Join us with Derek Owusu, in conversation with India Chambers, to discuss Borderline Fiction an exploration of love and relationships told with raw honesty and uniquely moving prose through the eyes of a young man living with Borderline Personality Disorder.Loneliness means you don’t have to disappoint anyoneuntil you develop the habit of talking to yourselfAt nineteen, Marcus is young and in love . . . again. When his latest crush, Adwoa, starts showing him true affection, Marcus is ready to reconsider his lifestyle – the drugs, the casual encounters. At least for a little while.Now, before he knows it, Marcus is twenty-five. And history risks repeating itself.Told through two parallel narratives – one past, one present – Borderline Fiction is a highly original and deeply affecting contemporary tale written with an intensity of emotion and vulnerability. The novel is a close-up, sometimes uncomfortable, sometimes funny examination of what it means to be a young black man navigating today’s world.Tortured, beautiful, anxious and poetic, Borderline Fiction is a memorable glimpse into the inner world of a young man searching for an authentic way to love and be loved.Derek Owusu is an award-winning writer and poet from North London. He has written for the BBC, ITV, Granta, Esquire, GQ and Tate Britain. In 2019, Owusu collated, edited and contributed to SAFE: On Black British Men Reclaiming Space, an anthology exploring the experiences of Black men in Britain. His first novel, That Reminds Me, won the Desmond Elliott Prize for best debut novel published in the UK and Ireland. His novel Losing the Plot was longlisted for the Jhalak Prize and the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2023. The same year, he was selected as one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists.India Chambers began her publishing career as an Assistant Editor at Penguin Random House (Puffin) after receiving an MA in Black British Writing and working as a bookseller at Round Table Books. India is particularly interested in harnessing and amplifying voices that have historically been excluded.
