Wendy Wimmer in conversation with Ben Kline discussing and signing The Doomscroller's Companion

About this event

Please join us for Wendy Wimmer in conversation with Ben Kline discussing and signing The Doomscroller's Companion !

Jane, aka @erejane, a thirtysomething professional web influencer, lives in her aunt’s spare bedroom in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Her only confidant is Brian, a potter who is thrilled that the internet allows him to connect without having to leave his nearby home and studio. With limited options and a dwindling bank account, Jane lands a high-paying gig that requires her to travel to a wildlife refuge on a remote island near San Francisco to publicize a marine biologist’s shark study.

However, when a global pandemic strikes with astonishing speed, the scientists surrounding Jane succumb one by one; meanwhile, Brian grapples with neighbors living out their apocalyptic movie fantasies. When real-world events force them to set aside their online personas, Jane and Brian are forced to decide what—or whom—they care for the most.

Told through traditional narrative and imagined social media posts—which often appear, as they do in life, out of chronological order—The Doomscroller’s Companion is as engaging as it is unexpected.

Wendy Wimmer is the author of the short story collection Entry Level, selected by Deesha Philyaw as the winner of the Autumn House Fiction Prize. She lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Ben Kline lives in Cincinnati, Ohio. A poet, information professional, and one of the team behind the University of Cincinnati Libraries POETRY STACKED series, Ben is the author of Twang (ELJ Editions) and Stiff Wrist (fourteen poems), as well as the 2026 Lambda Literary Award-winning collection It Was Never Supposed to Be (Variant Literature.) His work has appeared in Copper Nickel, Florida Review, Palette Poetry, Hayden's Ferry Review, DIAGRAM, and other publications.

From Joseph-Beth Booksellers