Ooligan Press's "Supersymmetry" Book Launch

On February 18th, Ooligan Press, Portland’s resident small publishing press, held a book launch for their new book, “Supersymmetry,” written by S. R. Schulz, at Up Up Books in the Buckman neighborhood. The novel follows Lisa, a woman who became pregnant at 19 and—her childhood trauma haunting her—was immediately hit with postpartum depression with her son having increasingly violent outbursts. Lisa decides to start fresh and move to Croatia, carrying guilt and uncertainty with her. During her stay she meets a man named Luka, a handsome man with a complex past. He helps Lisa navigate her past and the relationships she left behind in Oregon, begging the question: Can anyone truly start over?

It was a packed house at Up Up Books; late arrivals were forced into standing room only as the author began his rapport with the moderator, Ági Bori Mottern, a literary translator and past alum from Ooligan Press. Ági read a small description of the book before asking their first question:

“How did you come up with the title?”

Schulz went into detail about how the first title was a bit of a mouthful, and there was a request to change it. However, once the book was complete, he found the name from an Arcade Fire song “Supersymmetry”. He described that while thinking more about the contents and themes of his book, they revolve around a symmetry of life, basically moving on from one moment, just to come back to it years later.

An interesting question that was asked was about Ernest Hemingway, and how his writing style could have potentially influenced Schulz’s novel. Schulz talked about how “The Sun Also Rises” has a lot of characters that live their life and enjoy it, but still have that undertone of trauma within those characters. Exploring the back story and sadness of the trauma while still letting the characters live their lives was a big inspiration to Schulz.

This novel follows a woman as the main character, running from her past while dealing with the effects of postpartum. This novel is also written by a man. Naturally, the most important question of the night was, “Was it easy for you to write from the woman’s perspective?” Schulz answered with a confident “Yes.” He spoke about being in the character’s head and understanding their background, saying that everything you have created becomes real to you so it’s easy to stay in that mindset. He mentioned that he read female authors and characters, and being able to take other peoples stories and being able to understand their story from his current occupation as a doctor. Schulz ends his answer with, “I tried really hard”.

Both Ági and Schulz read a few more excerpts from the book and talk more about the inspiration and how this book had possibly changed him. After an hour of their rapport, there is no time for audience questions and the event goes straight into an author signing and mingling. Patrons were able to purchase “Supersymmetry” from the counter and walk a few steps over to meet and greet Schulz. A few Ooligan Press members were in attendance, along with alums and an author of a future book to be published at the press.

Speaking with the owner of Up Up Books, they were delighted to host, as they had worked with the press before. Up Up Books carries local authors in many genres, as well as a tiny kids section in the corner. They also host writing groups and book clubs in their back room space. Promptly at 8:30 PM, we were being asked to wrap up as soon as possible so that they could prepare for another event happening that night.