Poppy State: A Labyrinth of Plants and a Story of Beginnings

＂In addition to serving as structural anchors, 20 featured plants will function as portals into Gurba’s life, summoning memory, magic, nightmare, myth, indigenous knowledge, cultural critique, social commentary, pedagogical philosophy, and history. Each vignette will focus on one of California’s native plants, including: California live oak, thistle, golden poppy, grape, California flannelbush, Monterrey cypress, and Monterrey pine. A few non-natives, such as boysenberry, orange, and water hyacinth, might also appear. The book will explore the relationship with Gurba’s father-who she calls a former ＂Chippie＂ (Chicano hippie) turned anxious workaholic, and who introduced Gurba to native plants as a child via their California xeriscape garden-and how her deeply ingrained knowledge of plants has grounded her in every aspect of her life＂-- Provided by publisher.

Myriam Gurba is the author of four books, including Dahlia Season (2007) which won the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, Painting their Portraits in Winter (2015; Mean (2017), a true crime memoir that was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Nonfiction, the Publishing Triangle’s Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction, and the PEN America Award for Creative Nonfiction; and Creep: Accusations and Confessions, her first essay collection, which includes her viral essay, ＂Pendeja, You Ain’t Steinbeck: My Bronca with Fake Ass Social Justice Literature,＂ and was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. Gurba’s writing been widely anthologized and has also appeared in publications such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Believer, Paris Review, and TIME. She is also a teacher, editor, anti-rape activist, public speaker, practitioner of plant-based magic, and a co-founder of Dignidad Literaria, a grassroots organization that combats white supremacy in the publishing industry.