John Reed with Eric Banks

What happens after Animal Farm? In John Reed’s raucous, totally unauthorized companion to George Orwell’s barnyard political allegory, Snowball’s Chance, exiled pig Snowball returns to the farm to implement a new regime of full-force capitalism.

Reed, the editor of Brooklyn Rail and professor at the New School, first released the book in 2002 -- when it was denounced by Christopher Hitchens and just barely escaped a lawsuit from Orwell’s estate. Snowball’s Chance is, like its antecedent, a strident political satire that has infuriated Marxists and capitalists alike.

Reed will be joined by Eric Banks, former Bookforum editor and president of the National Book Critics Circle, for debate and discussion.