On today's show, we welcome Chelsea Bieker, author of the new novel Godshot, from Catapult Press. Chelsea is the recipient of a Rona Jaffe Writer’s Foundation Award and her fiction and essays have been published in Granta, McSweeney’s, Catapult magazine, Electric Literature, and Joyland. She’s been awarded a MacDowell Colony fellowship, and holds an MFA in creative writing from Portland State University. Chelsea grew up in California’s Central Valley, and currently lives here in Portland.
Godshot is Chelsea’s first novel. And what a first novel!. Here’s a list of just some of the accolades. It’s one of Oprah Magazine’s “Most Anticipated Books of 2020”, Vulture’s “Best New Books for 2020”, Buzzfeed’s “Most Highly Anticipated Books” Bustle’s “Must Read Books of 2020“,Paste Magazine’s “Most Anticipated Novels”, Electric Literature’s “Most Anticipated Debuts of 2020“. And it was the Rumpus Editor Pick for 2020, a Library Journal’s Title to Watch, and a San Francisco Chronicle’s “Book to Look Out For”. Most recently, Godshot was listed as a New and Noteworthy book by the New York Times.
T Kira Madden writes of Godshot: “An absolute masterpiece. A truly epic journey through girlhood, divinity, and the blood that binds and divides us, Godshot is a feminist magnum opus of this, or any, time… Terrifying, resplendent, and profoundly moving, this book will leave you changed.”
Hope it's beautiful, and virus-free, day in your neighborhood!
Author photo courtesy of Jessica Keaveny
- KBOO