TANNERY BAY (Steven Dunn, Katie Jean Shinkle)

A transcendent, collaborative new novel with a powerful #OwnVoices narrative of Black joy, Queer joy, and community

TANNERY BAY

by Steven Dunn and
Katie Jean Shinkle

FC2 · February 15, 2024
Paperback · $18.95 · 206 pages
ISBN: 9781573662055

“An exceptional exploration of how place shapes a person… Tannery Bay's fresh prose feels at once immediate and timeless while it unravels the enigmatic town's secrets."
—Elle Nash, author of Deliver Me and Gag Reflex

“As funny as it is haunting, with characters so rich and easy to love, you’ll miss them once you’ve finished… Tannery Bay is a book you’ll want to return to again and again.”
—Suzi Q. Smith, author of Poems For the End of the World

“Unforgettable… this unique and moving novel explores profound questions of inequality, the price of our dignity under capitalism, and the pulsating vibrancies of life.”
– Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Woman of Light

Enter a world where time stands still and summer never ends in TANNERY BAY (February 15, 2024), an ambitious and haunting new novel from celebrated writers Steven Dunn and Katie Jean Shinkle. Teaming up for the first time, Dunn and Shinkle collaborate to explore what it means to write from another’s subject positioning and possibilities to do so ethically. In doing so, they have created a unique, rich world of characters and story that will enthrall, delight, and challenge readers.

In the enchanted town of Tannery Bay, it’s July 37th, and then July 2nd again, but the year is a mystery. Held hostage in an eternal loop, the residents embark on an extraordinary journey of self-discovery, unity, and defiance against the forces that seek to divide them.

Intrepid siblings, Otis and Joy, work with their family and friends, who are separated geographically and economically from the other citizens, to oppose a formidable evil adversary: The Owners. These cunning and ruthless old men, driven by insatiable greed, hold the town hostage, exploiting its resources and dividing its people.

A powerful, collaborative #OwnVoices narrative, Tannery Bay encapsulates a Black and queer (and the overlaps therein) community who work together to fight the oppressive powers-that-be and reclaim their space. This is a captivating story of Black joy, Queer joy, and the ways in which family is both biological and chosen, where love transcends boundaries, and where art is a vehicle for change.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

STEVEN DUNN is a 2021 Whiting Award winner and the author of Potted Meat and water & power. He was born and raised in West Virginia and teaches in the MFA programs at Regis University and Stetson University.

KATIE JEAN SHINKLE is the author of five books of prose, most recently None of This Is an Invitation. A Lambda Literary fellow, she serves as co-poetry editor of DIAGRAM and teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing, Editing, and Publishing program at Sam Houston State University.