On Sunday, April 7 at 3pm, join Constance Debré for the US launch of her latest novel Playboy, translated by Holly James and published by Semiotex(e).

First published in France in 2018, Playboy is the first volume of Constance Debré’s renowned autobiographical trilogy that describes her decision, at age forty-three, to abandon her marriage, her legal career, and her bourgeois Parisian life to become a lesbian and a writer.

The novel unfolds in a series of short, sharp vignettes. The narrator’s descriptions of her first female lovers—a married woman fifteen years older than her, a model ten years her junior—are punctuated by encounters with her ex-husband, her father, and her son. Looking at the world through fresh eyes, the narrator of Playboy questions everything that once lay beneath the surface of her well-managed life. Laconic, aggressive, and radically truthful, she examines gender and marriage, selfishness and sacrifice, money and family, even the privilege inherent in her downward mobility.

This conversation will be moderated by Sasha Frere-Jones.

The conversation will be in English. This event is free and open to the public with RSVP. Click here for tickets.

This event is co-organized with Villa Albertine and is a part of the Authors on Tour and post-residency programs. Constance Debré’s 2024 US tour is made possible by Villa Albertine and Semiotext(e).

CONSTANCE DEBRÉ left her career as a lawyer to become a writer. She is the author of a trilogy of novels: Playboy (Prix de La Coupole, 2018; trans. by Holly James, Semiotext(e), 2024), Love Me Tender (Prix Les Inrockuptibles, 2020; trans. by Holly James, Semiotext(e), 2022), and No Name (trans. & release date TBA, Semiotext(e)). In 2022, she was a resident at Villa Albertine.

SASHA FRERE-JONES is a musician and writer from New York. His memoir, Earlier, was recently published by Semiotext(e) (2023).

Photo credits: © Pierre-Ange Carlotti – Flammarion