{"product_id":"desperate-bodies-6708","title":"Desperate Bodies","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eInaugural Winner of Cultured Mag's Young Writer Prize and Finalist for the Maya Angelou Book Award for Fiction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Broke my heart from the very first page . . . literary shock and awe at its finest.\"\u003c\/b\u003e --Deesha Philyaw, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Confessions of First Lady Freeman\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Secret Lives of Church Ladies\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom a ferocious new talent, a debut story collection excavating the desire, humor, and horror in the everyday lives of Black women and girls--for readers of Deesha Philyaw and Kelly Link\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith a voice that vibrates on the page, Lydia Mathis' debut collection is set in the American South and her sharply drawn, authentic characters shine a light on what we're willing to do to ourselves and to others in service of our desires. The madness in the ordinary rules here: an overworked college safety officer is confronted by a bloody figure who walks into her office; a sex worker runs into a client en route to a parent-teacher conference; a teacher is plagued by a ghost determined to tidy her apartment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eDesperate Bodies \u003c\/i\u003edepicts the fragility, strength, and unruliness of Black women and girls' bodies and the power in being honest about their desires. In unflinching prose, Mathis takes a frank and determined look at what it means to be subjected to imbalances of power through the perspectives of young girls and adult women. With surprising turns and a touch of the supernatural, these stories refuse to look away from the most honest, raw moments of womanhood.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVisceral and unyielding, \u003ci\u003eDesperate Bodies\u003c\/i\u003e is a thrillingly dark ride that introduces Lydia Mathis as a major new writer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLydia Mathis \u003c\/b\u003ehas an MFA in fiction from New York University. She earned her BA in English Literature with a minor in Classical Civilizations from Agnes Scott College. She has worked as a teacher for Teach for America in Memphis and as a teaching fellow at Coler-Goldwater Hospital in New York City. She is the recipient of \u003ci\u003eA Public Space\u003c\/i\u003e's 2023 Editorial Fellowship and is currently an assistant editor at \u003ci\u003eA Public Space\u003c\/i\u003e. She has stories published in \u003ci\u003eNorth American Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSoutheast Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTorch Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eStanchion\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eFive on the Fifth\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eoranges journal\u003c\/i\u003e. She is based in Atlanta, GA.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lydia Mathis","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67923261489437,"sku":"9780802166708","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0821\/9095\/8877\/files\/9780802166708.jpg?v=1793381743","url":"https:\/\/www.anovelideaphilly.com\/products\/desperate-bodies-6708","provider":"A Novel Idea on Passyunk","version":"1.0","type":"link"}