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Vanessa Carlisle holds a PhD in Creative Writing, Literature and Gender Studies. She is the author of A Crack in Everything (2010) as well as stories and essays appearing in PULP!, NinthLetter, Juked, Men Undressed, We Too: Stories of Sex Work and Survival, n+1, and many more. As a queer femme sex worker, death doula, activist, and educator, Vanessa's work calls for big change while celebrating the beauty and complexity of her communities here and now. She is published in many literary magazines including her article ""How to Build a Hookers Army,"" has a forthcoming piece in the South Atlantic Quarterly,and is the co-author of zine Don't Hate My Heels.
Carlisle's novel brings us confidently into Kindred's life, beautifully illuminating her relationships with family, sex work, issues of class, and love. A debut of deep compassion and clear-eyed vision. Aimee Bender, author of The Butterfly Lampshade and The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake Take Me With You is a rallying cry, a command for those of us who call ourselves American to remember who we are and who we are supposed to be. Through characters that show us the fierce and expansive meaning of family, Vanessa Carlisle illuminates the myriad lives of interconnected people informed but never broken by the injustices of their race, gender, sexuality or class status. Kindred, the character who is the driving force in this immersive and provocative novel, is the daughter and sister of all the people who have raised her: her incarcerated father, lovers and friends in the sex work industry, and the social activists who empower and educate her. This is a book to read and share. Deft and powerful from beginning to end. Dana Johnson, author of In the Not Quite Dark and Elsewhere, California
