Fluid - Cathleen Davies

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Résumé :
In 1970s Hull, a tiny revolution is brewing. Young sex workers find their creativity and independence. Besotted artists perform outrageous stage-shows, and young women discover the beauty of feminism, book clubs, and shower heads. This intersectional collection of short stories paints a picture of a post-hippy, bohemian lifestyle, where punk, art, and abjection meet. Fluid is an interconnected collection of short-stories, each chapter based on a piece of 1970s artwork containing or alluding to body fluids. All the artistic pieces examined were chosen because they fitted within two categories: they all included the use or suggestion of body fluids, and they were all successful in creating controversy. The artists included are Vivienne Westwood, Mary Kelly, Valie Export, COUM Transmissions, Andy Warhol, David Wojnarowicz, Bas Jan Ader, Dennis Oppenheim, Ana Mendieta, Carolee Schneemann, Judy Chicago, Suicide, Chris Burden, and Jenny Holzer. The chapters bleed together to create a cut-and-paste plot reflecting northern England during a time of social unrest. Fluid is a story about people and their bodies, their connections to each other, and their unwavering primality....

Biographie:
Cathleen Davies is a writer, teacher, and researcher currently completing their Creative / Critical PhD at the University of East Anglia.Brought up in East Yorkshire, UK, they have taught and written in various countries, including China, Basque Country, and the UK.These days, they present seminars in high-schools, universities, and online, teaching a range of creative writing skills to people of all ages.Their current research project Stitches explores the body as identity, considering the different ways that we can alter ourselves through modification, and what this means in terms of gender, power, agency and freedom.They completed their undergraduate degree in Creative Writing at the University of East Anglia.While there, they published multiple stories in Egg Box's anthologies 'Undertow' and 'Underpass.'In 2018, they completed their MA in Creative Writing at The University of Birmingham, where they began their research into body fluids, art, and the use of protest through abjection, inspiring their collection Fluid.They continued to published stories from this collection in many online journals including Storgy, Mercurius, The Bookend Review, The Fictional Caf?, and many moreFluid will likely be released at the end of 2023.Their debut collection of short stories Cheeky, Bloody Articles was published by 4Horsemen Publications in August '22.CBA received positive reviews, being described as 'truly an amazing book' 'beautifully written' and 'full of surprises and joy and sadness', although it would be remiss not to mention that feedback has been mainly garnered from the writer's friends and family, of whom they are eternally grateful.Their memoir And Marvel is due to be released in March 2023.This details their time in the Basque Country, their recovery through the grieving process, and their various self-indulgent speculations on what it means to be a writer.Davies' work has appeared in collections by Dostoyevsky Wannabes, Muswell Press, and Vagabonds, and many more.All of their short-stories, articles and poetry can be found on their website here: https://cathleendavieswrit.wixsite.com/cathleendavies-com.They also co-run Aloka, an online journal for non-native and multilingual English speakers.Aloka strives to make the world of online literature as diverse as possible, amplifying under represented voices, and exploring the world through language, art, poetry, and translation.Davies currently lives in Norwich with their flatmate, and their eighteen-year-old cat Fliss. In their spare time, they haunt gritty bars and venues drinking too much beer, and enjoying their local music scene. They believe in peace, equality, and justice for all.