Ben Lerner Book Launch, Foyles

Although Lerner initially found acclaim as a poet, his greatest success has come with his novels. Leaving the Atocha Station
(2011), his remarkable debut, followed a young American poet on a scholarship to Spain – an experience that Lerner endured himself. Through a first-person narrative, Lerner’s protagonist reveals his deepest neuroses as he blunders through events, constantly observing everything around him. Writing in the New Yorker, James Wood described it as “subtle, sinuous, and very funny.”
10:04 also follows a writer – this time called ‘Ben’ – as he makes his way through contemporary New York. Equally as witty as Leaving the Atotcha Station, it takes Lerner’s concerns with the literary life, the nature of reality and the world’s present state to a new refinement. This will be an essential evening for Lerner’s readers, and a fascinating introduction for those who have yet to enter his world.