Coming to America

a.k.a. Announcing another First Floor book tour.

Aug 22, 2023

Hello again. There’s no essay or interview today, but I do have some big news to share.

As most of you likely know already, my first book was published last month by Velocity Press.

(It’s now available in many different territories / countries around the world, but if you can’t find a copy at your favorite local shop, it’s also available online. I’ve compiled a bunch of different sales links here.)

You may also remember that ahead of the official release date in July, I did a book tour throughout the UK and Europe. Going into it, I really didn’t know what to expect—many of the events were happening in nontraditional venues (at least as far as books are concerned), and I’m not exactly a “famous author”—but much to my delight, the whole thing went really well. At several stops, I literally ran out of books to sell!

That tour was initially supposed to be the end of my promotional travels, but once it wrapped up, I found myself thinking, “Maybe I should go to the US.” Although I live in Barcelona, I am American, and a sizable chunk of the First Floor audience is based on that side of the Atlantic. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense to go, so I started reaching out to people and slowly piecing together an itinerary.

Today, I’m happy to unveil the complete North American tour—yes, there’s a stop in Canada too—along with the incredible roster of artists who’ve kindly agreed to moderate the conversations.

The dates are as follows:

September 21 - New York, Dripping at Nowadays (moderated by Avalon Emerson)
September 22 - Montreal, OSMO X MARUSAN (moderated by Patrick Holland)
September 23 - Miami, Paradis Books & Bread (moderated by Nick León)
September 25 - Washington DC, Eaton House (moderated by Joyce Lim)
September 27 - Los Angeles, Late Breakfast at 2220 Arts + Archives (moderated by Laurel Halo)
September 28 - Seattle, Vermillion (moderated by Doc Sleep)
September 29 - Portland, Colleen (live) at Holocene (moderated by Spencer Doran)
September 30 - San Francisco, Public Works (moderated by Mozhgan)

More details and the individual event flyers can be found on my Instagram. Tickets are on-sale now for the New York and Portland events (click the links above), while the other linked events require RSVP.

If you’re in any of these cities, please do feel free to come down. Many of the events are free, and copies of the books will be available for sale at each stop. (I’ll even sign them if you want.) The conversations during my tour of the UK and Europe—which obviously focused on the book, but also branched out into the current state of affairs in music journalism, electronic music and the wider music industry—were really fun and lively, and after meeting so many First Floor readers in person at those events, I can’t wait to meet some of their American counterparts.

(It’s also going to be my first trip to the US in more than four years, so on a completely selfish level, I’m also excited to see friends and eat all of the delicious things I’ve been missing.)

That’s all for now, but for anyone’s who’s curious, the normal weekly digest edition of First Floor will be published on Thursday. Before I wrap this up, however, I do want to give a heartfelt thanks to everyone who’s read or supported my work during the past few years. We live in a world that’s short on neither content nor opinions, and when I’m writing the newsletter—usually at home, by myself—it’s often hard to gauge whether my words are making much of an impact on anyone. I honestly never thought I’d author a book or go on tour, and now I’m getting ready to go on my second book tour of the year. That wouldn’t have been possible without readers like you, and all of the positive feedback I’ve received during the past few months has truly meant a lot to me.

North America, I’ll see you next month. Everyone else, I’ll be crashing into your inboxes later this week.

Shawn Reynaldo is a freelance writer, editor, presenter and project manager. Find him on LinkedIn and Twitter, or you can just drop him an email to get in touch about projects, collaborations or potential work opportunities.