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Jon Ronson is a documentary maker, journalist and comic storyteller beloved by many. His books have explored psychopathy, psychological warfare, internet shame culture and more. As a reporter, he meets his subjects with empathy and softly spoken humour – often revealing the deep, surprising motivations and desires at the heart of apparently absurd situations.
In his seven-part 2017 podcast, The Butterfly Effect, Ronson explores an unlikely collection of stories, loosely connected – each emanating from a young German man’s lucrative idea for a free online porn site. Pornhub (and its ilk) would go on to transform the entire industry, upending its economics. The series follows the sweet, strange and human consequences of this single idea.
Ronson says he was drawn to the story by an apparent hypocrisy of modern society – porn, by now, is a commonplace and mundane indulgence for many, yet its protagonists are routinely met with moralistic, judgemental dismissal. This April at St Kilda Town Hall, join Jon Ronson as he delivers a sad, funny and affecting audio-visual performance about The Butterfly Effect.
Readings will be our bookseller for this event.
Featuring
Jon Ronson
Jon Ronson is an award-winning non-fiction writer and documentary maker. He is the author of four bestsellers, Them: Adventures with Extremists, The Men Who Stare at Goats, The Psychopath Test and Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries, and two collections, Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness and What I Do: More True Tales of Everyday Craziness. His latest book is the short story Frank: The True Story that Inspired the Movie. His first fictional screenplay, Frank, co-written with Peter Straughan, has been directed by Lenny Abrahamson and stars Michael Fassbender. He lives in London and New York City.