In Utero
EXCERPTS FROM THE LONGLISTS & SHORTLISTS
FOR THE TARPAULIN SKY BOOK AWARDS
IMAGE: NOAH SATERSTROM
In Utero
EXCERPTS FROM THE LONGLISTS & SHORTLISTS FOR THE TARPAULIN SKY BOOK AWARDS
IMAGE: NOAH SATERSTROM
Aja Couchois Duncan, Vestigial
"Vestigial was written at a time when I was coming out of a traumatic experience and was struggling with PTSD and a number of related autoimmune disorders...." Excerpts from Aja Couchois Duncan’s cross-genre manuscript, Vestigial, a finalist for the 2015 TS Book Prize.
Angela Veronica Wong, Elsa
"If you shove your fingers in her mouth she / might finally shut up. Or at least you / might finally get her off. For me, / there’s a forty-sixty chance that would do. / I’d say for most girls that’s true. Elsa / is on the brink of utter violence." Excerpts from Angela Veronica Wong’s poetry manuscript, Elsa, a finalist for the 2015 Tarpaulin Sky Book Prize.
Candice Wuehle, BOUND
“Important information has been omitted / only because I cannot recall how it was ever included. // OBSCENE ACTION / Greek / too violent or complicated / for the stage/an invention of a traumatized poet // obscene/ob skene / off screen / un seen // IE: ghosts, / suicides, gas.” Excerpts from Candice Wuehle’s poetry manuscript, BOUND, a finalist for the 2015 TS Book Prize.
Drew Kalbach, MQ-1
"I wallow in the shallows / In small language edits I now / Wordsmith my loved ones until their / Horror stories begin to match my own." Excerpts from Drew Kalbach’s poetry manuscript, MQ-1, a finalist for the 2015 TS Book Prize.
Christine Friedlander, AVANT GAUZE
"You can fill my mouth with gauze to stop the bleeding, but you can also fill my mouth with gauze to shut me up.... I wrote this book to bleed myself out." Excerpts from Christine Friedlander’s hybrid-genre manuscript, AVANT GAUZE, a finalist for the 2015 TS Book Prize.
Dennis James Sweeney, Tsurezuregusa
"I have no idea where I am. Truly: I was brought here blindfolded on a journey of more than ten hours, as per instruction. I could be anywhere." Excerpts from Dennis James Sweeney’s manuscript, Tsurezuregusa, a finalist for the 2015 TS Book Prize.
Andy Fitch, Garageland
"You ask yourself what value (in terms of life, of action) 'Up in Heaven’s' bizarre punk/pop fusion holds, for precisely which audience. You wonder if Mick’s departure from punk sound, if not punk sentiment, betrays its own escapist anxieties before what Nietzsche describes as the two worst contagions: 'great nausea at man,' 'great pity for man.'" Excerpts from Andy Fitch’s hybrid-genre manuscript, Garageland, a finalist for the 2015 TS Book Prize.
Laynie Browne, Periodic Companions
"In our actions we are beyond the believable and we divine, through tea leaves or wind, chemical signals, market rates or text codes of our clan— where we are driven next— furthest from before. Join our little gathering despite these many faults and without which we wonder whose art is reverential. Meet our misshapen family." Excerpts from Laynie Browne’s novel manuscript, Periodic Companions, a finalist for the 2015 TS Book Prize.
Ally Harris, Her Twin Was After Me
"I came from garbage, the daughter of a prison plumber, daughter of a man whose feet are baptized in shit. I came from garbage. I rose up from a borrowed backyard with a noon glaze and twigs mussing my malformed head." Excerpts from Ally Harris’s poetry manuscript, Her Twin Was After Me, a finalist for the 2015 TS Book Prize.
Paul Cunningham, GOAL/TENDER MEAT/TENDER
"I’m no amateur when it comes to negotiations, but I’m willing to offer you my head. I’m willing to sacrifice myself to continue the species. This is an institution of unsportsmanlike policies and I’m doing my best to generate a little public interest." Excerpts from Paul Cunningham’s hybrid-genre manuscript, GOAL/TENDER MEAT/TENDER, a finalist for the 2015 TS Book Prize.