The Gayest Love Story Ever Told: Writing Queer Romance & Tragedy

Event guidelines:

• Tickets are limited to restrict capacity at our store.
• Additional copies of the panelists’ books will be available for purchase at the event.
• A signing will follow the talk.
• Home address is collected for contact tracing purposes; it will not be used otherwise.
• The event will also be livestreamed for free here: https://youtube.com/live/bAYBF040NJY
• As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event, even if you have a ticket; email us and we’ll work it out.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request accessibility accommodations, please contact eventhelp@booksaremagic.net.

Intrigue, romance, seduction, betrayal, heartbreak—join us for this panel discussing the intricacies of queer love, and what fuels the spark in these writers’ stories! Featuring Emma Copley Eisenberg (Housemates), Dylin Hardcastle (A Language of Limbs), Denne Michele Norris (When the Harvest Comes), Jiaming Tang (Cinema Love), Olivia Wolfgang-Smith (Mutual Interest), & moderated by TJ Alexander (Triple Sec).

All ticket proceeds will be donated to the Sylvia Rivera Law Project. For more information on their efforts to protect freedom of expression and self-determination of gender identity, visit their website.

Emma Copley Eisenberg is the author of the novel Housemates and the nonfiction book The Third Rainbow Girl, which was a New York Times Notable Book and Editor’s Choice of 2020 as well as a finalist for an Edgar Award, a Lambda Literary Award, and an Anthony Award, among other honors. Her fiction, essays, and criticism have appeared in Granta, Esquire, The New Republic, Lux, The Washington Post Magazine, VQR, and many other publications. She lives in Philadelphia, where she co-founded Blue Stoop, a community hub for the literary arts. Her short story collection, Fat Swim, is forthcoming from Hogarth in 2026.

Dylin Hardcastle (they/them) is an award-winning author, artist, and screenwriter. They are the author of Below Deck (2020), Breathing Under Water (2016), and Running Like China (2015). Their work has been published to critical acclaim in eleven territories and translated into eight languages. A Language of Limbs won the Kathleen Mitchell Award through Creative Australia. The novel has been optioned by Curio (Sony Pictures) and is in development.

Denne Michele Norris is the editor-in-chief of Electric Literature, winner of the Whiting Literary Magazine Prize. She is the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. An Out100 Honoree, she has been supported by MacDowell, Tin House, and the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction, and appears in McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, and ZORA. She is co-host of the critically acclaimed podcast Food 4 Thot and holds an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College. When the Harvest Comes is her debut novel.

Jiaming Tang is a queer immigrant writer. He holds an MFA from the University of Alabama, and his writing has appeared in such publications as AGNI, Lit Hub, Joyland Magazine, and elsewhere. He is a 2022-23 Center for Fiction Emerging Writer Fellow and lives in Brooklyn, New York. Cinema Love is his first novel.

Olivia Wolfgang-Smith is the author of Mutual Interest and Glassworks, which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. She is a 2024 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Fiction from The New York Foundation for the Arts and lives in Brooklyn with her partner.

The panel will be moderated by TJ Alexander. TJ Alexander is a Lambda Literary Award finalist and critically acclaimed author who writes about queer love. Originally from Florida, they received their MA in writing and publishing from Emerson College in Boston. They live in New York City with their wife, cats, and various houseplants.