A Four Queens Interview Series: Regarding Beauty…with Teresa Carmody
Welcome to this special 5-part series on beauty. Why beauty?
I’ve been working on a collection of essays that takes the dump as its central image—a place not typically celebrated for its beauty. The essays cover difficult material (suicide, addiction, sexual assault, erasure…) but what I noticed upon re-reading my current draft is that every essay is saying something about beauty, and this is what, in fact, may most strongly connect all the essays to one another.
Excuse me, but what?! This is not what I was expecting to discover in my read-through! So, I’m keen to know what brilliant minds make of beauty—and at this particular moment.
I’m delighted to kick things off with this conversation with Teresa Carmody. Be sure to check our her links below (you’ll want to!)
One thing I learned quickly during these interviews: beauty’s path is often the errant path. I hope you enjoy and thanks for traveling down this path with me. — x Selah
Teresa C
Teresa’s NEW BOOK! A Healthy Interest in the Lives of Others
The Reconception of Marie—Teresa’s novel, which I mention in our conversation.
On that note, here is my blurb (I do love this book so!):
At one point, prophetically, Marie says, “Maybe salvation is like a fresh new supply of maxi-pads.” Here is a mysticism my soul understands. Wondering what to get Joan of Arc for her birthday this year? This book. Also magic, the way it tracks us. And knows us before we know (see: tarot card XI, Justice). I would classify this book as red conjuration. Really, only this: I would like to convert to the Church of Marie, where the past, present, and future agree to disagree in the name of radiance. And too – these five words, the most extraordinary words I know, “For she began to write.” The Reconception of Marie is a stunning book.
B I O
Teresa Carmody (she/they) is a writer of fiction, creative nonfiction, inter-arts collaborations, and hybrid forms. Her books include The Reconception of Marie (2020), Maison Femme: a fiction (2015), and Requiem (2005). Their writing has appeared in LitHub, Los Angeles Review of Books, Michigan Quarterly Review, Matters of Feminist Practice, WaterStone Review, Lifework, and elsewhere. A co-founding director of Les Figues Press in Los Angeles, Carmody co-edited I’ll Drown My Book: Conceptual Writing by Women and TrenchArt Monograph: hurry up please its time. She currently lives in Omaha and teaches in the Writer’s Workshop and low-residency MFA in Creative Writing Program at University of Nebraska Omaha.
Hi friends—a new year and a new cycle are just around the corner. I’m excited to bring back this popular offering for what I very strongly suspect to be a fascinating 2025. Session availability is limited.—x Selah
