Lidia Yuknavitch

Lidia Yuknavitch
Born 1963
Language English
Nationality United States
Alma mater University of Oregon

Lidia Yuknavitch (born 1963)[1] is an American writer, teacher and editor based in Oregon. She is the author of the memoir The Chronology of Water, and the novels The Small Backs of Children and Dora: A Headcase.

Biography

Yuknavitch grew up in a home where her father verbally, physically, and sexually abused her and her sister, while her alcoholic mother did not intervene.[2] As a teen, she was noticed by a "caring and methodical coach" who helped her move towards her dream of becoming a competitive swimmer.[3] The family moved to Florida for additional training, and Yuknavitch began abusing alcohol.[3] Yuknavitch attended college in Texas on a swimming scholarship and had hopes of qualifying for the United States Olympic swimming team.[4] The boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, however, as well as her own drug and alcohol abuse, ended her competitive swimming career.[2] Yuknavitch moved to Eugene, Oregon after losing her scholarship and enrolled in the University of Oregon.[4]

She was one of the editors of Two Girls Review,[5] which later became 2 Gyrlz Performative Arts.

She received her PhD in English Literature from the University of Oregon.[6] Yuknavitch teaches writing, literature, film, and women's studies and is on the MFA faculty at Eastern Oregon University.[4][7] She has also taught at Mt. Hood Community College.[8]

Yuknavitch has been married to men three times, and has also had relationships with women, including Kathy Acker.[9]

She lives in Portland, Oregon with the filmmaker Andy Mingo and their son, Miles.[10] Mingo and Yuknavitch are the editors of Chiasmus Press, a "micro indie press".[11]

Writing

In 1987–1988, Yuknavitch, then known as Lidia Yukman, collaborated with a novel-writing class at the University of Oregon taught by Ken Kesey that produced the book Caverns. Although the group of novelists, collectively named "O. U. Levon", are often described as graduate students, Yuknavitch was not actually in graduate school at the time.[1]

Her work has been published in Guernica, Ms., The Iowa Review, Zyzzyva, Another Chicago Magazine, The Sun,[12] Exquisite Corpse, and TANK.[10]

Yuknavitch is associated with fellow Oregon writers Chuck Palahniuk, who wrote the introduction to her novel Dora: A Headcase,[13] Chelsea Cain, who wrote the introduction to The Chronology of Water,[4] Monica Drake, Cheryl Strayed, and Tom Spanbauer.[8] Yuknavitch introduced Spanbauer at the launch for his book I Loved You More at Powell's Books in Portland.[14]

Yuknavitch's 2011 memoir, The Chronology of Water, has developed a cult following, and it was noted in a Huffington Post book review that two years after being published, the book "keeps popping up on blogs and social media feeds".[15] She said she started writing the book as a kind of dare after talking to Chuck Palahniuk about memoir at the end of a meeting of their writers' group.[16] The title comes from a short story Yuknavitch wrote in a writing workshop with Diana Abu-Jaber.[16] The photograph on the book jacket depicts a naked woman in the water. Yuknavitch and her publisher opted to wrap the book in a "belly band" in order to cover the woman's breast. Yuknavitch wrote about this decision in The Rumpus.[17]

Dora: A Headcase, is Yuknavitch's novel about "Dora", the subject of a famous case study by Sigmund Freud.[18] The subject of the study had lost her voice. Yuknavitch wrote that she wanted to "give Dora back her voice and 'talk back' to Freud."[19] In 2014, the book was optioned for a movie by Katherine Brooks.[18]

The Small Backs of Children, published in 2015, was praised by Kirkus Reviews, in which it was called a "brave and affecting novel."[20]

Works

Awards

The Chronology of Water

Further reading

References

  1. 1 2 "Lidia Yuknavitch is O.U. Levon: Remembering the Caverns Crew and Ken Kesey's Kindness". Theodore Carter. July 28, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  2. 1 2 Koven, Suzanne (2013). "Writing From the Body: Memoirs By Women". Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction 15 (1): 178–181. Retrieved September 27, 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  3. 1 2 Spendl, Lana (2011). "The Chronology of Water". Indiana Review 33 (2): 173–174. Retrieved September 27, 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  4. 1 2 3 4 "The Chronology of Water: Lidia Yuknavitch". Hawthorne Books. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Lidia Yuknavitch". Baker & Taylor Author Biographies. January 5, 2000. Retrieved September 27, 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  6. ↑ "An ABR Interview with Lidia Yuknavitch". American Book Review. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Lidia Yuknavitch (non-fiction)". Eastern Oregon University. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Baker, Jeff (June 25, 2010). "Chuck Palahniuk, Chelsea Cain and the Hottest Writing Group in Portland". The Oregonian. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  9. ↑ Lary, Nina (2011). "The Chronology of Water". Bitch 53: 63–64. Retrieved September 27, 2015. (subscription required (help)).
  10. 1 2 "About Lidia". Corporeal Writing. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  11. ↑ Yuknavitch, Lidia (May 2010). "Chiasmus Press". American Book Review 31 (4): 6. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  12. ↑ Yuknavitch, Lidia (June 2012). "The Unspeakable Things Between Our Bellies". The Sun (438). Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Dora: A Headcase". Hawthorne Press. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Lidia Yuknavitch's Introduction of Tom Spanbauer at Powell's Books on the Event of his Book Launch for I Loved You More". Hawthorne Books. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  15. ↑ Stivers-Isakova, Valerie (February 13, 2013). "Review: Lidia Yuknavitch's The Chronology of Water -- A Body Memoir Gone Viral". The Huffington Post. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  16. 1 2 Carpenter, Kasey (June 6, 2011). "There's a Naked Woman Inside". The Cult (The Official Fan Site of Chuck Palahniuk). Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  17. ↑ Yuknavitch, Lidia (February 16, 2011). "About a Boob Or The Hermeneutics of a Woman's Body". The Rumpus. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  18. 1 2 "Scoop: Lidia Yuknavitch's Movie, Jerry Seinfeld's Meal". Willamette Week. January 29, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2015.
  19. ↑ Foster, Jordan (July 27, 2012). "Take That, Sigmund! PW Talks with Lidia Yuknavitch". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved September 27, 2015.
  20. ↑ Grossman, Miriam (July 2015). "The Small Backs of Children". Kirkus Reviews 83 (13): 4. (subscription required (help)).

External links

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