Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore’s New Novel, “Terry Dactyl” Launches Saturday At SAM

Seattle queer author and activist, MATTILDA BERNSTEIN SYCAMORE, has a new book releasing and she’s ready to promote it! It’s a novel this time called TERRY DACTYL and acclaimed writer Sarah Schulman calls “the historical novel on acid” and it’s all about the queer club scenes of the 1980s and ’90s. The book is being released on November 11th from Coffee House Press and Mattilda is hitting the road to promote it, starting in Seattle this Saturday, October 25th with a talk and reading at the Seattle Art Museum’s Nordstrom Lecture Hall from 3pm to 4…and, it’s FREE!

Go to https://www.seattleartmuseum.org/whats-on/events/sam-talks-mattilda-bernstein-sycamore-oct-25 to RSVP!

She’ll also be heading to other cities in the next fews to promote the novel. Check out more info down below including all the cities she’ll be visiting.

AND, you can order the book from Elliott Bay Books! https://elliottbaybook.com/item/dKS8YeszLFvvEZRPfb6RkQ

My new novel, Terry Dactyl, will be arriving in the world from Coffee House Press on November 11, get ready for trouble!! Sarah Schulman says it’s “the historical novel on acid,” Isabel Waidner says it’s “the realest fiction I’ve read in a long time,” and Publishers Weekly (in a starred review), says it’s a “shimmering tale of art, drugs, and friendship spanning from the AIDS crisis to the Covid-19 pandemic… that swerves from offhanded aphorisms to lyrical images… It’s indelible.”

Join celebrated author and activist Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore for an intimate talk and reading from her bold new novel Terry Dactyl. This “historical novel on acid” journeys from the queer club scenes of the ’80s and ’90s to the pandemic-era streets of Seattle, tracing a fierce search for community, art, and identity across decades of upheaval and transformation.

Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore is a Lambda Literary Award-winning author of seven books, and the editor of six anthologies. Her most recent book, Touching the Art, was a finalist for a Washington State Book Award and a Pacific Northwest Book Award. Her previous book, The Freezer Door, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award.

Seattle Program

2:30 pm Auditorium opens

3 pm Program begins

3:45 pm Q&A

4 pm Meet & Greet and Book Signing

4:30 pm Program concludes

5 pm Museum closes

Masks are strongly encouraged when attending this program to help keep our community safe and healthy. Masks will be available at the door.

Tickets

Free with RSVP

And, the entire tour:

BOOK LAUNCH for TERRY DACTYL!!
Saturday, October 25, 2025, at 3 pm
Seattle Art Museum
Nordstrom Lecture Hall
1300 First Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
*Masks strongly encouraged
*RESERVE YOUR FREE TICKET HERE*
 
NEW YORK LAUNCH for TERRY DACTYL!!
Wednesday, November 19, 2025, at 7 pm
Strand Book Store
in conversation with Alexander Chee
3rd floor Rare Book Room
828 Broadway on 12th Street
New York, NY 10003
*Masks strongly encouraged
*RESERVE YOUR TICKET HERE*
 
WASHINGTON, DC LAUNCH for TERRY DACTYL!!
Monday, December 1, 2025, at 7 pm
Politics and Prose—Connecticut Ave
in conversation with Jennifer Natalya Fink
5015 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008
*Masks strongly encouraged
 
BALTIMORE LAUNCH for TERRY DACTYL!!
Wednesday, December 3, 2025, at 7 pm
Greedy Reads—Remington
in conversation with Jeannie Vanasco
320 W 29th St
Baltimore, MD 21211
*Masks strongly encouraged
 
PORTLAND LAUNCH for TERRY DACTYL
Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at 7 pm
Powell’s Books on Hawthorne
in conversation with Leni Zumas
3723 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
Portland, OR 97214
*Masks strongly encouraged