Hey there, beautiful book worms! (In a good way, like, in the way where yes, I would absolutely still love you just as much if you were a worm, especially if you were a book worm.)

long time. But, because time is one of our most precious and limited resources, I wasn’t able to get this together until now, but there’s no time like the present is there, so on we go!

Firstly, the Most Important news is that our inaugural book club book is Pretty Baby: A Memoir by Chris Belcher. On top of this being a book I’m thrilled about, Chris has kindly agreed to join us for a live Q&A on a special A+ Pop-Up Discord on Tuesday, July 26 from 5-6:30 pm PST which is really fucking exciting you all! That’s an hour and a half of being able to bring your questions and chat with her. Plus, it all takes place in a nice comfy environment that many of you all are likely familiar with by now — Discord.

The details:

How do I read Pretty Baby: A Memoir?

You can buy it from Bookshop to support Autostraddle and indie bookstores, or plan to get a copy from your local library! It’s on pre-order until July 12. I recommend pre-ordering if you can because pre-orders are helpful for authors and also ensure that you’re getting the book as soon as it’s available.

How do I get on the pop-up Discord?

First, you’ll need to make sure you’re an A+ member! A+ members support everything Autostraddle does, and they get all kinds of bonus content as thanks — now including access to the A+ Read a Fucking Book Club!

This post will re-appear on the day of the event, behind the A+ paywall, with the link and join widget, about fifteen minutes before it starts at 4:45pm PST, so that A+ members can join.

When is this again?

It’s taking place on Tuesday, July 26, so you have two weeks to dig into the book! It’s happening from 5pm PST to 6:30pm PST. Times in some other zones are as follows:

• 8-9:30pm, Eastern Standard Time
• 1am-2:30am, London, UK
• 2am-3:30am, Berlin, Germany
• 8am-9:30am, Wednesday, July 27, Hong Kong
• 9am-10:30am, Wednesday, July 27, Australian Central Time

What if I can’t make it? The time doesn’t work for me :(

I’m sorry (especially if this is in the middle of the night where you are)! This is always so hard. We have to host most events within times that are reasonable for the team working them and the author participating. However, I do plan to download and publish the transcript the following week, so you will still be able to catch up on the chat!

P.S. If you’re in Europe (truly being hit the hardest by the time zone situation here) or anywhere else where this is straight up in the middle of the night for you, and you have a question you’d love to see asked, you can email me at nicole[at]autostraddle.com with the subject line PRETTY BABY QUESTION and I’ll collect them all and ask them on your behalf. I know it’s not a perfect solution, but thank you to the member, KatieRainyDay, who suggested it!

What will the event be like?

It will be a text-based Q&A within Discord. I (Nicole) will be there to moderate / help with flow. Basically, read the book (or as much as you can), bring your questions for the author, and ask those questions in the chat! Chris will be there to talk with everyone and it will be a truly great time.

Accessibility

We want Autostraddle events to be as accessible as possible and we opted to go with a text-based chatting format via Discord in large part because it was one of the most accessible ways to hold this virtual event, not just in terms of audio/visual accessibility, but also because we know it can be hard to ask a question out loud or know when to jump into a conversation. We hope this helps things go as smoothly as is possible for a virtual event. That said, if there are accommodations that would make it easier for you to attend this event, please reach out to me at nicole[at]autostraddle.com to let me know. Also, here’s a link to a guide on using Discord with a screen reader.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!