The Common Press is proud to be hosting Gavin McCrea's new memoir, Cells: memories for my mother on 15th November 7 pm - 9 pm. Join Gavin McCrea in conversation with Max Liu.
A brave book, beautifully written, fearless, vulnerable, self-aware, honest’ - Colum McCann
A compulsive tidal force of a book: detailed, vulnerable, and brave'. Séan Hewitt
This memoir is an intimate story of McCrea's upbringing and early adulthood: feeling out of place in the insular suburb in which he grew up, the homophobic bullying he suffered at school, his brother’s mental illness and drug addiction, his father’s sudden death, his own devastating diagnosis, his struggles and triumphs as a writer, and above all, always, his relationship with his mother. Her brightness shines a light on his childhood, but her betrayal of his teenage self leads to years of resentment and disconnection. Now, he must find a way to reconcile with her, before it is too late.
Written with unusual frankness and urgency, Cells is at once an uncovering of filial love and its limits, and a coming to terms with separation and loss.
About Max Liu
Max Liu is a journalist and literary critic who writes regularly for the I, the Financial Times, and other publications as well as appearing on Radio 4's Front Row and Open Book
Join us for an intimate evening discussing this powerful book
Arrival from 7pm through bar entrance - Common Counter
Event starts from 7:30pm at The Common Press