FLORENZER: celebrating PHIL MELANSON Queer renaissance novel

Set in Renaissance-era Florence, this ravishing debut reimagines the intersecting lives of three ambitious young men―a banker, a priest, and a gay painter named Leonardo.

Leonardo da Vinci, twelve years old and a bastard, leaves the Tuscan countryside to join his father in Florence with dreams of becoming a painter. Francesco Salviati, also a bastard and scorned for his too-dark skin, dedicates himself to the Catholic Church with grand hopes of salvation. Towering above them both is Lorenzo de’ Medici, barely a man, yet soon to be the patriarch of the world’s wealthiest and most influential bank. Each is, in his own way, a son of Florence. Each will, when their paths cross, shed blood on Florence’s streets.

Brash and breathtaking, this lush historical drama explores the dangerous pursuit of artistic and political achievement―especially at a time when “florenzers,” or gay men such as Leonardo, were often persecuted.

Mining the origins of one of history’s finest artists and the city where he came of age, Florenzer introduces an enthralling new voice in fiction - join us to celebrate their arrival on the literary stage!

Our Speakers:

Phil Melanson is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and the University of Warwick. Prior to writing Florenzer, he was a digital marketer for Hollywood film studios, working on campaigns for movies such as Little Women, Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Once Upon on a Time… in Hollywood. He now lives in London with his husband.

Andrés Ordorica is a queer Latinx writer based in Edinburgh. His writing seeks to illuminate love and loss while unpacking what it means to be from ni de aquí, ni de allá.