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    GENNAROSE NETHERCOTT

  • ABOUT

    GENNAROSE NETHERCOTT is the author of a novel, Thistlefoot, and a book-length poem, The Lumberjack’s Dove, which was selected by Louise Glück as a winner of the National Poetry Series.

     

    A writer and folklorist alike, she helps create the podcast Lore, and she tours nationally and internationally performing strange tales (sometimes with puppets in tow). Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart—her latest book—marks her debut into short fiction.

     

    She lives in the woodlands of Vermont, beside an old cemetery.

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    genna.nethercott@gmail.com

     

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    _gennarose_

     

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    Thistlefoot

    ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR  The Wall Street Journal  Washington Independent Review of Books • BookPage  Book Riot

     

    In the tradition of modern fairytales comes a sweeping epic rich in Eastern European folklore—a debut novel about the ancestral hauntings that stalk us, and the uncanny power of story.

     

    "This book blooms from a fairy tale to a panoptic story that defies space and time, brimming with creativity, wisdom, and love."

    -Kirkus STARRED Review

     

    “Nethercott is a literary trickster god who has crafted a wonderfully imaginative, wholly enchanting novel of witness, survival, memory, and family. Thistlefoot shimmers with magic and mayhem."

    —Libba Bray

     

    A genuinely rollicking adventure....skillfully stuffed with startling rollickers. Prepare to be thoroughly, comprehensively, joyfully rollicked.”
    —Lemony Snicket

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    Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart (and other stories)

     Fourteen lush, strange, short stories.

     

    “Delectable dark fairy tales which tend to start in worlds that feel almost comfortable—until the shadows thicken and all at once everything has teeth. . . . Fantastic.”

    —Publishers Weekly

     

    “A memorable story collection that makes the supernatural personal.”

    —Kirkus STARRED Review

     

    “All of you who love that strain of witty, wistful, enigmatic stories that runs from Kafka to Kelly Link: come read this book. GennaRose Nethercott draws from a magic well, bringing us tales that feel as old as time yet marvelously new.”

    —Sofia Samatar, author of Tender

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    The Lumberjack's Dove

    Winner of the 2017 National Poetry Series (Ecco/HarperCollins)

     

    A book-length poem in the tenor of a folktale.

     

    “Pithy, magical, its many insights, its cautions and clarifications, unfolding in a chain of brief scenes and koan-like revelations. This is a book of unexpected lightness and buoyancy, as necessary in our tense period as the more urgent confrontations.”

    -Louise Glück

     

     

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    Lianna Fled the Cranberry Bog: a story in cootie catchers

    A kaleidoscopic tale of cruel beasts, daring thieves, lost sweethearts, and a family on the run-- told through twenty-six fold-up paper fortune tellers. (from Ninepin Press)

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    Modern Ballads

    A collection of narrative ballads by GennaRose Nethercott, set to music by a lineup of America's best contemporary folk bands.

     

    Featuring: Lula Wiles, Jefferson Hamer, Lonely Heartstring Band, Lissa Schneckenburger/Corey DiMario, Peter Mulvey, Dietrich Strause, Arc Iris, and Rose Polenzani

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    A Ghost of Water

    An ekphrastic collaboration with printmaker Susan Osgood of poems and images.

     

    This luscious hardcover art book contains eighteen original poems by GennaRose Nethercott, inspired by eighteen full-color Susan Osgood prints.

     

    "You are the mackerel that slips / from the fisherman’s grasp / and you are the dark haven / into which the fish / silently vanishes"

     

     

  • Live THISTLEFOOT Readings & Events

    With live puppetry accompaniment!

    *recommended for ages 12 and up

    Date.....................................City.........................................Venue....................................................................Time.......................Details

     

     

    🐣 2/28/24............Oaxaca, Mexico...........TBA..................................................................................

     

  • SELECT PUBLICATIONS

    TLR: "Drowning Lessons," 2021

     

    The Spectacle: Five poems from 50 Beasts to Break Your Heart, 2021

     

    BOMB Magazine: "Sundown at the Eternal Staircase," 2021

     

    The American Scholar: "A Diviner's Abecedarian," 2019

     

    BOMB Magazine: Six poems from 50 Beasts to Break Your Heart, 2019

     

    7 x 7: A Small, Beautiful Thing (collaboration with Frances Cannon), 2019

     

    Action, Spectacle: "What the neighbors Mustn't Know" & "The Cartographer," 2019

     

    Timber: Four poems from 50 Beasts to Break Your Heart, 2018

     

    PANK: Three poems from Dear Fox, Dear Barn, 2017

     

    The Offing: excerpt from Dear Fox, Dear Barn (co-written with Ben Clark), 2016

     

    Leveler: "Every Meal Tastes of Premonition" from Dear Fox, Dear Barn, 2016

     

    Cleaver Magazine: "Skin," 2014

     

    Rust + Moth: "Fuel," 2014

     

    Holland Park Press: "Departures," Winner of 2014 poetry contest

  • REVIEWS & INTERVIEWS

    INTERVIEWS:

     

    The Brooklyn Rail: Interviewed by Kathleen Rooney

     

    The Massachusetts Review: "10 Questions with GennaRose Nethercott"

     

    Hunger Mountain: "For Folk's Sake," Interviewed by Desmond Peeples

     

    Neon Pajamas: "Possessed Roosters and Eternal Staircases," Interviewed by Ben Niespodziany

     

    Seven Days: "Poets GennaRose Nethercott and Adrienne Raphel Keep Vermont on the Literary Map," by Julia Shipley

     

    Massachusetts Cultural Council: "Beasts and Boxes," an audio reading/interview

     

    Sundress Publications: "Lyric Essentials: GennaRose Nethercott Reads Miriam Bird Greenberg"

     

     

    REVIEWS OF FIFTY BEASTS TO BREAK YOUR HEART

     

    Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review)

    "A memorable story collection that makes the supernatural personal."

     

    Publishers Weekly

    "Nethercott collects 14 delectable dark fairy tales which tend to start in worlds that feel almost comfortable—until the shadows thicken and all at once everything has teeth."

     

     

    REVIEWS OF THISTLEFOOT

     

    Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review)

    "This book blooms from a fairy tale to a panoptic story that defies space and time, brimming with creativity, wisdom, and love."

     

    Library Journal

    "Replete with beautiful metaphors and lyrical prose, poet and folklorist Nethercott’s (The Lumberjack’s Dove) debut novel deploys her poetic storytelling powers to spotlight the struggle against oppression. This modern-day fairy tale will ignite greater understanding of an individual’s ability to incite change with the stories they tell."

     

    Booklist

    "Nethercott’s quiet, lyrical, yet potent prose . . . breathes life into this stirring, multigenerational fairy tale. . . . This fable about fables reminds us of the staying power of stories."
     

     

    REVIEWS OF THE LUMBERJACK'S DOVE:

     

    The Millions

    "Nethercott’s book feels true as wind, a discovery worth embracing."

     

    Washington Independent Review of Books

    "Just when we’re told that our culture is flattened by the mundanity of social media, Nethercott rises from its ashes like an angel of redemption."

     

    Berkeley Fiction Review

    "...through the numerical symbols and musicality characteristic of so many folktales, Nethercott crafts a stunning postmodern take on folklore."

     

    Drunken Monkeys

    "Delicious, endearing, it’s a successfully cast spell."

     

    TIMBER

    "Like grief itself, this story breathes, grows and shrinks, folds inward, and recalibrates—but never quite resolves... Most any lover of poetry, regardless of their preferred style, will enjoy the book."

     

  • Friends & Collaborators

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    Wooly Mar (Maria Pugnetti)

    Creatrix of both The Lumberjack's Dove & Thistlefoot shadow crankies

     

    See more of Maria's work here

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    Shoshana Bass of Sandglass Theater

    Director of the Thistlefoot traveling show--and maker of the stunning Baba Yaga puppet, among others

     

    Learn more about Sandglass Theater

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    Bobby DiTrani

    Illustrator of all fifty beasts within the text of "Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart" -- as well as Lianna Fled the Cranberry Bog

     

    See more of Bobby's work here

     

    (photo by Ezra Distler)

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    Sophia DiMateo

    Creator of the hand-painted creatures that acted as set dressings during the touring of Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart

     

    See more of Sophia's work here

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    Sophia DiMateo

    Creator of the hand-painted creatures that acted as set dressings during the touring of Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart

     

    See more of Sophia's work here