A timely story about an unconventional princess, Jeanne Desy’s “The Princess Who Stood On Her Own 2 Feet," and the late Brazilian feminist writer Clarice Lispector brings us “Beauty and the Beast or The Enormous Wound."
In this time of female empowerment comes a timely story about an unconventional princess, Jeanne Desy’s “The Princess Who Stood On Her Own 2 Feet," which Kaczmarek read herself, and found so inspiring she gave it as a gift to her daughter. Desy is a poet and fiction writer. “The Princess Who Stood on Her Own Two Feet” was first published in Ms. and has been widely reprinted. In 1996, Desy received the Josiah Bancroft Award for Folk Dancing: Notes for a Comic Novel. Her works of poetry include CAT! The Animal that Hides in your Heart; Ghost; and Leaving Zen Mountain, which was nominated by Pale Horse Press for the 2006 Pushcart Prize.
Our second alternative fairy tale, “Beauty and the Beast or The Enormous Wound,” is by the late Brazilian feminist writer Clarice Lispector. Lispector (1920-1977) was one of Brazil’s foremost modern authors, earning international acclaim for her novels and short stories. Her first novel, Near to the Wild Heart, was awarded the 1944 Graça Aranha national prize for fiction, and her following works, including the short story collection Family Ties and the novels The Passion According to GH and Água Viva, were similarly lauded. Interest in Lispector’s work was revived in 2009 with the publication of Benjamin Moser’s Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector and the 2015 translated collection The Complete Stories published by New Directions.
Reader Kate Burton was nominated for Tony Awards for her work in “Hedda Gabler”, “The Elephant Man,” and “The Constant Wife.” Additional Broadway credits include “Spring Awakening,” “ The Beauty Queen of Leenane,” “ Jake’s Women,” “Company” and “Present Laughter.” Her screen credits include “Max Payne,” “Sherry Baby,” “127 Hours,” “Celebrity,” “ The Ice Storm,” “Liberal Arts,” and “Martyrs.” On television, she has appeared in numerous shows, including “Empire Falls,” “Notes for My Daughter” (Emmy Award), “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Rescue Me,” “The Closer,” “The Good Wife,” “Full Circle,” “Grimm,” and “Scandal” (Emmy nomination). Burton is also a professor and master artist at the Los Angeles’ USC School of Dramatic Arts.
