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Chester Brown’s Paying For It: Chi, NYC, Mtl, Van & Seattle

Official Press Release

CHESTER BROWN’S PAYING FOR IT IN STORES NOW

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR STARTS TOMORROW!

SLIDE SHOW, CONVERSATION & SIGNING
ON THE MOST TALKED ABOUT GRAPHIC NOVEL OF 2011

WEDNESDAY MAY 11 | CHICAGO | QUIMBYS | 7 PM
THURSDAY MAY 12 | NYC | THE STRAND | 7 PM
WITH TRACY QUAN & BENJAMEN WALKER
SATURDAY MAY 14 | MONTREAL | D+Q LIBRAIRIE | 7 PM
WEDNESDAY MAY 18 | VANCOUVER | VANCOUVER PUBLIC LIBRARY | 7 PM WITH LUCKY’S
THURSDAY MAY 19 | SEATTLE | ELLIOTT BAY | 8 PM
JULY 22-25 | SAN DIEGO | COMIC-CON INTL
SEPT 10-11 | BETHESDA | SPX

“Brown’s subject is inherently fascinating—who’s not a little curious about other people’s sex lives?—and his cartooning skills are as sharp as ever.”–ONION AV CLUB

“[Paying for It] registers less as a memoir than as a thoughtful, if contentious, treatise.”–WALRUS

“[Paying for It] somehow manages to be about more than just its author’s journey into john-dom, wrangling with issues such as the nature of love and sexual attraction, all thanks to Brown’s almost-fiendish command of the medium.”–GLOBE & MAIL

“Chester Brown’s graphic novel Paying For It is that rare thing, a john testifying outside of the courtroom.”–NATIONAL POST

“PAYING FOR IT is as personal as you can get. It’s a clear-eyed, not-even-slightly-erotic, compulsively
readable, sometimes painfully honest account of his time, reasons and experiences paying for sex…
PAYING FOR IT is the kind of book that will engage your mind and force you to think about things in ways you may never have done before.”–NEIL GAIMAN

“In PAYING FOR IT, Chester Brown not only makes a compelling case for the decriminalization of sex work but he also seems like an excellent client. Sex workers and sex worker rights advocates couldn’t ask for a better ally. A must read in the canon of sensible and sensitive voices making a case against prurient ideology-based rhetoric about consensual sexual behaviour.” –SASHA (Nationally syndicated sex columnist)

“Chester Brown is perhaps the most transparent, honest and relevant voice remaining in contemporary comics, and this is, to my mind, his most powerful and affecting work to date. PAYING FOR IT explores life in the world’s oldest customer-base, and does so with heart, intelligence, and a complete lack of sentiment or self-justification. Rewarding repeated readings, this book will love you long time.” –ALAN MOORE

“PAYING FOR IT is a great comic book, maybe Chester Brown’s best work to date.” –R. CRUMB

Chester Brown has never shied away from tacking controversial subjects in his work. In his 1992 book, THE PLAYBOY, he explored his personal history with pornography. His bestselling 2003 graphic novel, LOUIS RIEL, was a biographical examination of an extreme political figure. The book won wide acclaim and cemented Brown’s reputation as a true innovator. Featuring an introduction by R. Crumb, PAYING FOR IT is a natural progression for Brown as it combines the personal and the sexual aspects of his autobiographical work with the polemical drive of LOUIS RIEL. Brown calmly lays out the facts for us of how he became, not only a willing participant, but a vocal proponent of one of the world’s most hot button topics —prostitution. While this may appear overtly sensational and just plain implausible to some, Brown’s story stands for itself. PAYING FOR IT offers an entirely contemporary exploration of sex work from the timid john who rides his bike to his escorts, wonders how to tip so as not to offend, and reads Dan Savage for advice, to the modern day transactions complete with online reviews, seemingly willing participants, and clean apartments devoid of cliché depictions of street corners, drugs, or pimps. Complete with a surprise ending, PAYING FOR IT provides endless debate and conversation about sex work and will be the most talked about graphic novel of 2011.

Chester Brown On Tour In May

Official Press Release
Previews

CHESTER BROWN ON TOUR FOR “PAYING FOR IT” THIS MAY

TORONTO, CHICAGO, NYC, MONTREAL, VANCOUVER, SEATTLE

Chester_brown_self_portrait

It’s tempting to call Chester Brown a recluse, but if you live in Toronto, he’s not. But it is rare for him to hit the road, and he will be on tour in 2011 for PAYING FOR IT, with more dates to be announced. But for now, mark your calendar….
TORONTO | Sunday, May 1st | Goodhandy’s | With Sasha
TORONTO | Sat & Sun May May 7th-8th | TCAF
CHICAGO | Wed May 11th | Quimby’s
NYC | Thursday May 12th | Strand | With Tracy Quan
MONTREAL | Saturday May 14th | Librairie D+Q
VANCOUVER | Wed May 18th | Vancouver Public Library | With Lucky’s
SEATTLE | Thur May 19th | Elliot Bay

Paying

Chester Brown has never shied away from tackling controversial subjects in his work. As the cartoonist of the autobiographical The Playboy and the biography Louis Riel, Paying For It is a natural progression for Brown as it combines the personal and sexual aspects of his autobiographical work with the polemical drive of Louis Riel. Brown calmly lays out the facts of how he became not only a willing participant in but also a vocal proponent of one of the world’s most hot-button topics–prostitution. Paying For It offers an entirely contemporary exploration of sex work–from the timid john who rides his bike to meet his escorts, wonders how to tip so as not to offend, and reads Dan Savage for advice, to the modern-day transactions complete with online reviews, seemingly willing participants, and clean apartments devoid of cliches street corners, drugs, or primps.

Paying For It is a book that stands for itself and will be the most talked about graphic novel of 2011. In stores this May.

Hardcover, 5.5 x 7.5, Black & White, 272 pages, ISBN: 9781770460485, $24.95 US / $25.95 CDN

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING ABOUT “PAYING FOR IT”

Paying

“PAYING FOR IT is a very enlightening book, as well as being entertaining…{Chester Brown} is a very skillfull artist in that way.”–R. CRUMB, from his introduction to PAYING FOR IT

“In PAYING FOR IT, Chester Brown not only makes a compelling case for the decriminalization of sex work but he also seems like an excellent client. Sex workers and sex worker rights advocates couldn’t ask for a better ally. A must read in the canon of sensible and sensitive voices making a case against prurient ideology-based rhetoric about consensual sexual behaviour.”–SASHA, Nationally syndicated sex columnist, playwright and sex worker rights activist.

“The self-aware john, a quirky and surprisingly realistic guy, is everywhere, but he’s also been silent and overshadowed by his belligerent deluded brothers. PAYING FOR IT is a fascinating modern (and enjoyable) response to that anonymous Victorian sex classic My Secret Life. The characters encountered here evoke Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City. Chester Brown’s emotional honesty is riveting. This is what sex ed looks like when we refuse to stop learning.”–TRACY QUAN, author of Diary of a Manhattan Call Girl and Diary of a Jetsetting Call Girl

“Chester Brown is perhaps the most transparent, honest and relevant voice remaining in contemporary comics, and this is, to my mind, his most powerful and affecting work to date. PAYING FOR IT explores life in the world’s oldest customer-base, and does so with heart, intelligence, and a complete lack of sentiment or self-justification. Rewarding repeated readings, this book will love you long time.” –ALAN MOORE

“I’ve loved Chester Brown’s work since the early days of Yummy Fur. He started out as a remarkable cartoonist telling strange stories that slowly became, over time, increasingly personal.

PAYING FOR IT is as personal as you can get. It’s a clear-eyed, not-even-slightly-erotic, compulsively readable, sometimes painfully honest account of his time, reasons and experiences paying for sex. I learned things about Chester from reading this, and I learned things about sex-workers, and about the world, and, oddly, I think I learned things about myself.

The argument about when or whether comics had grown up ended when people started making comics for grown-ups. This is one of them. PAYING FOR IT is the kind of book that will engage your mind and force you to think about things in ways you may never have done before. Chester would probably like that. And if you find yourself arguing with the page, or with the author’s notes, I think Chester would probably like that too.”–NEIL GAIMAN