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cat kidd

the envelope of evolution is pushed by creative mutation, like an extra thumb growing straight out o

About Me

Please visit my new site: catkidd.com
Read the Montreal Review of Books review of my new novel, "Missing the Ark"
I can't believe i get to do art and it's my job.
i used to live with a four-foot, free-range iguana called Bumpy, she liked green beans and sunshine. she died and i miss her.
othertimes, i like to travel about with my show, which i'll tell you about later
my mom was a farmer's daughter from rural Quebec, my dad from Scotland. when i was a kid i lived in Whitehorse, Yukon, then Vancouver. Around 18 I started travelling a lot, lived in India for a couple of years in my mid-twenties which is when i started writing. my show Sea Peach was first launched in an abandoned swimming pool, which we built a stage in. That was 2002, then I kept touring new versions of the show for the next few years -- adding new bits, taking out old bits, letting it evolve through its contact with different audiences.
my dad used to go into trances and speak in tongues, when I was a kid. i thought that was really weird back then, but i don't think it's so weird anymore.
The mp3's below are story-soundscapes from the cd/book SEA PEACH, also from the live solo show of the same name. They all focus on the character Agnes Underhill as she goes about her adventures. The first story Downward Facing Dog is a loss of virginity story ending in an escalating incantation.
In the second story, Happy the 3-Legged Ghost Hamster, she discovers her father's old typewriter in a broom closet, and learns how to misspell.
The third story is the title track Sea Peach, about a sea creature who much resembles a human heart living on the ocean floor. Agnes finds metaphors for love in its quiet and constant giving and taking of breath and wants to be one when she grows up.
AUDIO MP3s:
Downward Facing Dog (8m45s)
Happy, the Three-Legged Ghost Hamster (13m23s)
Sea Peach (7m43s)
More official bio info? what about a video? Okay...see below
Link to my Resumé/profile on imdb.com
Bio:
Catherine Kidd is the author/performer of Sea Peach, a cd/book collection of stories as well as a critically-acclaimed stage show. Described as‘an adult blend of Dr. Suess and Aesop’s Fables’, Sea Peach won the *MECCA Award for Best New Text in 2003*. Cat Kidd has toured Sea Peach from Story-telling Festivals in Whitehorse and Yellowknife, to the Edinburgh Fringe 2004; from Toronto’s World Stage 2005 to ARENA festival in Bavaria. She has performed in Oslo, Bristol, Minneapolis and New York, and Singapore. Her new book/DVD *Bipolar Bear* is being released this November through Conundrum Press.
Kidd’s writing has appeared in numerous publications; her short-story Green-Eyed Beans was nominated for this year’s Journey prize. She has lead workshops in writing and performance for students at every level, from elementary through university. She has taught at McGill and Concordia, and also via video-conference to highschool students up North. Her first novel Missing the Ark [conundrum press] will be launched in Spring 2007.
Bibliography:
the portable conundrum. Anthology of conundrum press creators. Edited & Published by Andy Brown. Story: Niagara Falls. Montreal: conundrum press, 2006
The Journey Prize Stories. Selected by James Grainger & Nancy Lee. Story: Green-Eyed Beans. Originally published in Matrix magazine. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2005.
Bipolar Bear. Book/DVD. Prose and performance-poetry. Music by Jack Beets and David Cronkite. Montreal: conundrum press, 2005
Inspired Lives. Article The Origami of Found Objects, p. 263. Originally published in Ascent magazine. Toronto: Timeless publications, 2005.
Ascent Magazine. Article Bumpy Passages. Issue #26, Summer. Montreal: 2005.
Sea Peach. Seven performance-stories with cd. Music by Jack Beets. Montreal: conundrum press, 2002.
Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry. Todd Swift & Philip Norton, edit. Intro. by Hal Niedzviecki. Poem: Tale of the Horse Leech, p. 207. New York: Rattapallax Press, 2002.
side/lines: A New Canadian Poetics. Rob McLennan, edit. Story Happy the Ghost Boy. Toronto: Insomniac Press, 2002.
Ribsauce: a cd/anthology of words by women. Taien Ng-Chan edit. Alex Boutros & Kaarla Sundström, sound edit. Performance-poem Tale of the Horse Leech. Montreal: Véhicule Press & Wired on Words, 2001
Impure: Reinventing the Word. Victoria Stanton & Vincent Tinguely, edit. The theory, practice, and oral history of ‘spoken word’ artists in Montreal: conundrum press, 2001.
This Magazine. Short-story Aeroplane Bones. Mar-Apr Issue, Volume 33 No. 5. Toronto: Red Maple Foundation, 2000.
psitticine flute. Single-story chapbook. Montreal: conundrum press, 2000.
Meltwater: Fiction and Poetry from the Banff Centre. Edna Alford, Don McKay, Rhea Tregebov, and Rachel Wyatt edit. Short-story Tympanic Membrance. Banff Centre Press: 1998.
Moosehead Anthology #6. R.E.N. Allen and Grant Loewen, edit. Poems Eros & Pathos and Scales of an Orange. Montreal: DC Books, 1997.
everything I know about love I learned from taxidermy. Chapbook of performance/stories with cassette. Montreal: conundrum press, 1996.
Your Hair Should Be Orange
Expressive, deep, and one of a kind.
You pull off "weird" well - hardly anyone notices. What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

My Interests

Human Fish, by Cat Kidd

Add to My Profile | More Videos zoology, canine telepathy, theatre, writing, making things with cut paper, yoga, second-hand clothing, bands, voice/beat, any ocean, ginger, my green dress & pink boa, re-learning everything, goats, clean water, strong belief that there's a point to this.

I'd like to meet:

friends. people with very good memories who like to tell stories. people who are making art of whatever type. people who are awake, or even typing in their sleep is fine. most folks are pretty interestin' once they get talkin.

Music:

oh geez everything, but i grew up in East Vancouver in the 80's, so unless you were going to go all new-wavey or disco, which was not so much my thing, except for, like, the Hallowe'en Highschool Dance, which I never went to anyway, ex It was good old fashioned rock'n'roll on yer vinyls and punk rock in the local venues, or big outdoor West-Coast Ska parties where you dancer on the grass in yer bare feet, eat beans & rice, live in the famous Frances Street squats with Jeet Kei and Penny and Sqweeg and toute la gang. There was a really awesome band Roots Roundup, would love to see those people again. The Hangmen, who were neighbours. NoMeansNo I saw about a million times, DOA, those corporate bastards. SNFU, the Circle Jerks, the Spores, Animal Slaves, Family Plot, House of Commons, Bill of Rights. The records were Pink Floyd [the Wall came out when I was like 12 and totally blew a hole in the top of my head, so I used to hide in that album for days], Led Zepplin, the Who, Hendrix, the Clash, Talking Heads [Love Talking Heads] Beatles, Janis, Bob Seger, the Cars, Heart, then the folkie stuff, Fleetwood Mac, Ricky Lee Jones, Joni Mitchell, Cat Stevens, Gordon Lightfoot and Stan Rogers and all of that. i have to admit to owning the BeeGees 'Spirits Having Flown' and some Enya. Also Pat Benatar and Gary Numan, probably would dig them more now than I did then. Flipper Generic Album and Abba's Greatest Hits. Then two years in India, and I love Indian Classical, Folk, and Pop, and those Jazz-fusion-Indian-Classical like Trilok Gurtu. John and George solo stuff. Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares. Velvet Underground & Nico. Peter Sellers & Sophia Loren. Bruce freekin' Springsteen. Fela Kuti. Beethoven. S.O.U.L, Joan Jett, Digable Planets, Eminem, Cowboy Beebop. Johnny Cash. All friends who play in bands. Lake of Stew. Special Interest Group. Free Worm. The Shamefuls. The Persuasions, holy cats i can't believe those guys. Grace Jones. Trooper. Mobb Deep. Aretha Franklin. Blondie. Prism. Nazareth. Chilliwack. AC/DC. freekin' yeah.

Movies:

Anything Hitchcock. Also, just saw The Philedelphia Story, starring Kathryn Hepburn, Cary Grant, and Jimmy Stewart. I thought King Kong was awe-some because I love to watch a giant gorilla who actually looks like a gorilla. I like large animals, when I was a little girl I had a crush on a bull.

Television:

did i just watch three wretched crime dramas in a row? i must be depressed or something. I should try to wash the dishes around 5ish, so i can pretend i'm not watching Dr. Phil and/or Oprah. maybe they can cure me of television.Come to thing Of it, probably the only reason I ever watch the darn crime dramas is that i used to love to watch Perry Mason. As a defence attorney, he only ever lost one case, the Case of the Terrified Typist. But it was one of those 'Even though he lost the case, he remained the Moral Victor' type situations. Hamilton Burger, the lawyer for the prosecution, couldn't get a single thing right, on the moral scoreboard. But how could he? I mean, with a name like Ham Burger? There's billions served, as they say, but few moral victories are won for their sake.Anyway I think I had a bit of a crush on the earlier Perry Mason. Not Raymond Burr, mind you, the character. Decent fellow, nice eyes.

Books:

CLICK ON THE BOOKS FOR MORE INFO http://www.montrealfringe.ca/seapeach.html
That's my book SEA PEACH, it's named after that sea creature in the picure, who looks like a heart.

For real. Those mp3 recordings above are from the Sea Peach CD/book.
As of November 16th 2006, I have a new book/DVD from Conundrum press, called BIPOLAR BEAR


img src="http://69.90.201.88/images/bipolar_cover.jpg"Cat Kidd Bibliography:the portable conundrum. Anthology of conundrum press creators. Edited & Published by Andy Brown. Story: Niagara Falls. Montreal: conundrum press, 2006The Journey Prize Stories. Selected by James Grainger & Nancy Lee. Story: Green-Eyed Beans. Originally published in Matrix magazine. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 2005.Bipolar Bear. Book/DVD. Prose and performance-poetry. Music by Jack Beets and David Cronkite. Montreal: conundrum press, 2005Inspired Lives. Article The Origami of Found Objects, p. 263. Originally published in Ascent magazine. Toronto: Timeless publications, 2005.Ascent Magazine. Article Bumpy Passages. Issue #26, Summer. Montreal: 2005.Sea Peach. Seven performance-stories with cd. Music by Jack Beets. Montreal: conundrum press, 2002.Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of New Fusion Poetry. Todd Swift & Philip Norton, edit. Intro. by Hal Niedzviecki. Poem: Tale of the Horse Leech, p. 207. New York: Rattapallax Press, 2002.side/lines: A New Canadian Poetics. Rob McLennan, edit. Story Happy the Ghost Boy. Toronto: Insomniac Press, 2002.Ribsauce: a cd/anthology of words by women. Taien Ng-Chan edit. Alex Boutros & Kaarla Sundström, sound edit. Performance-poem Tale of the Horse Leech. Montreal: Véhicule Press & Wired on Words, 2001Impure: Reinventing the Word. Victoria Stanton & Vincent Tinguely, edit. The theory, practice, and oral history of ‘spoken word’ artists in Montreal: conundrum press, 2001.This Magazine. Short-story Aeroplane Bones. Mar-Apr Issue, Volume 33 No. 5. Toronto: Red Maple Foundation, 2000.psitticine flute. Single-story chapbook. Montreal: conundrum press, 2000.Meltwater: Fiction and Poetry from the Banff Centre. Edna Alford, Don McKay, Rhea Tregebov, and Rachel Wyatt edit. Short-story Tympanic Membrance. Banff Centre Press: 1998.Moosehead Anthology #6. R.E.N. Allen and Grant Loewen, edit. Poems Eros & Pathos and Scales of an Orange. Montreal: DC Books, 1997.everything I know about love I learned from taxidermy. Chapbook of performance-stories with cassette. Montreal: conundrum press, 1996.

Heroes:


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My Blog

my storehouse having burnt down

My storehouse having burnt down Nothing obcures the view of the bright moon. - MasahideThis was written by a samarai in the sixteen hundreds; also a student of the famous monk and poet Basho. I first ...
Posted by cat kidd on Wed, 11 Apr 2007 10:59:00 PST

Blue Met Bumpy

DID YOU CRY? somebody asked. No, I said, I was too amazed. The best thing happened to me today. There's this literature festival, Metropolis Bleu, which happens annually in Montreal. It's a big inter...
Posted by cat kidd on Thu, 06 Apr 2006 07:55:00 PST

Poetry comes down to one thing. The spleen.

Just kidding about the spleen. A journalist with the beautiful name Mamé Gamamy called to ask me a question today,for an article she was writing about an event I'll be performing in. Seeing as it's co...
Posted by cat kidd on Fri, 31 Mar 2006 12:51:00 PST

baboon banana bits

In the Singapore Zoo lives the most incredible collectivity of baboons. While I have love and respect for all species, if there's any creature that freaks me out a bit it's baboons. I don't know wheth...
Posted by cat kidd on Sun, 26 Mar 2006 09:52:00 PST

iguana green

There was this room in the front of the house. Jack, the DJ who made all that music on the mp3's, way back when he used to live here, well, once decided that he was going to paint the front room red. ...
Posted by cat kidd on Tue, 21 Mar 2006 06:43:00 PST

what is my religion? [the evolution of a reply]

I checked 'Other' under the section asking what my religion is. So my friend The envying beauty wrote me an email asking what is my religion? didn't have a punchy answer, really long-winded one ...
Posted by cat kidd on Thu, 09 Feb 2006 02:16:00 PST