Things From the Creek Bed We Could Have Been • Print Only

Summary

Told from inside rivers, snowstorms, and exhibitions by mediocre artists, the stories of Claire Oleson’s surreal, voice-driven collection, Things from Creek Bed We Could Have Been, explore the watery edges of a gendered self and the briars of strained relationships. Some of these stories have dogs with too many heads. Some of them have orchards that look like dads. All of them need you.

Details

• Winner of the 2019 Newfound Prose Prize
• Finalist for the 2020 Eric Hoffer Book Award
• Stab-stitched, risograph cover, 64 pages, 5.5″ x 7″, FSC-certified paper.
• Order print + e-book
• Order e-book only

Praise

“I was captivated from the first story to the last. The use of language was incredible, the stories diverse, the tone mesmerizing.”
        –xTx

“This collection is revelatory, introducing a writer already possessing a stunning virtuosity of language and inner drama. With these stories, Claire Oleson blazes an important mark on the literary landscape, and we can only look forward to more such work from her.”
        –David Lynn

“The dark waters that run through Things From the Creek Bed We Could Have Been, Claire Oleson’s riveting story collection, variously reveal and conceal the dangers and fantasies that lurk nearby; our families, our own backyards become sites of revelations, sometimes charming, sometimes gothic. But they always hold a mirror to our impenetrable selves: ‘The creek is glassy at its surface, but I can’t break it. Its body has memorized surrender so well that it can never lose to something like my bony knuckles.’ Oleson brings a poet’s music and precision to these subtle and memorable stories.”
        –Richie Hofmann

Reviews

• Adroit Journal: An Interview with Claire Oleson
• Cleaver Magazine: An Interview with Claire Oleson

Author

Claire Oleson is a queer writer hailing from Grand Rapids, Mich. She has a BA in English and Creative Writing from Kenyon College where her work has won the Propper Prize for poetry and the Denham Sutcliffe Memorial Award. Her work often explores rifts in gender, art, and selfhood. Her writing has been published by places including the University of Kentucky’s graduate literary journal Limestone, Newfound, Bridge Eight Magazine, Sugar House Review, and the Kenyon Review online.

Artwork

Cover by LK James.