MOUTH
In MOUTH, Kerry Donoghue’s provocative debut, the ways we consume—from the drinks we can't put down to the lovers we can’t resist—reveal deeper hungers we often keep hidden. A competitive eater, a rodeo clown, a pearl diver, and a mermaid-in-training are just a few of the outsiders in this collection, each grappling with their own consuming desires. Whether through alcohol, infidelity, or chasing perfection, these characters are forced to confront what they’re truly starving for—and who they become when they can't fill that void. MOUTH asks: when our appetites define us, how do we survive the hunger?
Fiction (Short stories)
ISBN: 978-1-963115-31-4
Publication Date: January 21, 2025
In MOUTH, Kerry Donoghue’s provocative debut, the ways we consume—from the drinks we can't put down to the lovers we can’t resist—reveal deeper hungers we often keep hidden. A competitive eater, a rodeo clown, a pearl diver, and a mermaid-in-training are just a few of the outsiders in this collection, each grappling with their own consuming desires. Whether through alcohol, infidelity, or chasing perfection, these characters are forced to confront what they’re truly starving for—and who they become when they can't fill that void. MOUTH asks: when our appetites define us, how do we survive the hunger?
Fiction (Short stories)
ISBN: 978-1-963115-31-4
Publication Date: January 21, 2025
In MOUTH, Kerry Donoghue’s provocative debut, the ways we consume—from the drinks we can't put down to the lovers we can’t resist—reveal deeper hungers we often keep hidden. A competitive eater, a rodeo clown, a pearl diver, and a mermaid-in-training are just a few of the outsiders in this collection, each grappling with their own consuming desires. Whether through alcohol, infidelity, or chasing perfection, these characters are forced to confront what they’re truly starving for—and who they become when they can't fill that void. MOUTH asks: when our appetites define us, how do we survive the hunger?
Fiction (Short stories)
ISBN: 978-1-963115-31-4
Publication Date: January 21, 2025
Praise for MOUTH
I expected this batch of stories to break my heart in the best way possible, but they also made me laugh my ass off. Donoghue writes in the wild and beautiful tradition of Amy Hempel.
Joshua Mohr, author of Saint the Terrifying
Full of grit and wit, the stories in Kerry Donoghue's Mouth teem with humanity, hunger, desire, and compassion. You'll ache alongside these characters, many of them outsiders on the fringes of society (ranging from rodeo clowns to amateur treasure divers to has-been television salesmen and more), all strivers searching for meaning in their own ways. Totally engrossing, rendered in prose that'll slap you silly with every dazzling line.
—Gina Chung, author of Sea Change and Green Frog
Playlist for MOUTH
About KERRY DONOGHUE
Growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles during the ‘80s and ‘90s meant Kerry Donoghue spent her childhood roaming through malls. Speedwalking laps with her grandma. Trick-or-treating. Secretly kissing boys. Getting clocked while working the holiday rush. Watching where people shopped, how they dressed, and what they ate set off her fascination with consumption, a forever theme in her writing.
Her poetry and stories have appeared in Ninth Letter, Painted Bride Quarterly, Permafrost, The Louisville Review, and The South Carolina Review, among other journals. She also wrote The Loudest Voice of All, a children’s book, to fundraise for an organization that educates girls about the power of voting. She earned an MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco. You can find her in the Bay Area, eating crunchwraps by the sea, where she lives with her family and, sadly, no good malls. Get to know her at www.kerrydonoghue.com.
