In Out launch

It’s the end of 2015. For our narrator, every day is mostly the same; a visit to the local corner shop to retrieve a blue plastic bag of wine and off-brand cheese puffs before falling into the sofa crevice to get drunk, get high, and stare at the television.

He was ‘normal’ once – he held up a job at a fashion magazine (that his mother got him) and wore nice clothes and showered and cleaned his teeth and bitched about his boss. Now, the only people who visit are his busy, narcissistic mother, his annoying stepsister, Olivia, and the men he finds on Grindr to pay for his meals.

When one of his dates leads to assault, he finds himself suddenly sober and back at his mother’s, a fancy suburban townhouse that betrays her Scouse roots. As weeks go by, he starts to slowly unravel, along with their already complicated relationship, and when, months later, he’s asked to perform his duty as her son at a Women of the Year party in her honour, his past and present collide with catastrophic consequences.

At once a propulsive and hilarious debut that charges towards oblivion, and a dissociated depiction of queer loneliness and self-destruction, In Out gives us a new kind of antihero grappling with life in the runup to the Brexit referendum, exploring what it means to be untethered along with ideas of masculinity, class, family, and addiction.

Praise for In Out

‘In Out by debut novelist Joe Conroy is one to watch.’ — COLD

‘A dark and compelling read.’ — ATTITUDE

‘In Out heralds the arrival of an electric new voice in literary fiction. I laughed, I wept, I told everyone. Joe Conroy is the real deal - a raw and formidable young talent.’ — HELEN WALSH, AUTHOR OF BRASS

‘In Out is brilliant, brutal and totally unhinged. Joe Conroy is a mad genius and an essential new voice in British literature.’ — SUFIYAAN SALAM, AUTHOR OF WIMMY ROAD BOYZ

‘In Out is an addictive and visceral novel – compelling, poignant, and darkly funny all at once. It has a blistering energy which is totally unforgettable. Joe Conroy is a huge new talent.’ — SOPHIE MACKINTOSH, AUTHOR OF THE WATER CURE AND PERMANENCE

‘A bright young voice who writes with disarming humour and nerve.’ LUCIE ELVEN, AUTHOR OF THE WEAK SPOT

‘Both so much fun and utterly unhinged…I loved this stupid, young, lonely boy in a way that made me nostalgic for writers of the 90s and early noughties – smart people doing stupid things, not really caring until they have to.’ — CURTIS GARNER, AUTHOR OF ORANGE AND ISAAC

‘A gleeful riot of frustration, fevered love and the tender mess that is modern hunger. Smart, tricky and gorgeous.’ — BEN PESTER, AUTHOR OF THE EXPANSION PROJECT

Nali Simukulwa is a culture writer. Her work specialises in identity and current affairs. When she's not working on her debut novel, she's bringing new eyes to the beautiful game as VERSUS' Women's Football Writer. Her work can be found in British Vogue, Gay Times, gal-dem, Polyester Zine and the back pages of various library books (oops).

Joe Conroy was born in 2002 in Liverpool. Described as a 'mad genius’, 'an essential new voice in British literature’ and ‘a huge new talent’, his debut novel, In Out, is set for publication on October. 1st 2026 , and has been named ‘one to watch’ by Cold Magazine.