Jean Marc Ah-Sen
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.
Esplanade BooksFiction 2024
“Kilworthy Tanner is one entertaining novel.” -Brian Bethune, Toronto Star
"Although self-described as a "pseudobiography," Kilworthy Tanner more closely resembles a Künstlerroman, a novel about the formation of a young artist. Equally is it a comedy of manners, a work of hyper-aestheticized social realism for underemployed, over-titillated literary types. At the height of his stylistic powers, Ah-Sen evokes the lurid, laugh-aloud creative genius of the Earl of Rochester, if that debauched nobleman had penned the screenplay to Scott Pilgrim vs. the World." – Ronny Litvack-Katzman, Montreal Review of Books
“Being in a relationship should be like biting into a cream tart—or so says Jonno, the young narrator of this intoxicating ‘biography’ of a CanLit superstar. Unfortunately for Jonno, relationships are more like a pie to the face. Exploring the blood sport of love and literature, Kilworthy Tanner totally kills. A cheeky, wow-inspiring novel by a master stylist.” -Neil Smith, author of Boo and Jones
280 pp 7.5" x 5"
ISBN13: 9781550656633
CDN $22.95
Ebook
ISBN13: 9781550656657
CDN $13.99