Girl Years

Karen Dietrich explains, “I’ve been obsessed with the experiences of girlhood for as long as I can remember. In writing the pieces that became Girl Years, I set out to document scenes from an American girlhood, but also to explore where memory and imagination intersect. As a child I was fascinated with the idea of the interior life (and of course, that fascination continues). I often felt as though my true self was the one living inside.

I stumbled upon the idea of Girl Years rather by chance. I had been thinking about girls as their own species (hence the play on “dog years,” a formula I never quite understood how to calculate). In my writing, I started meditating on these different concepts of time and the past (clearly another fascination) and it was through this exploration that I wrote the title piece.

Certain questions persisted, and those questions compelled me to write more. Is there such a thing as common experience? Can we ever truly know what we feel minutes, hours, even years, in the same way? I find more comfort in questions rather than answers, as I am forever drawn to the unknown, the unknowable.

Girl Years, a collection of creative nonfiction flash.

$5.00 + $3.00 shipping.

Or send a check for $8.00 ($5.00 + $3.00 shipping) to:
Matter Press
PO Box 704
Wynnewood, PA 19096

Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.

Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.

Upcoming:

01/13 • Edward Thomas-Herrera
01/20 • Zero Laforga
01/27 • Jack Bedell
02/03 • TBD
02/10 • Gaurav Bhalla
02/17 • Callie Dean
02/24 • TBD