Bread and Roses hosts Leigh Anne Kranz, Delphine Criszensco and Ashley Thirstrup interview Lidia Yuknavitch, a local writer, teacher, activist and feminist. She is the author of three works of short fiction and literary criticism. She is an Instructor of English and Women’s Studies Advisor at Mt Hood Community College.
Her recent memoir, The Chronology of Water: A Memoir is a personal story, though universal. She was born to an angry man’s house, where tears got her sent to the crybaby corner and her voice left for years. She found solace in her sister and swimming, water and words, and a journal hidden under her bed, writing her voice back.
Water got her out of that house, a swimming scholarship to Texas Tech, sheer propulsion of body and will. It was a narrow escape. With rage to burn, she rebelled in the ways that hurt women do, using her body as a battering ram to feel nothing.
The stillbirth of her firstborn, a daughter, finally made her go numb.
It was water and rocks, good mentors and men, art and words, that introduced her to her intellect and made her feel—and write. She found her tribe, gave birth to a son, and made her own happy home.
A universal hero’s journey.
Lidia discusses the memoir, as well as her latest literary works.
- KBOO