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Claire-Louise Bennett
Claire-Louise Bennett grew up in Wiltshire and studied literature and drama at the University of Roehampton, before settling in Galway. Her short fiction and essays have been published in The Stinging Fly, The Penny Dreadful, The Moth, Colony, The Irish Times, The White Review and gorse. She was awarded the inaugural White Review Short Story Prize in 2013 and has received bursaries from the Arts Council and Galway City Council. Her debut novel, Pondwas published by Fitzcarraldo Editions in 2015 and shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize in 2016. Her second novel, Checkout 19, is published by Jonathan Cape in August 2021.

Articles Available Online


The Russian Man

Fiction

Issue No. 27

Claire-Louise Bennett

Fiction

Issue No. 27

Many years ago a large Russian man with the longest tendrils of the softest white hair came to live in the fastest growing town...

poetry

Issue No. 13

Morning, Noon & Night

Claire-Louise Bennett

poetry

Issue No. 13

Sometimes a banana with coffee is nice. It ought not to be too ripe – in fact there should...

There was a sound coming out of her The stenographer was recording it It was dark in the small room and she could see the sound waves on the screen pulsing Was it a good pulse? It was hard to say Was it louder now she was bigger? People called it getting taller but she was getting bigger She was growing in perfect proportion It wasn’t like she was stretching The tallness was coming from a push that seemed to come from her feet Her feet would get bigger and then her ankles would get bigger and all the way up her body Unnoticeable to the human eye But often she would wake up and sit up and she would know she was taller Maybe it was happening equally over time, maybe it was happening in spurts She had been to an endocrinologist She suspected they all had Hormones made you grow and something had turned on all their hormones Everyone was trying to find out why It was a multimillion-dollar business because it was throwing things off in an uncomfortable way All the people that were getting bigger were normal people None of the rich or powerful people were getting taller None of them So when her boss had to tell her she was making a hash of things That maybe she needed to get better at her job – her boss found it hard because of her size Her boss had complained that he felt threatened She wasn’t sure why her boss would feel that way, at least she didn’t want her boss to feel that way She wanted her boss to feel comfortable around her But he was right to be frightened She was bigger than him by a lot and she was strong That was a secret she was keeping She was so much stronger She’d broken a couple of things None of the powerful people wanted to feel like this so a lot of the powerful people were putting a lot of money into research – to try and stop it Just stop it

Contributor

August 2014

Claire-Louise Bennett

Contributor

August 2014

Claire-Louise Bennett grew up in Wiltshire and studied literature and drama at the University of Roehampton, before settling in...

The Lady of the House

fiction

Issue No. 8

Claire-Louise Bennett

fiction

Issue No. 8

Wow it’s so still. Isn’t it eerie. Oh yes. So calm. Everything’s still. That’s right. Look at the rowers – look at how fast...

READ NEXT

fiction

June 2016

Beast

Paul Kingsnorth

fiction

June 2016

I stood in the river up to my knees and the river was cold. The water filled my boots...

fiction

Issue No. 3

Forkhead Box

Jeremy M. Davies

fiction

Issue No. 3

What interests me most is that Schaumann, the state executioner, bred mice. In his spare time. Sirens, ozone, exhaust...

poetry

July 2012

Poem for the Sightless Man (After Kate Clanchy)

Abigail Nelson

poetry

July 2012

This is just to say,   that the inked glasses that you wear look like the sound of shop...

 

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