Sex, Miracles, and the Vatican: Joseph Incardona on Holy F*ck 

Wed 10 June
Books & Ideas
Talks

Joseph Incardona presents Holy F*ck, a darkly comic novel set in the American South. Stella, a young sex worker, discovers she can heal her clients, attracting the attention of the Vatican. What follows is a fast-paced, irreverent story that takes aim at religious authority and moral hypocrisy. A bold, cinematic novel that moves between satire and thriller. He will be in conversation with Dr Adina Stroia, Lecturer in French and Francophone Studies and Director of French Studies at the University of Leeds. 

 

“The Swiss writer Joseph Incardona’s freewheeling black comedy has a lot going for it, not least lapidary prose and a fizzy translation” – The Times

 

“Swiss author Joseph Incardona’s hybrid chase-thriller-meets-satire is energetically translated from the French by Sam Taylor.” – Financial Times

 

Stella et l’Amérique (Finitude, 2024) was translated into English as Holy F*ck by Sam Taylor, and published by Bitter Lemon Press.

The evening will conclude with a book signing, with copies available for purchase onsite with our partner bookshop, Librairie La Page.

About our guests

Joseph Incardona

Swiss author Joseph Incardona has written more than fifteen novels across a range of genres. He is also a screenwriter for comics, film, and television, as well as a playwright and director. His work is both popular and critically acclaimed; it has won numerous awards and has been adapted for film. Incardona’s work has been translated into German, Italian, Korean, and Georgian, but this is his first book to be available in English.


  • Picture: Chloé Cohen

Dr Adina Stroia

Dr Adina Stroia is Lecturer in French and Francophone Studies and Director of French Studies at the University of Leeds. She works primarily in the fields of women’s writing, visual culture and film in the contemporary period. She has interviewed and published interviews with several prolific authors including Leïla Slimani, Constance Debré, Camille Laurens, Fatima Ouassak, and Fatima Daas.

 

In partnership with

 
Edinburgh