Sam Sax at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes SAM SAX—ITALIC Lecturer at Stanford University and author of PIG, Madness, and Bury It—for a discussion of their debut novel Yr Dead.

About Yr Dead

In between the space of time when Ezra lights themself on fire and when Ezra dies the world of this book flashes before their eyes. Everyone Ezra’s ever loved, every place they’ve felt queer and at home, or queer and out of place, reveals itself in an instant. Unfolding in fragments of memory, Ezra dissolves into the family, religion, desire, losses, pains and joys that made them into the person that’s decided on this final act of protest.

Told in lyric fragments that span both lifetimes and geography, Yr Dead is a queer, Jewish, diasporic coming of age story that questions how our historical memory shapes our political and emotional present. Visceral, propulsive, and at turns fluorescently beautiful and fluorescently tragic, Yr Dead is the electric debut novel from award-winning writer Sam Sax, one of our most dynamic and imaginative writers.

Praise for Yr Dead

“A kaleidoscopic wonder here to help us see this broken world anew.” —R. O. Kwon, author of Exhibit

“It’s not just that I trust Sam Sax’s imagination. My sincere belief is that Sam’s creative freedom unlocks the potential for our liberation.” —Saeed Jones, author of How We Fight for Our Lives

“A singular, titrated, indelible debut.” —Alexander Chee, author of How To Write An Autobiographical Novel

“A perfect ghost story..it surprised me—startling me into a laugh, into knowledge, into a deep and enduring ache. I love this book.” —Safia Elhillo, author of Home is Not A Country

“A rare, compulsively readable combination of thunderous lyricism and pitch-perfect humor. There is not a wasted sentence, or even word, in this brilliant queer gem of a book.” —Jordy Rosenberg, author of Confessions of the Fox

“With Yr Dead, Sax revivifies the novel form, sculpting a poignant narrative that accumulates in meaning and sticks in the mind long after reading. There is rage in this work, and resistance against the pervasive horrors of our times, which Sax engages towards a delicate and astute exploration into the contradictions of a self and society. Refreshing as it is revelatory, Yr Dead demands attention to the need for change—I am grateful for it.” —Peter Scalpello, author of Limbic

Masking Policy

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.