Delightful Petra Kuppers

[jesse_the_k]

Petra Kuppers has been mining the disability culture vein for many years. She dances, she writes (plays, poetry, fiction), she creates community theater, she teaches and she spreads energy wherever she goes. I enjoyed two of her panels I attended at WisCon this May. She was the last person to introduce herself at the “Disability And Ability” panel on Saturday, where I was delighted how she drew explicit attention to a European style of identifying, and how this was a cultural difference. She said “I’m a disabled person and a disability rights activist.” The other panelists were more explicit in describing their diagnoses and impairments.

She’s just published a short-story collection, Ice Bar, available in print from the publisher, and as a PDF direct from Petra.

She admits she didn’t publish this collection to make money, and many of her stories are online.

Here’s a taste of her dense, evocative, crip-forward prose, from “The Wheelchair Ramp,” a story of two women meeting on a blind date who share more than they know:

The woman’s boots clomped up the ramp to the aerie. Joshi felt the rhythm of the woman’s legs in her seat, the ship-like motion of wood’s give, translated into sensitive sit bones. She watched the vision in red and black climb to her, leaning into the grade.

http://anmly.org/ap25/fiction/petra-kuppers

Petra mentions her experience leading aquatic exercise, and her writing evokes a swimmer’s sensibility so well! Check out the first paragraph of the “Pool Shark” story, which explores bullying and revenge:

Gaby let go of the green tile, pushed herself into the endless space behind. She didn’t look, dared herself not to look. Instead, she floated, the back of her shoulders itchy with a worry she could not suppress. The water beneath her felt colder than the water surrounding her, and she knew she was paddling out into the deep. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw the pearls of the dividing lines change color, from white to orange, marking the point where the pool floor dropped down, down, ever deeper into murkiness.

https://flashfictionmagazine.com/blog/2017/04/04/pool-shark/

Dance mystifies me as a spectator activity: I wish I could appreciate her work in that arena. Much more detail on her site:

https://petrakuppersfiction.wordpress.com/

Comments

[sovay]

Petra mentions her experience leading aquatic exercise, and her writing evokes a swimmer’s sensibility so well! Check out the first paragraph of the “Pool Shark” story, which explores bullying and revenge

That is very tactilely written. That's nice.

[jesse_the_k]

Yes, that's exactly why I like it--I can feel her images.