Slugs: A Manifesto

by Abi Palmer

Why be a slug? Slugs: A Manifesto explores a creature that survives by being disgusting. Weaving together manifesto, memoir and poetic language, Abi Palmer considers the politics of space, iridescent queerness, and shapeshifting viscous 'slug time.' In the face of a potential apocalypse, Slugs: A Manifesto envisions a future where humanity becomes just a little more sluglike. The work will be developed alongside Palmer's debut exhibition, Slime Mother at Chapter, Cardiff

Genres: Nonfiction, Poetry, Disability, Queer

150 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2024

Reviews

[Tass · Rating 4 out of 5]

i want to live in a world where slugs are morally neutral <3

[Eben James · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely fucking wild

[Sian Lile-Pastore · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the exhibition that accompanied this book and I liked that the book made me look up videos of slug sex.

[Ronan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A hail the slime mother! The exploding foam slug remains a highlight of my discord experience, love to Abi. Read this.

[Tick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t know what to expect when reading this, but it took me in a weird and wonderful journey. I learned a lot about slugs, and also about the way we perceive things. I certainly didn’t expect to find the book funny, but I did. I enjoyed reading it and it got me thinking about things from a different perspective.

[bridg · Rating 5 out of 5]

enjoyed this so much - slurped it up in an afternoon, as a bug-loving disabled queer it did not disappoint and it was also just so much more than i anticipated! Abi’s writing is so moreish and the spacious format worked perfectly - loved the journey through odes to slime and wetness, drip feeding us poetry like sappho for slugs, all the while reflecting on disability, sexuality and tracing where exactly our disgust might lie when it comes to encountering other ways of being in a world so obsessed with separating and sealing ourselves off from the messiness of the rest of nature, wreaking violence with borders, hermetically sealed homes and domination over our environment at any cost etc. a beautiful book and so much food for thought - slime well spent (🥟💭💦)

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

🥟🥟🥟🥟🥟🥟🥟🥟🥟

[Finn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The queer crip manifesto we all needed. I felt seen in all of the disgusting, writhing, unpalatable mess of me. Off to cosy myself up with my slime buddies under a leaf 🥟

[Grupy Scoopy · Rating 4 out of 5]

slugs

[Martha]

slug sex slug birth slug babies :*

[Rosamund Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderfully slimy manifesto that offers the simple slug as a model for radical change in society -- an acceptance of disability, queerness, and one's own simple being.

[Peter Baran · Rating 4 out of 5]

A delightfully playful thing about, around and of practice with slugs, in particular in grappling with the artist's revulsion and then obsession with them

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exactly what you would expect it to be. It’s a book about slugs.

Well, it’s about more than slugs. It’s about queerness & disability & the world around us. Slugs as a metaphor. Slugs as a literary device. Slugs as slugs!

I don’t know if Abi Palmer has ever published poetry but she’s a poet to me! Her writing is so lyrical & beautiful & heartfelt that it truly made me look at slugs differently. I love to garden & have long felt uncomfortable about killing the slugs that eat my little seedlings. They live outside! They don’t know I’m trying to grow kale! This book has reaffirmed my discomfort & I’ll continue to sow extra seeds for the slugs.

Loved it.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

if you're on the fence about slugs read this and you'll love them