Your holiday reading is arriving and you can meet the author too.
Here at AUK Towers there’s nothing we like better than curling up with a bit of socio-realism of an evening and our favourite (son of Steinbeck @KH) and my tip for the number one Americana artist of all time in the current poll, Willy Vlautin has new one coming out. “The Horse” is soon to be published by Faber & Faber in May (UK, Ireland, and Australia) and by Harper in the US in August.
The new novel follows Al Ward, who lives on an isolated mining claim in the high desert of central Nevada fifty miles from the nearest town. A grizzled man in his sixties, he survives on canned soup, instant coffee, and memories of his ex-wife, friends and family he’s lost, and his life as a touring musician. Hampered by insomnia, bouts of anxiety, and a chronic lethargy that keeps him from moving back to town, Al finds himself teetering on the edge of madness and running out of reasons to go on—until a horse arrives on his doorstep: nameless, blind, and utterly helpless.
The novel has already had some glowing reviews from the likes of Joe Hill (“No one anywhere writes with such power and such stark beauty about American desperation and want, American loneliness and heartache”) and Jess Walter (“like the literary equivalent of a classic album by Tom Waits or Townes Van Zandt”).
Willy will be touring the UK and Ireland in support of the release in the spring. These ticketed events will feature conversations about the book (in Brighton hosted by UNCUT legend Allan Jones) and songs that inspired it as well as a handful of Richmond Fontaine and Delines songs performed by Willy. Available for sale only at these events will be an illustrated short story featuring drawings by longtime collaborator Nate Beaty. US dates are coming soon but here they are in the UK:
Willy Vlautin 2024 UK Dates:
13 May – Komedia, Brighton
14 May – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
15 May – CCA, Glasgow
16 May – Band On The Wall, Manchester
18 May – Earth Theatre, London
19 May – Lantern, Bristol
21 May – Deers Head, Belfast
22 May – Sugar Club, Dublin
