Claire Kohda – författare

An IndieNext Pick! A Best Book of 2022 in Harpers Bazaar, Daily Mail, Glamour, and Thrillist!Most Anticipated of 2022 in The Millions, Ms. Magazine, LitHubA young, mixed-race vampire must find a way to balance her deep-seated desire to live amongst humans with herincessant hunger in this stunning debut novel from a writer-to-watch.Lydia is hungry. She's always wanted to try Japanese food. Sashimi, ramen, onigiri with sour plum stuffed inside - the food her Japanese father liked to eat. And then there is bubble tea and iced-coffee, ice cream and cake, and foraged herbs and plants, and the vegetables grown by the other young artists at the London studio space she is secretly squatting in. But, Lydia can't eat any of these things. Her body doesn't work like those of other people. The only thing she can digest is blood, and it turns out that sourcing fresh pigs' blood in London - where she is living away from her vampire mother for the first time - is much more difficult than she'd anticipated.Then there are the humans - the other artists at the studio space, the people at the gallery she interns at, the strange men that follow her after dark, and Ben, a boyish, goofy-grinned artist she is developing feelings for. Lydia knows that they are her natural prey, but she can't bring herself to feed on them. In her windowless studio, where she paints and studies the work of other artists, binge-watches Buffy the Vampire Slayer and videos of people eating food on YouTube and Instagram, Lydia considers her place in the world. She has many of the things humans wish for - perpetual youth, near-invulnerability, immortality but she is miserable; she is lonely; and she is hungry - always hungry.As Lydia develops as a woman and an artist, she will learn that she must reconcile the conflicts within her - between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage, and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans - if she is to find a way to exist in the world. Before any of this, however, she must eat.Absolutely brilliant tragic, funny, eccentric and so perfectly suited to this particularly weird time. Claire Kohda takes the vampire trope and makes it her ownin a way that feels fresh and original. Serious issues of race, disability, misogyny, body image, sexual abusearehandled withsubtlety, insight, and a lightness of touch.The spell this novelcasts is so complete I feel utterly, and happily, bitten. -- Ruth Ozeki, Booker-shortlisted author ofA Tale for the Time Being

A Best Book of the Year in HARPER''S BAZAAR, BBC, THE NEW YORKER, GLAMOUR, GAL-DEM and HUFFPOST

''Witty and thought-provoking'' Stylist''Blistering'' Glamour''Unusual, original and strikingly contemporary'' Guardian''Absolutely brilliant'' Ruth Ozeki''A gripping contemporary fable about embracing difference'' The Times''A wholly 21st century take on bloodsucking'' ObserverLydia is hungry. She''s always wanted to try sashimi and ramen, onigiri and udon - the food her Japanese father liked to eat - but the only thing she can digest is blood. Yet Lydia can''t bring herself to prey on humans, and sourcing fresh pigs'' blood in London - where she is living away from her Malaysian-British mother for the first time and trying to build a career as an artist - is much more difficult than she''d anticipated.If Lydia is to find a way to exist in the world, she must reconcile the conflicts within her - between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans. Before any of this, however, she must eat.''It''s Kohda''s exploration of Lydia''s inner world, the pain and longing she feels as an outsider, that makes Woman, Eating such a delicious novel'' New York Times Book Review''A profound meditation on alienation and appetite, and what it means to be a young woman who experiences life at an acute level of intensity and awareness'' LISA HARDING''What Stoker did for the vampire at the end of the nineteenth century, Claire Kohda does for for it in our own era'' TLS

A Best Book of the Year in HARPER'S BAZAAR, BBC, THE NEW YORKER, GLAMOUR, GAL-DEM and HUFFPOST'Witty and thought-provoking' Stylist'Blistering' Glamour'Unusual, original and strikingly contemporary' Guardian'Absolutely brilliant' Ruth Ozeki'A gripping contemporary fable about embracing difference' The Times'A wholly 21st century take on bloodsucking' ObserverLydia is hungry. She's always wanted to try sashimi and ramen, onigiri and udon - the food her Japanese father liked to eat - but the only thing she can digest is blood. Yet Lydia can't bring herself to prey on humans, and sourcing fresh pigs' blood in London - where she is living away from her Malaysian-British mother for the first time and trying to build a career as an artist - is much more difficult than she'd anticipated.If Lydia is to find a way to exist in the world, she must reconcile the conflicts within her - between her demon and human sides, her mixed ethnic heritage and her relationship with food, and, in turn, humans. Before any of this, however, she must eat.'It's Kohda's exploration of Lydia's inner world, the pain and longing she feels as an outsider, that makes Woman, Eating such a delicious novel' New York Times Book Review'A profound meditation on alienation and appetite, and what it means to be a young woman who experiences life at an acute level of intensity and awareness' LISA HARDING'What Stoker did for the vampire at the end of the nineteenth century, Claire Kohda does for for it in our own era' TLS

'Wonderful . . . all killer, no filler' Red Magazine'Dazzling stories, as inventive as they are inspiring' Daily Mirror'Where power and feminist rage meet' Stylist______________________________A fun and fearless anthology of feminist tales, by fifteen bestselling, award-winning writers:Margaret Atwood, Susie Boyt, Eleanor Crewes, Emma Donoghue, Stella Duffy, Linda Grant, Claire Kohda, CN Lester, Kirsty Logan, Caroline O'Donoghue, Chibundu Onuzo, Helen Oyeyemi, Rachel Seiffert, Kamila Shamsie and Ali Smith - introduced by Sandi Toksvig. DRAGON. TYGRESS. SHE-DEVIL. HUSSY. SIREN. WENCH. HARRIDAN. MUCKRAKER. SPITFIRE. VITUPERATOR. CHURAIL. TERMAGANT. FURY. WARRIOR. VIRAGO. For centuries past, and all across the world, there are words that have defined and decried us. Words that raise our hackles, fire up our blood; words that tell a story.In this blazing cauldron of a book, fifteen bestselling, award-winning writers have taken up their pens and reclaimed these words, creating an entertaining and irresistible collection of feminist tales for our time.'A slick collection of clever tales, with something for bluestockings and banshees alike' Guardian'Delightful, thought-provoking' Louisa Young, Perspectives