​Our next reading club dives into the tensions between artifice and authenticity, high culture and guilty pleasures, sincere joy and knowing irony – centered around Susan Sontag’s iconic essay “Notes on Camp”.

​Join us for an evening exploring aesthetics, authenticity, and joy through three brilliant pieces:

• ​Susan Sontag's sharp-witted "Notes on Camp"

• ​Zadie Smith's luminous essay "Joy"

• ​Jorge Luis Borges' playfully paradoxical "Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote"

​You can download all PDFs through this link.

​We'll trace connections between Camp's embrace of artifice, Smith's celebration of unexpected transcendence, and Borges' meditation on originality—a conversation that promises to move from Liberace's candelabras to the sublime mundanity of perfect moments, with plenty of laughter and insight along the way.

​ps. No pressure to read everything or anything! You can still join the conversation :)

​​What's Included:
No formal program. Just shared discussion, openness, curiosity.

​​What to Bring:
Nothing is required! Feel free get a snack or a drink at the café.

​​​Participation Fee:
No participation fee — this one’s on us.

​​Hosted by Bayan

​​Bayan is a thoughtful reader, community builder, and one of the people behind Mental Vacation. She brings people together around big ideas — and small joys. [Instagram]