UW–Madison alumna Barbara Seyda, who earned her bachelor’s degree from the School of Education’s Art Department in 1980, has a forthcoming memoir that is titled, “Gaudy Sorrow.”
“Gaudy Sorrow” is described as “a surreal, epistolary memoir” about Seyda’s Basque friend who died of Covid on Christmas Eve.
The book, published by Finishing Line Press, is expected to be released on May 17.
A publisher’s description reads: “A rant elegy swerving like a euphoric requiem, over 200 short, blunt letters catapult us into an epic odyssey. Rowdy and transcendent, we zig zag through tightly-braided random moments, street slang, Shakespeare, Spanglish, and over-wrought metaphors. This queer Covid narrative spews sexy rage and body parts like a swamp monster of grief — a hydra sprouting infinite heads from fresh wounds for the beloved.
“A female-centric opera and hybrid text, ‘Gaudy Sorrow’ flickers like a dead lightbulb, dazzling and bereft.”
Seyda is a queer, Polish-American playwright and screenwriter. Her published books include “Women in Love” (Bulfinch/Little Brown), winner of a Lambda Literary Award; “Nomads of a Desert City” (University of Arizona Press); and “Celia, A Slave” (Yale University Press), winner of the Yale Drama Prize. Seyda lives in Tucson, Arizona, on the Sonoran Desert home of the Tohono O’odham people.
Learn more about Barbara Seyda and “Gaudy Sorrow.”