Join us as we welcome Nathan Newman, in conversation with Mendez, to celebrate the publication of their debut novel, How to Leave the House: a genuinely hilarious, utterly obnoxious and impressively daring exploration of the varied and absurd ways that human lives intersect .
It's Natwest's last day before he leaves for university, and there's only one thing on his mind: the deeply embarrassing package he ordered to his house - which still hasn't arrived. He won't leave town without it. Any alternative is too distressing to consider ...This is the story of twenty-four hours in the life of NATWEST, and his small-town odyssey in pursuit of the missing package. And yet it's also the story of a MIDDLE-AGED DENTIST who dreams of being a respected artist - but the only thing he can seem to paint is the human mouth. And it's the story of a TORTURED IMAM involved in a quasi-romantic entanglement with the local vicar; and an OCTOGENARIAN mourning the death of her secretive husband; and a TROUBLED TEENAGER whose nudes have leaked on the internet. It's the story of Natwest's obnoxious EX-BOYFRIEND, and his CLASS-TRAITOR MOTHER and her CHILDHOOD BOYFRIEND, and the life-changing secrets he knows about Natwest's past.Alternating between Natwest's idiosyncratic inner world and the perspectives of the other characters - and dazzling in its energy, imagination and originality - this is an outrageously funny and tenderly moving story about being connected to everyone and everything at all times; about love, friendship, and the lies we tell ourselves; about unhappy endings, happy endings - and whether anything really is as simple as one or the other.Nathan Newman (they/them) is a 26-year-old writer and filmmaker. Their short stories have won awards including the James Knudsen Prize for Fiction and they have been published in literary journals in the US and several university anthologies in the UK. As well as writing, Nathan works as an usher at a cinema. They live in London. How to Leave the House is their first novel.
Mendez (they/them) was born in the Black Country, a historically industrial region, in 1982. Raised in the Jehovah's Witness faith, they left the organisation while still a teenager, and later began sex work while studying acting at a North London method school. Journaling their experiences eventually led to a novel, Rainbow Milk, which was published in 2020 and shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize, the Jhalak Prize and the Polari Prize. Their essays and reviews have appeared in the London Review of Books, Poetry Foundation, Attitude and the Guardian.
