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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...

ADVICE FROM BENJO CORTEZ GALLERY OWNER, CHELSEA THE RED CAT, NEW YORK, 2AM    When I feel something It doesn’t show I got rid of the signs With injections in the forehead I can tell you where to go But not anywhere My eyes got fucked up in Milan Some bitch Can you see the scar?   Keep your skin perfect Put these SkinCeuticals on   Every day Each morning           And I swear   Vitamin B5 Gel Serum 10 Notre Coeur           That one twice a day Daily Moisture           Do that daily Tinted SPF5O, Dead Sea Live Dark Room, RV5, Eska Formula Swallow aloe vera Are you writing this down?   And only eat soup You can put anything in it But only soup   I lost nearly everything   My whole body   And then now Well, now I’m eating this cream mousse It’s all back But that was because of Massimo He disappeared   This was before James Before James I only dated architects           Which Massimo wasn’t He was a model But up until then Architects only He kept saying Massimo kept saying You only want me because I am not an architect Which was true And I told him it was true Otherwise I would date an architect I’m an honest person You should always be honest   But he disappeared I hurt easily He knew this   Now I have James Yes, he’s very young But it’s because he has good skin, He uses all those creams   I used to get jealous But he’s good Knows how not to hurt people His brother just died So he knows           But once He was in a restroom in a club And I was unsure He was in there a long time I knocked, and went away Or pretended I was watching from the sink Looking for signs in the mirror But I was quiet Then I came back, or didn’t because I didn’t go away But I knew he was not in there alone And there was this guy I’d seen him looking at James And so after a while I made James open the door and he was In there Alone   Massimo disappeared though Back to Milan He was from Milan I tracked him down We went to therapy It was at that point Massimo admitted he knew how to hurt me and Sometimes Did it on purpose That’s when I realised Massimo was not a good person I didn’t want to talk anymore But we were always at the therapist Because I had set it up like that And Massimo kept on talking For weeks Until the therapist had to stop him What about Benjo, she said What does Benjo think?       PLEDGE DRIVE   Weightless beside his possessions In bags bound To

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...

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Feature

November 2017

Small White Monkeys

Sophie Collins

Feature

November 2017

Small white monkeys stretch around in the dirt beneath a tree but do not get dirty. They pick themselves...

fiction

June 2012

Spinning Days of Night

Susana Medina

fiction

June 2012

Day 1 in the Season before Chaos   These were the days before the glitch. The weather was acutely...

Interview

May 2014

Interview with Conrad Shawcross

Patrick Sykes

Interview

May 2014

Though an intimidating sixteen feet tall, the industrial robot in Conrad Shawcross’s flat doesn’t look at all out of...

 

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