{"product_id":"the-girl-with-the-black-lipstick-9781625571618","title":"The Girl with the Black Lipstick","description":"Against the backdrop of a boozy, restless late-90s Chicago, creative writing graduate student Mary Van Pelt and her eccentric roommate navigate the collision between party life, domestic harmony, and academic ambition in \u003ci\u003eThe Girl with the Black Lipstick\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Biddinger offers vivid, surreal vignettes told in the heat of the moment or recalled as we follow Van Pelt from her first days of graduate school into life as a tenured professor. Our heroine and her roommate overcome predicaments and deepen their bond while simultaneously ignoring and obsessing over the future, blissfully unaware of challenges ahead until those challenges arrive. Whether teaching literature as graduate assistants, acting in strange minor film roles, or translating mysterious texts, the roommates live large and prepare for eventual fame. Sitting in a creative writing workshop, Van Pelt wonders, \" Is it possible to be the heroine, and the villain, in your own work of fiction, but unintentionally?\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Girl with the Black Lipstick\u003c\/i\u003e is a tale of deep creativity and found family, paying tribute to those who support our youthful selves in unexpected ways.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMary Biddinger's debut work of fiction is \u003ci\u003eThe Girl with the Black Lipstick\u003c\/i\u003e, a novella in linked flash stories. She is also the author of numerous books of poetry, including \u003ci\u003eDepartment of Elegy\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003ePartial Genius: Prose Poems\u003c\/i\u003e. Biddinger is co-editor, with Julie Brooks Barbour, of \u003ci\u003eA Mollusk Without a Shell: Essays on Self-Care for Writers\u003c\/i\u003e. She teaches literature and creative writing at the University of Akron and in the NEOMFA program, and has received awards and fellowships from the Cleveland Arts Prize, Ohio Arts Council, and National Endowment for the Arts.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Black Lawrence Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51552740049170,"sku":"9781625571618","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_2567f7e6-9dfa-4d71-8852-07c59dd702df.jpg?v=1754901887","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-girl-with-the-black-lipstick-9781625571618","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}