A look back at an evening of readings and performances celebrating magazines and literature
By Shreya Basu
Hosted by Pack Animal Series, here’s everything the five authors read, from dissecting cultural phenomenons, to memoir excavations and sharp, intimate fiction.
Sara Peters
Work: Mother of God
Sara Peters opened the event with a dark but subtly comic excerpt from her novel, Mother of God about a woman Marlene and her relationship with her mother, Darlene. In her reading, Sara describes an instance where a 10-year-old Marlene is left alone with Ed, her mother’s abusive boyfriend. Ed, who had recently been taking a creative writing class, insists on reading Marlene a long, self-aggrandizing letter he wrote in which he recites surreal and violent stories from his past marriages and addresses young Marlene as “maestro.”
Ed’s dramatic reading demonstrates the grotesque ego of men who weaponize language to assert authority. Marlene’s response to it shows her fear and emotional vigilance from a young age.
Greta Rainbow
Work: How “Cozy Lit” Became the Latest and Most Shameless Form of Digital Escapism
In her essay-in-progress at the time, Greta Rainbow dissects the rise of the literary sub-genre popularly dubbed “cozy lit,” with roots in Japanese & Korean culture and traditionally seen in anime, manga and other similar narrative forms. This “healing” fiction style offers a familiar and nostalgic atmosphere with recurring themes of libraries, coffee shops, bookstores and cats. Rainbow frames it against the backdrop of digital addiction, arguing that cozy books aren’t an alternative to scrolling but a softer mirror of its hypnotic passivity. She also pointed out how Western publishing often commodifies this historically gentle style and sexualizes it and how cozy reading can sometimes feel like consuming aestheticized comfort rather than genuine depth. The essay has since been published in The Walrus.
Michael LaPointe
Work: Unreleased memoir of essays
Michael LaPointe read a riveting section of a memoir he was working on, an analysis of the first book he wrote at age 20, The Latitudes. The excerpt follows a formative memory: accompanying his grandfather to gather books from the estate of his deceased war buddy. Afterwards, returning to his grandfather’s house — one full of seemingly rare antiques and artifacts — LaPointe only realized they were carefully staged fakes after his grandfather’s death. He reflected on how this revelation led him to develop a near-religious devotion to reading— a hunger to read “absolutely everything.” And yet, while looking back on his first novel, LaPointe realized that despite all his sincerity, he had unknowingly partaken in the same impulse his grandfather had — one that valued presentation over value.
Adam Nayman
A subtitled still from Éric Rohmer’s Conte d’ete.
Work: Essay on Éric Rohmer & Criterion Collection
Adam Nayman delivered a witty talk, starting with the French filmmaker Éric Rohmer. He explored why Rohmer’s films continue to resonate with newer audiences and especially Gen Z. He attributed their popularity to Rohmer’s characters, who circle their own desires in endless conversations and the filmmaker’s emphasis on post-adolescent angst. Nayman talked about how Rohmer’s characters often experience themes of yearning and missed opportunities, making stills from his films ideal for subtitled screenshots and meme culture. He also referenced the online archetypes of the “Rohmer guy” and “Rohmer girl,” where viewers project mood and personality onto the filmmaker’s characters for relatability.
From there, Nayman connected Rohmer’s appeal to the broader culture of cinephilia and collecting, referencing his own forthcoming book on the The Criterion Collection. He traced how Criterion’s numbered releases have transformed at-home movie viewing into a form of connoisseurship, creating the now-familiar figure of the “Criterion guy.”
Souvankham Thammavongsa
Work: Pick a Color
Souvankham Thammavongsa closed the evening with a reading from her novel Pick a Colour. The excerpt was narrated from the perspective of a nail salon owner who spends her days studying faces at close range. She describes the technical work of removing hair, shaping brows and navigating the delicate line between offering help and provoking insecurity. She notes how her clients trust her with both their appearance and their secrets and often mistake her position “down low” for a lack of power. In reality, she holds all the knowledge built from observing them closely. Thammavongsa’s piece was deeply perceptive about beauty and vulnerability.
Find some of these titles at your local bookstore!
Leave a Reply