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Biting Point
Catherine Smith is an award-winning poet whose books The Butcher's Hands and Lip were both shortlisted for the prestigious Forward Prize. The stories in The Biting Point, her long-awaited first prose collection, are unpredictable, edgy and often surprisingly funny, charting the dark territory underlying seemingly ordinary lives. They explore the lies we tell each other, and ourselves, with unsettling results.A woman falls apart as she prepares for her secret lover's funeral... A child builds a magical sandcastle as her parents' marriage crumbles... A young woman confesses to her part in a catastrophically cruel childhood stunt... A love-struck teenager's driving lesson reveals a devastating gap between fantasy and reality...Catherine Smith's writing is always pin-sharp, unsentimental and insightful. Her stories delight in human possibility and complexity.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
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About the author
Catherine Smith
10 books3 followersCatherine Smith is an award-winning poet and fiction writer; she has also written radio drama, (Jellybelly, broadcast May 2005). Her first short poetry collection, The New Bride, (Smith/Doorstop) was short-listed for the Forward Prize for Best Collection , 2001.
Her first full collection, The Butcher’s Hands (Smith/Doorstop) was short-listed for the Aldeburgh/Jerwood Prize and was a PBS Recommendation. It earned her a place, in 2004, as one of Mslexia’s ‘Top Ten UK Women Poets’ and as one of the ’Next Generation’ poets - ‘the most exhilarating new voices to have emerged in the last ten years’ (PBS/Arts Council). Her third book, Lip, (Smith/Doorstop) was short-listed for the Forward Prize, 2008.
Her most recent collection, Otherwhere, was completed with financial support from the ‘Grants for Arts’ scheme, Arts Council England.
Catherine’s short stories have been published extensively in the UK and have won both local and national prizes. Her first collection, The Biting Point, is is now out from Speechbubble Books.
Catherine teaches Creative Writing for the University of Sussex The Arvon Foundation and runs an enrichment group for teenager writers at Varndean 6th Form College in Brighton. Catherine is also a teacher at The Poetry School
Catherine has also mentored poets, both adults and teenagers - most recently Rowyda Amin as part of London's 'Spread the Word' initiative, which resulted in Ten, from Bloodaxe, an anthology of black and Asian poets.
Her first full collection, The Butcher’s Hands (Smith/Doorstop) was short-listed for the Aldeburgh/Jerwood Prize and was a PBS Recommendation. It earned her a place, in 2004, as one of Mslexia’s ‘Top Ten UK Women Poets’ and as one of the ’Next Generation’ poets - ‘the most exhilarating new voices to have emerged in the last ten years’ (PBS/Arts Council). Her third book, Lip, (Smith/Doorstop) was short-listed for the Forward Prize, 2008.
Her most recent collection, Otherwhere, was completed with financial support from the ‘Grants for Arts’ scheme, Arts Council England.
Catherine’s short stories have been published extensively in the UK and have won both local and national prizes. Her first collection, The Biting Point, is is now out from Speechbubble Books.
Catherine teaches Creative Writing for the University of Sussex The Arvon Foundation and runs an enrichment group for teenager writers at Varndean 6th Form College in Brighton. Catherine is also a teacher at The Poetry School
Catherine has also mentored poets, both adults and teenagers - most recently Rowyda Amin as part of London's 'Spread the Word' initiative, which resulted in Ten, from Bloodaxe, an anthology of black and Asian poets.
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