Listed as a best Australian book of 2022 by the Guardian, writer Oliver Mol’s new memoir, Train Lord, tells the story of how a chronic, 10-month-long migraine subsumed him, robbing him of writing, reading, and–ultimately–existence itself. “Two things happened,” Mol notes, “I became a writer who no longer wrote, and a person who could no longer communicate with the modern world. In literature, and life, I began to disappear.” Steadied by a job as a train guard, and surrounded by a new collection of characters, Mol reflects on his new vocation with wit and honesty, sharp images and deep emotions. Ultimately Train Lord captures the experience of pain, but it also captures the bright ideas of possibility, creativity, and growth that pain so often trails in its wake. 

About the speaker:

Oliver Mol is the author of Lion Attack! (Scribe Publications, 2015) and Train Lord (Penguin Michael Joseph, 2022), which was a Guardian, Australian Book Review and Sydney Morning Herald book of the year. He is a contributing editor at Apartamento Magazine and was a 2022 Marten Bequest Scholar for Prose through the Australian Council for the Arts. He grew up in Australia, and currently lives in Paris.

Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (Mol will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.

This event requires advance registration.

Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.