\n<\/p>\n
\u201c[I\u2019m] not sure what it says about myself or my work that I synonymize pleasure and horniness,\u201d Down says, \u201cbut when Matt said the readings were meant to be about pleasure, my brain went to what could potentially be the horniest subsection of literature\u2014fan fiction\u2014and then, to the horniest subsection of the horniest subsection: Harry Potter<\/em> fan fiction. Thankfully, there are thousands of entries online.\u201d<\/p>\n Down kicked off the readings with an excerpt of steamy, dense prose that focused on a sexual tryst with Harry Potter<\/em> character Neville Longbottom. \u201cI considered some Draco and Harry stuff, but in all honesty, it was just too horny, and most of it concerned \u2018school age\u2019 wizards\u2026 so was a little unsettling,\u201d Down continues. \u201cSo I settled for some soft core pansy Neville, Sex and the City<\/em>-adjacent fantasy action that had some nice feminist inflections, despite using the words \u2018her aching cunt\u2019 to describe a children\u2019s books character.\u201d<\/p>\n Director, novelist, and Father Figure<\/em> author Emma Forrest was up next, wearing slinky cream Paloma Wool trousers and a green Jacquemus top\u2014\u201cyoung brands,\u201d as she put it. \u201cI think I was hyper-aware that I was entering into a young person\u2019s arena, and maybe that\u2019s also why I read a piece that culminates in the embrace of the female aging process, an erotic thrill to being deemed a hag,<\/em>\u201d she says. Forrest entered the ring as one absolutely should, crossing the threshold and dropping to the floor for some energizing press-ups. \u201cHaving directed a movie [Untogether<\/em>, starring Jemima and Lola Kirke], I like to block out the full use of a space.\u201d She had arrived early to plan her entrance.<\/p>\n Charri\u00e8re read a snippet of her forthcoming debut memoir, Ashamed.<\/em> She chose a part of her second chapter, \u201cPardon My French,\u201d<\/em> where she explores her relationship with home as she moves to London from France to work at a hedge fund. \u201cIt ties quite nicely with the theme of pleasure,\u201d explains Charri\u00e8re, \u201cbecause it\u2019s about the agony and ecstasy of discovering a new city, working in your first job, and the excitement and freedom that comes with that\u2026but there\u2019s also all the pain and homesickness. It\u2019s also about how terribly incompetent I was because I accepted this job in finance to follow a boy.\u201d<\/p>\n Reading this early work was a terrifying and galvanizing experience for her. \u201cMy piece was a bit more earnest,\u201d she says of her contribution to the night\u2019s readings, \u201cbut there\u2019s still a lot of pleasure to derive from that. I found the experience quite exposing. Getting into the ring, you feel naked. It\u2019s like any form of sport\u2026it pushes you to be better, to train more, to have endurance and consistency with your writing. I\u2019m grateful to Matt for the invitation. I\u2019ve gone through a rollercoaster of emotions since.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve accepted at this point that writing a memoir is a real journey of self discovery, because there\u2019s the book you think you\u2019re going to write, the story that you\u2019ve been telling yourself and the world. And once you start digging\u2014especially because the book explores vulnerability and shame, as well as the themes in the lives of many women like fertility, dating, pretty privilege\u2014trying to untangle the story you tell yourself versus the honest one is very hard.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n