Andrés N. Ordorica for Holy Boys

Local author Andrés N. Ordorica joins us for his newest poetry collection Holy Boys that explores themes of masculinity, the Church, and nationhood.

Andrés is a queer Latinx writer who was picked as an Observer Best Debut Novelists for 2024 and has already cemented himself as an unmissable voice in the Scottish poetic and literary landscapes with his previous poetry collection At Least This I Know and debut novel How We Named the Stars.

His writing often addresses themes of queerness, liminality, and concepts of belonging and Holy Boys expands and builds upon these themes, using language and the multilingual power of poetry as a means of excavating the self.

Holy Boys seeks to address the lingering echoes of adolescence and the pains of living a life in the shadows of unspeakable desires and all-consuming longing, combining English, Spanish and occasional Scots for a unique sonic landscape, adding to the richness of Scotland’s poetic heritage. These poems are a means of finding language in youth, gathering experience in pubescence, and serving as testament to survival in a world that demands silences throughout queer life.

These poems are an archive which maps physical desire and emotional needs while pushing past dogma and self-hating. They are a means of naming the many lovers and loved ones who have helped move the speaker from boyhood into manhood. This is a collection that is informed by faith, sexuality, loss and love, a celebration of the growing pains that eventually allow us to unfurl into whole beings.

So join us in the bookshop for an evening of celebrating a unique and powerful voice in Scottish poetry.