124 E. Washington Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
USA
Literati is pleased to welcome Courtney Maum back to Ann Arbor in support of her second novel, Touch. Courtney will be joined in conversation by Callie Collins, a member of the Helen Zell Writers’ Program and co-director of independent press A Strange Object.
About Touch: Sloane Jacobsen was the foreseer of “the swipe,” among many other successful premonitions, and global fashion, lifestyle, and tech companies pay to hear her opinions on the future of everything from clothes to gadgets, food and families. Sloane’s recent forecasts on the family are definitive and unwavering: the world is over-populated, and with unemployment, college costs, and food prices all on the rise, having children is an indulgence. These predictions are also what brings her from Paris to New York City to work for the tech-giant, Mammoth, as their in-house trend forecaster for six months.
But not far into her contract, she begins to sense the undeniable signs of a movement against electronics that will see people embracing compassion, empathy, and “in-personism” again. She’s struggling with the fact that her predictions are hopelessly out of sync with her employers’ mission when her partner, the French “neo-sensualist” Roman Bellard, reveals that he is about to publish an op-ed on the death of penetrative sex. Still, Sloane becomes convinced that her instincts are the right ones, and goes on a quest to bring compassion and humanism to others, while finally allowing the love and connectedness she’s long been denying herself.
With the same mixture of wit and sincerity that won her debut novel so many fans, Touch is a poignant reminder to keep our heads up and our hearts open in our modern lives. It is a thoughtful, of-the-moment exploration of real-life concerns—that is truly another “book for everyone” (as the Washington Post said of her first) —and also explores prescient issues of technology, family, and artificial intelligence in a sophisticated and entertaining way.
“Touch is so smart that even its comic absurdities quiver with wisdom, as an anti-mom and a neo-sensualist confirm our suspicion that the lives of trendsetters aren’t quite what they appear to be. Courtney Maum’s writing is sharp and complex—prepare to be touched by this novel is ways you might not expect.”—Elizabeth McKenzie, author of The Portable Veblen
“Our modern world is at once hyper-connected and hyper-alienating, and in this magical/terrible time, Courtney Maum’s latest novel offers us a balm, a solution, a call to action, or, at the very least, time away from our smartphones to read a compelling, perceptive, and moving story about the state of human intimacy and love in our contemporary era. Touch is at once wry and sincere, funny and serious, and you won’t be able to put it down.”—Edan Lepucki, author of California
“What begins as a satirical romp through the fields of trend forecasting and technology in Courtney Maum’s Touch deepens into a trenchant and wise portrait of what it means to be fully human at a time when the culture is trying its hardest to make us only partially so.”—Teddy Wayne, author of Loner and The Love Song of Johnny Valentine
Courtney Maum is the author of the celebrated novel I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You and her short fiction, book reviews, and essays on the writing life have been widely published in outlets such as The New York Times, Tin House, Electric Literature, and Buzzfeed. She has also co-written films that have debuted at Sundance and won awards at Cannes. At various points in her life, she has been a trend forecaster herself, a fashion publicist, and a party promoter for Corona Extra. She currently works as a product namer for M·A·C cosmetics from her home in Litchfield County, CT, where she lives with her husband and daughter.
