Kevin Holohan with Joseph O'Neill (Spring 2024)

Author Kevin Holohan and moderator Joseph O'Neill discuss Holohan's new book, So You Wanna Run a Country?, a satirical parable of the perils of authoritarianism, nationalism, and device-dependent group-think.

“Holohan’s prose pops and crackles as he combines an outlandish yet convincing vision of a tech-dominated future reminiscent of William Gibson with the wry wit of Neil Gaiman, and the result proves exceedingly funny . . . Holohan’s silly dystopia, replete with ridiculous place names (“Newer York” and “Grander Central Station”) and winking acronyms (“Consumer-Responsive Unscripted Drama”), strikes an utterly enjoyable medium between Futurama and Infinite Jest . . . A raucous, engrossing, unsettling whirlwind of a story that is as disarmingly novel as it is disturbingly familiar.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“In a dystopian cyberpunk future, the eponymous reality show replaces the governments of small countries with underqualified contestants who struggle to lead, all for the sake of mass entertainment.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Nothing this madcap should be this chilling. A heat-seeking missile for the facades which dress despotism up and give it cover, So You Wanna Run a Country? is fueled by that scorching satire we saw in Kevin Holohan’s debut, The Brothers’ Lot—but this time the whole planet’s on fire. Visionary, virtuoso, and violently funny, this novel looks directly at the eclipse that is twenty-first-century life and somehow comes away with the strangest floaters of hope.”
—Belinda McKeon, author of Tender