The Center for Fiction Presents Kyle McCarthy on Immersions with Leslie Jamison

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Wednesday, 7:00 pm EDT May 6, 2026

The Center for Fiction
& Livestreamed

Step into the Gothic world of Immersions with Kyle McCarthy, author of Everyone Knows How Much I Love You, and Leslie Jamison, author of The Empathy Exams.

Praised for its visionary and intoxicating power, McCarthy’s Immersions is a modern Bluebeard tale steeped in the shadows of New York City and the cloisters of rural France. It traces the mysterious disappearance of a rising dancer, Charley, who abruptly abandons her company to enter an enclosed convent in France. Her younger sister Frances pursues the truth, convinced that Charley’s enigmatic ex-husband Johnny holds the key—only to get drawn into a dangerous intimacy that blurs obsession, desire, and fear. What follows is a spare, propulsive tale, by turns Gothic and contemporary, about the bonds of sisterhood, the pull of artistic life, and the ways love can both make and unmake us.

McCarthy, a dancer herself, brings an insider’s sensibility to Immersion’s charged world of performance and self-invention. Her conversation with Jamison—a writer celebrated for her piercing explorations of art and addiction—will explore the dark currents of love and loyalty and the stories we tell to understand the people we leave behind.

We offer two in-person ticket options: the $10 Standard Ticket and the $40+ Supporter Ticket. Both provide the same access, but if you’re able, we kindly suggest registering for the Supporter Ticket to help sustain our programs. Please note that tickets do not include books; we encourage you to order in advance online or purchase copies at the event.

Featuring

Kyle McCarthy

Kyle McCarthy

Kyle McCarthy is the author of the novel Everyone Knows How Much I Love You, and her fiction and essays have appeared in Best American Short Stories, American Short Fiction, n+1, and elsewhere. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Photo Credit: Rosen Jones
Leslie Jamison

Leslie Jamison

Leslie Jamison is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Splinters, The Recovering, and The Empathy Exams; as well as the essay collection Make It Scream, Make It Burn and the novel The Gin Closet, a finalist for the LA Times Book Prize. She is a contributing writer at the New Yorker and teaches at Columbia University.

Photo Credit: Grace Ann Leadbeater

Featured Book

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Immersions

By Kyle McCarthy

Published by Zando

PURCHASE

Frances’s older sister Charley was a star of the modern dance world. But just as she was ascending, she fell in love with Johnny, an enigmatic trust fund artist, and married him. A few years into their turbulent marriage, Charley mysteriously leaves her dance company and joins an enclosed convent in Provence. Much to the shock of her family, she changes her name to Sister Anne and cuts off contact with the outside world.

Frances, a dancer herself, grew up in the shadow of her brilliant sister and is suddenly unmoored without her. From their first uneasy meeting, Frances has distrusted Johnny. Now, she is certain he had something to do with her sister’s abrupt abandonment of her art and family. When Frances discovers that Johnny has returned to New York, she reaches out to him, looking for answers and seeking confrontation. The two plunge into an ambiguous intimacy—diving ever deeper, as each tries to unlock the other’s secrets. A slender and twisted tale of sexual coming-of-age and of the deep bonds of lust and loyalty, Immersions asks how we are made—and unmade—by desire.