In their razor-sharp debut novels, Eliot Duncan and Soula Emmanuel both delve into the experience of transness and the search for love, not only from others but from yourself.

In Duncan’s Ponyboy, the eponymous narrator struggles to break free from cycles of addiction and frustration as he searches for the places and spaces where he can be seen and accepted without judgement or condition. With evocative, atmospheric style, Duncan embraces both shadow and light in this portrait of a life in freefall.

Similarly, Emmanuel’s Wild Geese follows protagonist Phoebe – finally settled into a new life in Copenhagen and ready to start afresh. But a surprise visit from an ex leaves her looking back at the life in Dublin she thought she’d left behind. Warm, witty and full of hope, this is an unmissable introduction to a remarkable new voice in Irish literature.

Both novels tap into the universal human desire for connection and compassion. Unafraid of messy feelings and flawed characters, Duncan and Emmanuel have deeply human stories that dive head-first into the simultaneous pleasure and pain of becoming who you want to be.

Eliot Duncan is the co-creator of the international, queer collective Slanted House. He studied philosophy at the American University of Paris and is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Soula Emmanuel is a trans writer who has written for IMAGE magazine, Rogue Collective and the Project Arts Centre, and has had fiction published by The Liminal Review. She was longlisted for Penguin’s WriteNow programme in 2020, took part in the Stinging Fly fiction summer school in 2021 and was a participant in the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency’s mentorship programme for 2021-22..

This event will be chaired by James Hudson.