Chenille or Silk

Chenille or Silk is a startling first collection of confessional poetry examining the slippery relations of desire, class, embodiment and trauma. Emma McKenna’s writing traverses the bounds and the wounds of a family marked by poverty and intergenerational trauma. The collection asserts the primacy of intimacy and sexuality to subjectivity, as the poems move through the struggle to find identity, love and belonging in an urban queer community’s ever-shifting economy of desire. Striking, brave, and at times uncomfortable, Chenille or Silk captures the ambivalence—and the hope—of possibility.

Emma McKenna is a multidisciplinary writer and scholar. Her previous work as a musician includes the LP RUN WITH IT and digital EPs THE MIGHT and WHAT IT BECOMES. Emma holds a PhD in English and cultural studies (ABD, McMaster University), and is an educator on social justice, intersectional feminism and sexuality studies. Emma's academic writing can be found in HYPATIA: JOURNAL OF FEMINIST PHILOSOPHY, WOMEN: A CULTURAL REVIEW, ATLANTIS: CRITICAL STUDIES IN GENDER, CULTURE, AND SOCIAL JUSTICE and REVIEW OF EDUCATION, PEDAGOGY, AND CULTURAL STUDIES. Emma lives with her partner in Hamilton, Ontario. CHENILLE OR SILK is her first book.