Kilworthy Tanner by Jean Marc Ah-Sen
CBC Books | Posted: June 27, 2024 9:52 AM | Last Updated: June 27
A madcap, witty account of an aspiring author’s relationship with an infamous and provocative mentor
Fresh-faced Jonno is looking to make a splash in the literary scene when he encounters celebrated novelist Kilworthy Tanner at a party. Having sold first editions of her works to Toronto's book dealers, he's immediately star-struck and more than a little surprised when she takes an interest in him. Could this be the break he's after?
It's not long before the controlling and aloof Kilworthy is casually letting young Jonno move in with her, and they begin co-authoring sensational and unruly fictions together.
But who'll get the credit for these collaborations, and why does he constantly feel like he must fend off rival authors? Fuelled by outrageousness and hell-bent on literary self-annihilation, Kilworthy Tanner is Jonno's tell-all 'pseudobiography' of their entanglement, and he doesn't withhold any details of the sexual degeneracy, prodigious drug use, and vendettas of the era. (From Vehicule Press)
Ah-Sen is a Toronto-based writer of Mauritian descent. His books include Grand Menteur and In the Beggarly Style of Imitation and his writing has appeared in Literary Hub, Catapult, The Comics Journal, Maclean's, Hazlitt, the Globe and Mail, The Walrus and The Toronto Star.