Christine Kandic Torres — THE GIRLs IN QUEENS — in Conversation with Elizabeth Gonzalez James — MONA AT SEA — May 11 at 6 p.m.
Join Ink Fish Books as we welcome Christine Kandic Torres, to celebrate the paperback release of The Girls in Queens, in conversation with Elizabeth Gonzalez James, author of Mona at Sea and Five Conversations About Peter Sellers.
About the Books
THE GIRLS IN QUEENS (by Christine Kandic Torres) is an unforgettable debut novel about the furious loyalty of two Latinx women coming of age in Queens, New York, an emotionally resonant novel infused with the insight, power, and poignancy of Angie Cruz’s Dominicana, Jacqueline Woodson’s Another Brooklyn, and Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends.
Brisma and Kelly’s fierce loyalty and friendship is challenged when Brisma’s ex-boyfriend Brian is accused of sexual assault. At first, the girls rush to his defense, but as Brisma begins to question her own relationship to men and Kelly remains staunchly by Brian’s side, the friends are forced to determine not only what justice means to each of them, but who deserves it.
Told in alternating timelines, Christine Kandic Torres’s incredible debut explores the unbreakable bonds of friendship, complications of sexual-abuse allegations within communities of color, and the danger of forgetting that sometimes monsters hide in plain sight.
“This debut is a gorgeous coming-of-age story, set through the years of Kelly and Brisma's lives and encapsulating the changing nature of time.”
— Buzzfeed
“An intoxicating debut that explores race, coming-of-age, sexual assault, and more as readers follow two Latinx women growing up in Queens, New York.”
— Apartment Therapy
MONA AT SEA (by Elizabeth Gonzalez James) introduces us to Mona Mireles — observant to a fault, unflinching in her opinions, and uncompromisingly confident in her professional abilities. Mona is a Millennial perfectionist who fails upwards in the midst of the 2008 economic crisis. The more Mona craves perfection and order, the more she is forced to see that it is never attainable. Mona’s journey asks the question: When we find what gives our life meaning, will we be ready for it?
“Mona at Sea reads like an intimate late night conversation with the friend you never knew you needed. Written with humor and insight and vulnerability, it’s a tribute to the struggle to stay upright as the world around you comes falling down.”
— Mat Johnson, author of Pym and Hunting in Harlem
“A fantastic read and a remarkable first novel from a writer who deserves to take her place alongside David Sedaris and Ottessa Moshfegh.”
— Galadrielle Allman, author of Please Be with Me: A Song for My Father, Duane Allman
FIVE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT PETER SELLERS (by Elizabeth Gonzalez James) is an essay that begins as an exploration of the author’s burgeoning obsession with Peter Sellers, and specifically his role in hijacking and derailing production of the spy spoof, Casino Royale, in the late 60s. But what begins as a reported piece on how the film set erupted into chaos, quickly devolves into its own chaos as the essay splits into 5 different narrators, each with their own idea of what the essay is actually about. Is it about how Peter Sellers and his oversize ego ruined Casino Royale? Is it about how society has too long allowed horrible men to run the world? Is it an exploration of the nature of the essay as a creative form? Or is Peter Sellers and his genius at impersonation actually a vehicle through which the author probes her own shifting identity as a bi-ethnic person? The answer is...yes.
About the Authors
Christine Kandic Torres was born and raised in New York City. Her Pushcart Prize-nominated short stories have been published in various literary journals, such as Catapult, Kweli, Lunch Ticket, and Cosmonauts Avenue. She has received support for her work from Hedgebrook, VONA, and the Jerome Foundation with an Emerging Artist Fellowship for fiction. For her debut novel, The Girls in Queens, she received a 2020 New Work Grant from the Queens Council on the Arts. Christine currently lives in the suburbs with her family, but still supports writers in her home borough through her work with Newtown Literary, a journal and non-profit organization that serves Queens residents.
Elizabeth Gonzalez James is the author of the novels Mona at Sea (SFWP, 2021) and The Bullet Swallower (forthcoming Simon & Schuster, 2024), as well as the chapbook, Five Conversations About Peter Sellers (Texas Review Press, 2023). Her stories and essays have appeared in The Idaho Review, Southern Humanities Review, The Rumpus, StorySouth, PANK, and elsewhere, and have received numerous Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. She is Interviews Editor at The Rumpus, and was a former contributor to Ploughshares Blog. Originally from South Texas, Elizabeth now lives with her family in Massachusetts.
Books will be available for purchase at the event, in store, and online.
Preorder a paperback copy of THE GIRLS IN QUEENS
Order a copy of MONA AT SEA or FIVE CONVERSATIONS ABOUT PETER SELLERS