Hernan Diaz: Ply
Hear from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author about his new futuristic thriller, which investigates the power of technology in a profoundly changed world.
Ply is a speculative novel of mind-bending science and punk music from bestselling author Hernan Diaz. Set in a future filled with both uncertainty and promise, it’s a powerfully humane story that interrogates the role of technology in a deeply changed society.
A gripping quest for truth at the dawn of a new historical epoch, it offers a deep dive into the burden of capitalism, while poignantly charting the boundaries of selfhood and the distance that stands between us and those we love.
Centuries from now, an orphan adrift in an American city grows up
to become a pincher. Stealing electricity from the grid to power the
vibrant downtown music scene she adores is a risky occupation,
and the city she moves through can be dangerous. She is right to
be wary.
But soon, she is drawn into a paranoid maze where her closest friends and even her own identity are put into question – all while following a thread leading to a scientific experiment that could change the fabric of reality itself.
Hernan Diaz is the Sunday Times bestselling author of Trust, which won the Pulitzer Prize and was longlisted for the Booker Prize. It was named one of The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the Century. His previous novel, In the Distance, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. His work has been translated into 37 languages. Ply is his third novel.
Presented in association with the Service95 Book Club
Need to know
Times & tickets
Dates, times and prices
Dates & times
21 Oct 2026, 7.45pm
Run time
1 hour and 15 minutes (approx)
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Standard entry
from £21
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This event is held at the Purcell Room Southbank Centre
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