Thursday 22nd May
6.30 to 9pm
Join us to celebrate the launch of The Passenger Seat by Vijay Khurana, published by Peninsula Press. Vijay will be discussing his new novel with Lucie Elven; author of The Weak Spot (Prototype, 2021)
A mesmerising and unsettling novel from a powerful new voice
Seeking release from their small-town existence, two teenagers drive north on a vaguely plotted road trip.
Adam and Teddy hope to leave boyhood behind. But they carry with them all the upsets and resentments they have accrued in their unhappy lives to date. As the pair’s journey progresses, the mood fluctuates as each of them sets out to prove himself. Soon the dynamics of their friendship begin to unravel, culminating in an act of devastating – and all too familiar – violence.
In taut and stylish prose, The Passenger Seat examines how men learn and perform masculinity. Rejecting easy answers, it keeps our eyes trained on the vanishing point where vulnerability edges into violence, alienation into aggression.
‘This book is simply great – an elegant novel written with disturbing emotional intensity and a sly, judicious sense of contemporary detail.’ Lauren Oyler
‘This perfectly pitched tale of masculinity gone wrong exposes the ways that intimacy can so quickly veer into violence – yet it evades easy moral pronouncements at every turn. Khurana is a brilliant stylist who drives straight toward the heart.’ Elvia Wilk
‘Vijay Khurana writes incredibly succinct and vigorous prose. His stories, always full of insight and depth, shine a light on the most nuanced and ambivalent corners of our lives.’ Yan Ge
Vijay Khurana is a writer and translator from German. His debut novel, The Passenger Seat, was shortlisted for the Novel Prize and is published by Peninsula Press. His writing has been published in The Guardian, 3:AM Magazine, NOON, and The Erotic Review, among others. He has also been a presenter on Australian radio station triple j and has published a children’s chapter book, Regal Beagle.
Lucie Elven is the author of the novella The Weak Spot. She has also written articles and short stories for The New Yorker, the London Review of Books, The New York Times, Granta, NOON and Le Monde diplomatique.