Lovecraft Country: Matt Ruff with Alexandria Brown

A chilling chronicle of Jim Crow-era monsters—human and otherwise.

Blending Lovecraftian horror, pulp novel pacing, and the dark histories of the American south, Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country exposes the deep racial traumas of the Jim Crow era.

In 1950s Chicago, Atticus Turner has returned home from Korea to find that his father Montrose is missing. His uncle, George, publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide, offers to bring him along on a search trip to New England, joined by Atticus's longtime friend Letitia. Their journey takes them to the Braithwhite estate, whose storied family once owned own of Atticus's ancestors. What they discover on the way—and beyond—is an assortment of Jim Crow-era horrors both ordinary and supernatural.

The author joins us for a discussion on the book, legacies of racism in the horror genre, and the newly adapted HBO series, in conversation with librarian and Tor.com critic Alexandria Brown.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Matt Ruff was born in New York City in 1965. He is the award-winning author of seven novels, including 88 Names, The Mirage, Bad Monkeys, Set This House in Order, Fool on the Hill, and Sewer, Gas & Electric. The novel Lovecraft Country has been adapted as an HBO series by Misha Green, Jordan Peele, and J.J. Abrams.

Alexandria Brown is a queer Black librarian, local historian, writer, and author of two books on the history Napa County, California’s marginalized communities. She has a BA with honors in Anthropology and Sociology, a Master’s of Library and Information Science, and a Master’s in US History. She writes about speculative fiction and young adult literature for Tor.com, as well as on her blog. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and access set the foundation of everything she does.

GET THE BOOK
If you have a NYPL library card—or live in New York state and want to apply for one now—you can borrow Lovecraft Country for free with our e-reader app SimplyE, available for iOS and Android devices.

Readers everywhere who wish to purchase copies of Lovecraft Country can do so at The New York Public Library Shop. All proceeds benefit The New York Public Library. Plus, receive a free 125th Anniversary tote bag with your purchase! 

ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Branching Out is a series of online author talks hosted by New York Public Library neighborhood branches.

Explore new literary worlds and connect with local community at author talks and panel conversations. Learn more at nypl.org/authortalks.

This program will be streamed on Zoom. You must register with your email address in order to receive the link to participate. Please check your email shortly before the discussion to receive the link. Captions for this event will be provided.

For questions and inquiries, please contact branchprograms@nypl.org.

PUBLIC NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER
This Program uses a third-party website link. By clicking on the third-party website link, you will leave NYPL’s website and enter a website not operated by NYPL. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of every third-party website or service that you visit or use, including those third parties with whom you interact with through our Library services. For more information about these third-party links, please see the section of NYPL's Privacy Policy describing "Third-Party Library Services Providers" at https://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/legal-notices/privacy-policy.

During this Program, you will be using third-party platforms such as Zoom for the purpose of communication. This service may collect some personally identifying information about you, such as name, username, email address, & password. This service will treat the information it collects about you pursuant to its own privacy policy, which can be found here: Google Privacy Policy, Zoom Privacy Policy.

Matt Ruff photo © Lisa Gold