Morty Diamond in Conversation With Rae-Moses Epstein & Sassafras Patterdale

To the End (North Atlantic Books), edited by Morty Diamond, is a raw and fearless book of essays that delves into the messy realities, impossible heartbreaks, and profound liberations inherent to queerly uncoupling in the 21st century.

Across 24 essays, queer, trans, nonbinary, and intersex writers share their firsthand accounts of divorce, separation, and transformation, giving readers an intimate look at the stories that are often elided in straight, mainstream narratives — or in basically every divorce book out there.

This collection uplifts each writer’s lived truth, pushing back against respectability power plays that say: But we fought so hard for this. Don’t give people the wrong idea. Think about the damage that speaking out could do. Instead, Diamond and contributors foreground real stories of what happens when love ends, through specific queer lenses: When your partner won’t accept your transition. When covert narcissistic abuse destabilizes your world. When your Daddy bails in an email after 20 years. When you trade “legitimacy” for a part of yourself.

The essays highlight, too, the unexpected joys, profound liberations, and necessary transformations we discover when we find our way back to ourselves. Each richly textured, deeply evocative reclamation — whether through spiritual growth, euphoric embodiment, deepened connections, the right kind of sex, or community aftercare — affirms that divorce can be devastating — but it can also be a catalyst for freedom.

Diamond will be joined in conversation by To the End contributors Rae-Moses Epstein and Sassafras Patterdale.

This event is free and open to the public. Seating is available on a first come, first served basis.