Pop-up: Kevin Sampsell
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Kevin Sampsell reads from his new novel Baby in the Night at Portland Art Museum in the Northwest Art gallery (Level 4, Room 402), paired with Akio Takamori, Night.
Followed by book signing at The Shop at PAM.
About Baby in the Night:
Tony isn’t afraid of the dark. In fact, he’s drawn to the nighttime because he believes that the glowing moon is his father. Baby in the Night is a quietly moving novel that follows our narrator, Tony Volcano Ventura, through his childhood as he grows from a very curious baby into a street-smart toddler and preschooler. Living in a poor neighborhood with his loving mother, Tony grapples with the mystery of who his father is, where he might be, and what happened to him. Over the course of many surreal and secret nighttime forays, Tony eventually finds his way to the truth. Along the way, he befriends a teenage junkie and encounters various neighborhood characters: imposter moons, a giant dog, and a droopy-faced messenger. There’s also a mysterious fax machine found in an alleyway—the same alley that Tony thinks might be a hideout full of face-eating pigs. Told from Tony’s unusual point of view, Baby in the Night is a novel full of innocence, tragedy, and a melancholy shot through with magic and wonder.
“Baby in the Night is surreal, tender and magnetic. Sampsell renders the slow-drip arrival of language in our baby-protagonist’s mind with revelatory precision. No book better communicates how the language we use shapes the world we live in, and how we feel and see.” —Rita Bullwinkel, author of Headshot
