Her Body And Other Parties

Shortlisted for the National Book Award Fiction Prize 2017 and the International Dylan Thomas Prize 2018, in her provocative debut, Carmen Maria Machado demolishes the borders between magical realism and science fiction, comedy and horror, fantasy and fabulism. A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the mysterious green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague spreads across the earth. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery about a store's dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted house guest. A dark, shimmering slice into womanhood, "Her Body and Other Parties" is wicked and exquisite.

“A writer of rare daring … there's a ragged glory to the stories' formal experimentation and erotic fearlessness, and the gusto with which they reinvent horror, SF and fairytale tropes.” - Guardian

“A love letter to an obstinate genre that won't be gentrified. It's a wild thing, this book, covered in sequins and scales, blazing with the influence of fabulists from Angela Carter to Kelly Link and Helen Oyeyemi, and borrowing from science fiction, queer theory and horror …” - New York Times

Carmen Maria Machado is a fiction writer, critic, and essayist whose work has appeared in various prestigious publications. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and has been awarded fellowships and residencies from multiple foundations. She is the Artist in Residence at the University of Pennsylvania and lives in Philadelphia with her partner.