Thu, Oct 29  •  2:30pm

The Cities We Leave Behind

Maria Cichosz and Alex Pugsley

Journey from Toronto to California in these two novels

Fiction
Conversation
Ticket or Pass Required
Passes available
The Cities We Leave Behind
The Cities We Leave Behind

Thu, Oct 29  •  2:30pm

The Cities We Leave Behind

Maria Cichosz and Alex Pugsley

Journey from Toronto to California in these two novels

Conversation
Fiction
Ticket or Pass Required
Passes available

About

Journey through the familiar streets of Toronto and the distant land of California with Maria Cichosz and Alex Pugsley, as they discuss their novels set in the city we call home and beyond. Middlemen, Cichosz’ story set in the mid-2010s, is described as a “break-up letter to Toronto”, following Beau’s move to California to see a former roommate and lover whose new life incites feelings of jealousy, colliding with addiction, class, and relationships. Pugsley’s Silver Lake is the third installment in his series of novels about Aubrey McKee, this time following Aubrey’s journey to LA and up the Hollywood ladder from B-movie assistant to feature film director and all the people he encounters in between.

Toronto, mid-2010s: the economy is tanking, the opioid crisis is about to explode, and Beau Larky is drifting through the city in a drug-fuelled haze, photographing extravagant weddings in order to bankroll his habit. When he learns that Cam, his former roommate and one-time lover—now a celebrity academic on the West Coast—has suffered a breakdown, Beau is seized by an unexpected need to see him after years of silence.

Published by Now or Never Publishing

It was on a fully dark February night when I went to the Communist’s Daughter to meet a friend who never showed that my life in movies began. So begins the third installment in a series of standalone novels about the life and travels of Aubrey McKee. Set in Toronto and Silver Lake, a creative neighbourhood in Los Angeles, the novel chronicles with infectious élan Aubrey’s journey from broken-hearted derelict to B-movie production assistant, comedy writer, and science-fiction screenwriter, all the way up to feature film director.

Published by Biblioasis

Maria Cichosz is a writer, critical drug studies scholar, and professor of literature and creative writing at Victoria College in the University of Toronto. Their work has appeared in Critique, The Los Angeles Review of Books, The Literary Review of Canada, American Literature, and on the CBC Literary Awards shortlist, among other places.

Alex Pugsley has worked on over 185 produced episodes of television, writing for performers such as Lauren Ash, Scott Thompson, Dan Aykroyd, and Michael Cera. He wrote and directed the feature film Dirty Singles which won for him the Irving Avrich Emerging Filmmaker Award at TIFF.

Dates & Times

Thu, Oct 29
2:30pm
3:30pm
A book signing will follow this event

Tickets

Full Festival Pass
SOLD OUT
Regular $159
Under 30 $79
5-Day Festival Pass
Includes 5-day festival events. Excludes Masterclasses.
Regular $159
Under 30 $79
1-Day Thursday
Includes all Thursday events.
Excludes Masterclasses.
Regular $29
Under 30 $15
Pass Information
5-Day Festival Pass includes Barbara Kingsolver and East West Street: A Song of Good & Evil .
2-Day Weekend and 1-Day Passes do not include Winter Garden Theatre events.

Venue

Alumni Hall, Victoria College
91 Charles St W, Toronto, ON

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