
Vibrant and emotionally riveting, Monster in the Middle moves across decades, from the continental U.S. to the Virgin Islands to Ghana and back again, to show how one couple’s romance is intrinsically influenced by the family lore and love stories that preceded their own pairing. What challenges and traumas must this new couple inherit, what hopes and ambitions will keep them moving forward? Exploring desire and identity, religion and class, passion and obligation, the novel posits that in order to answer the question “Who are we meant to be with?” we must first understand who we are and how we came to be.
Yanique says “This novel touches on some of the most poignant historical moments, bringing us to this apex moment in the present, where we’re still searching for love while struggling to reconcile political and cultural differences. This book asks us to rethink what it means to be an American during turbulent times, particularly an American in love.”
Beautiful, heartwarming, and sometimes heartbreaking, Monster in the Middle is a story that tells an honest journey of love. It portrays relationships as they are—sexy, messy, and everything in between— and shows us how our time, place, and position in the world impacts how we experience love and intimacy. Told in spellbinding prose, this multigenerational novel challenges everything we know about relationships and makes us wonder why we love the way we do.
ABOUT 81C
81C is an event venue and art gallery in historic downtown Charlotte Amalie. The space is available for private and public pop-up event rentals. 81C was launched by entrepreneur Zack Zook after several years of renovation and restoration to the (circa 1810) building located at 81C Kronprindsens Gade. The space is currently operated by Joseph Hewes, Augustin Kelvin Holder, and Zack Zook. Visit www.81CVI.COM
Instagram & Facebook: @81CVI
Telephone 917-327-1561
