Join us for an evening with author Ben Pester to discuss his Goldsmiths Prize and Nero Award shortlisted debut novel, The Expansion Project, an unnerving, surreal, and impressively familiar yet uncanny meditation on the pressures, isolation, anxiety, and dislocation of the modern workplace.

Plans for the expansion of the Capmeadow Business Park are in full swing—its mission is to become the greatest business park in the region.

Tom Crowley, a mid-level employee, loses his daughter at ‘bring your daughter to work day’. He raises the alarm, and his colleagues rush to help him find her. Eventually, after no sign of her is found, it transpires she was never there. And yet, as time goes on, Tom still cannot reconcile that she is really at home.

Refusing to accept that she is safe, Tom continues to search for her in the maze of corridors and impossible multi-dimensional spaces that make up his place of work…

Years pass, and Tom remains at the company, convinced he is in the presence of his now adult daughter. But has he judged it correctly? And can anything go back to the way it was?

To celebrate the publication of his debut novel, Ben will be in conversation with writer Hannah Hutchings-Georgiou about the literary influences behind The Expansion Project, how short and longer form fiction diverge and converge on the page, and why the surreal and absurd are essential to exploring the constraints of modern life, work, and literature.

“Terrific. An offbeat and deft exploration of memory, grief and parental love. Ben Pester continues to impress me with his talents.” Irenosen Okojie

The ‘stream and book’ package includes a unique ticket for the stream, and a copy of The Expansion Project (RRP £16.99) deliverable to any UK address.

The event will initially be broadcast on 23 February at 6.30pm UK time. It will be available to view up to two weeks after the event has ended and can be accessed Worldwide. If you live in a time zone that does not suit the initial broadcast time you can watch it at any point after the initial showing for two weeks.

If you have any questions, please email [email protected].