Name: Gabriel Tallent w/ Danya Kukafka, CRUX
Start: 2026-01-21T19:00:00-08:00
End: 2026-01-21T20:00:00-08:00
Location: The Elliott Bay Book Company

$Gabriel Tallent w\/ Danya Kukafka, CRUX$

Two down-and-out teens escape the hopelessness of their lives and chase a different future through rock climbing
About this Event

Author of bestselling novel My Absolute Darling, Gabriel Tallent, visits the store for his latest novel Crux, a story of intense friendship and grit, two down-and-out teens escape the hopelessness of their lives and chase a different future through rock-climbing. With a magnificent gift for nature writing and a joyful appreciation for the redemptive power of friendship, Gabriel Tallent gives readers a rollicking, adrenaline-filled, and soul-searching novel about risking everything to change your life. Tallent will be joined in conversation by Danya Kukafka, literary agent and author of Notes on an Execution.

Dan and Tamma are two teenagers in their last year of high school in the southern Mojave Desert. One is a gifted golden child, the other a mouthy burnout. Climbing boulders in trash-strewn parking lots during cold desert nights, they seal their unique bond and dream of a life of adventure.

As the year progresses and adult reality looms, they are rocked by change and pulled apart by irreconcilable obligations. Differences of class, talent, and prospects take on new importance; options dwindle, and their decisions grow ever more consequential and perilous. It feels inevitable, finally, that something must give.

With a magnificent gift for nature writing and a joyful appreciation for the redemptive power of friendship, Gabriel Tallent gives readers a rollicking, adrenaline-filled, and soul-searching novel about risking everything to change your life.

Gabriel Tallent is the author of the New York Times-bestselling novel My Absolute Darling. He was born in New Mexico and raised on the Mendocino coast by two mothers. He received his B.A. from Willamette University in 2010, and after graduation spent two seasons leading youth trail crews in the backcountry of the Pacific Northwest. Tallent lives in Salt Lake City.

Danya Kukafka is the author of the bestselling novels Notes on an Execution and Girl in Snow. Her books have been reviewed favorably in outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post, and have been translated into over a dozen languages worldwide. Notes on an Execution is currently in development as a feature film. Danya works as a literary agent with Trellis Literary Management.