Acclaimed authors Martin MacInnes and John-Paul Gomez will come together for a special literary event at the National Literature Centre (CNL) in Mersch on 1 April at 7.30pm exploring the power of short stories to illuminate the human condition.

The Scottish novelist Martin MacInnes, whose most recent novel In Ascension was long-listed for the prestigious Booker Prize in 2023, will be in Luxembourg on 1 April to do a reading alongside local writer John-Paul Gomez. The event, in which the authors will read and discuss some of their published work as well as new material, will be held at the National Literature Archive (Centre national de littérature, or CNL) and starts at 7.30pm It is free and open to the public.

Before the event on Tuesday evening, MacInnes and Gomez appeared on Today Radio's breakfast show with Stephen Lowe, where they already presented some of their works.

Martin MacInnes and J.P. Gomez chat about their event tonight at CNL Mersch

Nathalie Jacoby, who is the director of the CNL, cites Simon Ings of the Times who describes In Ascension as having us confront a world that is "wider and wilder than we thought". Jacoby says that both MacInnes and Gomez, the creator of the Wurst and whose collection The Idiot of St. Benedict and Other Stories won first place in the 2022 National Literary Competition and was later published by Black Fountain Press, "address the most pressing question of our times, the future of humanity."

Martin MacInnes and his deeply rendered fictional worlds

The thought-provoking bestseller “In Ascension,” which earned praise from reviewers and readers alike, is MacInnes’s third published novel. It presents a vast, compelling narrative that follows Leigh, a researcher in the near future who has developed a super algae that could be used to sustain astronauts during long voyages into the outer reaches of the solar system, made all the more likely by a newly discovered energy source.

The other two novels MacInnes has published – Infinite Ground (2016) and Gathering Evidence (2020) – also both earned high praise. The former is described by the Guardian as "a Borgesian maybe-murder mystery" in which "an inspector searches for a young man who may or may not be there." As for the latter, the New Statesman says it "explores what it means to be human" and "deserves to cement [MacInnes’s] reputation as a bold and curious writer."

John-Paul Gomez's idiosyncratic stories of the near future

MacInnes’s novels and themes are a perfect match for Gomez’s work in The Idiot of St. Benedict and Other Stories. Explaining why they awarded the collection first place in 2022, the jury members of the National Literary Competition say that "the collection manages to immerse its reader into a dreamlike world thanks to an almost cinematic atmosphere, imagining with anguish and realism, cruelty and tenderness, what our near future may be like."

One of the worlds of wonder – or horror – that Gomez depicts is one in which the afterlife seems to have been exploited for profit, with barely willing participants being thrust into unusual experiences. Another story presents a future in which a curious, quiet conquering class from another world has obliged humans to spend their lives reenacting historical moments – on stage. Gomez is making steady progress on his second collection and will read excerpts from one of these new stories.

The CNL is located at 2 Rue Emmanuel Servais in Mersch. The tandem reading and discussion with MacInnes and Gomez, with CNL director Nathalie Jacoby moderating, will be held on Tuesday, 1 April. It starts at 7.30pm and is free and open to the public.

Find more information here.