This talk recalls the animals who appeared in my books, or nearby, as I was writing them. An index of these animals, encountered or tracked in jungles, oceans, on streets and hillsides, or at home, might include: Lion, wolf, bear, chimp, shark, monkey, panther, eagle, dog, badger, cobra and owl. At the limit of this index is an humanimal presence, an entity that might be described as monstrous in the context of this curation. Can I tell you thirteen tiny stories in the time that it takes to give this talk? Some of the stories are ancestral. Some of the stories are horror stories. Some of the stories helped me to think about the politics of sanctuary. Some of the stories can't be shared with others. Some of the stories spiked my blood with so much adrenalin, I did not need to write my books in a café at midnight.
Bhanu Kapil is a poet and Fellow of Churchill College. She is the author of six books, most recently How To Wash A Heart (Pavilion Poetry), which won the TS Eliot Prize. Bhanu is also the recipient of a Cholmondeley Award from the Society of Authors, and a Windham-Campbell Prize from Yale University. Forthcoming work includes a revised edition of Incubation: a space for monsters (Kelsey Street Press).
This event is sponsored by The Laura Kirchman Manuelidis '63 Science and Literary Arts Endowment Fund.
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