Join Matt Ortile and ¡Hola Papi! columnist JP Brammer for a conversation in celebration of The Groom Will Keep His Name, Matt's newly-released book. Queens favorite Astoria Bookshop will be the official bookseller for the event.

A riotous collection of "witty and captivating" (Bitch Magazine) essays by a gay Filipino immigrant in America learning that everything is about sex--and sex is about power

When Matt Ortile moved from Manila to Las Vegas, the locals couldn't pronounce his name. Harassed as a kid for his brown skin, accent, and femininity, he believed he could belong in America by marrying a white man and shedding his Filipino identity. This was the first myth he told himself. The Groom Will Keep His Name explores the various tales Ortile spun about what it means to be a Vassar Girl, an American Boy, and a Filipino immigrant in New York looking to build a home.

As we meet and mate, we tell stories about ourselves, revealing not just who we are, but who we want to be. Ortile recounts the relationships and whateverships that pushed him to confront his notions of sex, power, and the model minority myth. Whether swiping on Grindr, analyzing DMs, or cruising steam rooms, Ortile brings us on his journey toward radical self-love with intelligence, wit, and his heart on his sleeve.

Matt Ortile is the managing editor of Catapult. His writing has been published by BuzzFeed, Into, Self, and Out, among others. You can find him on Twitter @ortile and Instagram @mattortile. He lives in Brooklyn.

John Paul Brammer is an author and columnist from rural Oklahoma currently living in Brooklyn. He runs the popular advice column ¡Hola Papi! on Substack, and is publishing a memoir of the same name with Simon & Schuster's flagship imprint in summer 2021. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Food & Wine, Catapult, Business Insider, and many more. You can keep up with him on Twitter or Instagram @jpbrammer.

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In Conversation: Matt Ortile & JP Brammer