Liminal

From award-winning playwright and filmmaker Jordan Tannahill comes a masterful and moving novel in the tradition of Ben Lerner’s Leaving the Atocha Station and Sheila Heti’s How Should a Person Be.

At 11:04 a.m. on January 21st, 2017, Jordan opens the door to his mother’s bedroom. As his eyes adjust to the half-light, he finds her lying in bed, eyes closed and mouth agape. In that instant he cannot tell whether she is asleep or dead. The sight of his mother's body, caught between these two possibilities, causes Jordan to plunge headlong into the uncertain depths of consciousness itself.

From androids to cannibals to sex clubs, an unforgettable personal odyssey emerges, populated by a cast of sublime outsiders in search for the ever-elusive nature of self. Part ontological thriller, part millennial saga, Liminal is a riotous and moving portrait of a young man in volatile times, a generation caught in suspended animation, and a son’s enduring love for his mother.

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JORDAN TANNAHILL is an award-winning author, playwright, filmmaker, and theatre director. He is the winner of the Governor General’s Award for Drama for Age of Minority: Three Solo Plays and was shortlisted for the prize again for Concord Floral. He has twice received Dora Awards for Outstanding New Play. His play Botticelli in the Fire won the 2017 Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best New Play and is currently being adapted into a feature by filmmaker Stephen Dunn. From 2012 to 2016, in collaboration with William Ellis, Tannahill ran the alternative art space Videofag, which became an influential hub for queer and avant-garde work in Canada. He is the author of Theatre of the Unimpressed: In Search of Vital Drama and The Videofag Book; and his latest play, Declarations, will be published to coincide with its premiere at Canadian Stage in January 2018. Tannahill’s films and multimedia performances have been presented at festivals and galleries such as the Toronto International Film Festival, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Tribeca Film Festival. Most recently, his virtual reality performance Draw Me Close, a co-production between the National Theatre (U.K.) and the National Film Board of Canada, premiered in May 2017 at the Tribeca Film Festival. His play Late Company will be transferring to the West End (London, U.K.) August–September 2017. Liminal is his first novel and is being made into a feature length art film by the NFB and the National Theatre in the UK. Born in 1988 in Ottawa, Ontario, he now makes his home in London, U.K.