Poets & Writers Theater

Justin Torres reads from his second novel, Blackouts (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023), and joins Melissa Febos for a conversation in this event hosted by the Chicago Public Library and the Women & Children First bookstore. Torres won the 2023 National Book Award in fiction for Blackouts. (This video has been removed by its host.)

“Look at us growing up. Who will we be?” We the Animals (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), Justin Torres’s debut novel, has been adapted into a film directed and cowritten by Jeremiah Zagar. Starring Raúl Castillo, Sheila Vand, and Evan Rosado, the film follows Jonah, growing up with his brothers and escaping into a fantasy world to cope with his volatile home life.

“Where I grew up, I never met a writer.” Justin Torres, author of We the Animals (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), speaks about his experience as a Lambda Literary fellow in 2007, and how that community solidified his commitment to become a writer.

The official pub date for Justin Torres’s We the Animals (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) is September 1, but already the debut novel is racking up superlatives typically reserved for more established authors. Michael Cunningham calls it “heartbreaking” and “beautiful.” Paul Harding calls it “an indelible and essential work of art.” And Benjamin Percy, in the current issue of Esquire, calls it “a knock to the head that will leave your mouth agape.”