Fiona Alison Duncan Launches Exquisite Mariposa With Ariela Freedman and Alix Van Der Donckt-Ferrand

November 19, 2019

Fiona Alison Duncan Launches Exquisite Mariposa With Ariela Freedman and Alix Van Der Donckt-Ferrand
Fiona reads from Exquisite Mariposa

It was such a treat to welcome Librairie Drawn & Quarterly alum Fiona Alison Duncan for the launch of her debut novel Exquisite Mariposa with the help of local author Ariela Freedman, and Montreal artist Alix Van Der Donckt-Ferrand!

In a similar spirit to Fiona's work with Hard to Read, Fiona read alongside fellow creators on the theme of the cocoon. 

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Ariela reads from A Joy to be Hidden

Ariela sets the scene in a late-90's New York City.

"Fiona - not this fiona in the room! I forgot I had a fiona in my book..."
"It took a while to learn how to wear them, it took a while to learn to be a woman, not a girl."
"She seemed to take for granted that the world would move her…"

Expanding on the theme of the evening, we moved through ideas of transformation and metamorphosis.

Alix carries on with a reading from her trilingual poem:
"Dos personas sentadas a ambos lados de una puerta abierta
I'm both :)
...et moi j'inspire et j'expire comme le grillon
...don't put legs on a snake
(I love failed attempts)"

Find more of her work here, and more of her music here!

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Alix sings Baila Sola - Dancing Alone

Fiona caps the evening...
"The book began as nonfiction; I learned to write fiction on the way."

Who would have thought of fictionalization as legal protection? Damn. "Editing is a blessing. Everyone should edit their lives."

Zodiac and television come together in the organisation of her 12 chapters - 12 signs - 12 episodes in a season. "The only way I could finish the book was to impose a kind of structure."

"People are my favorite medium."

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Exquisite Mariposa

Fiona Alison Duncan

"An unapologetically raw account of coming of age broke in Trump-era Los Angeles in the social media–saturated Now, this meditation (almost manifesto?) on materialism,...

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A Joy To Be Hidden

Ariela Freedman

A Joy To Be Hidden is set in a vividly recreated late-90s New York City. The protagonist is Alice Stein, a graduate student whose...

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Tamara Elali

Tamara Elali

Operations Assistant