Peggy Munson profile picture

Peggy Munson

Green, how much I want you green

About Me

"A poet at heart, and a master of the written word."

- Bay Windows

Writer, activist, Sagittarius spitfire, exiled Midwesterner, and organic mattress afficianado. http://www.peggymunson.com . My first novel, Lambda award finalist Origami Striptease, was released not long ago, and my first book of poetry, Pathogenesis, is now in print!

"Peggy Munson’s Pathogenesis is forthright and magical in its scope. The minute ascends to the monumental—moth to God; very little escapes the sharp, perceptive eye of this thoughtful poet. A sober music gives shape to the insistent pulse of this book, and each poem dovetails to highlight the collection’s overall vision. Every trope is a probe that divines vicissitude."
- Pulitzer-prize winning poet Yusef Komunyakaa My publications include:


Origami Striptease


"Reading Origami Striptease by Peggy Munson reminded me of the first time I read Jeanette Winterson’s Written on the Body. Like then, I wanted to read passages of Origami to everyone. Munson is a kick-ass novelist to watch out for."
- Read the Books to Watch Out For review
". . .inky, scary, dreamy folds of prose."
- Read the San Francisco Bay Guardian review
"A seductive, often raunchy fantasy of the disarming effects of love and trouble." - Curve Magazine
"Munson deftly experiments with gender, linguistics, and style." - Read the Bay Area Reporter review.
“Vividly poetic. I couldn't resist lying around my apartment all day, consuming every last bit of language that Munson laid out on the page.” – Chill Magazine
"This book reads like poetry and left me stunned with writer’s envy." - Read the Erotica Revealed review
"Munson is a stylist extraordinaire and the story she tells here will leave you wide-eyed, spent, unnerved." -Rebecca Brown
"A powerful, even mythic, tale of love and transformation." -Patrick Califia
"This is sleezily insidious writing. . . .It's a good, dirty book." - Eileen Myles
More Press: Feministing Interview! - Largehearted Boy Column - Suspect Thoughts Interview
Click to buy books! Stricken: Voices from the Hidden Epidemic of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome..

“The single best book I've read that honestly and fully describes the CFIDS experience.”- Joan S. Livingston, Massachusetts CFIDS Update

My Interests

Magical realism, brain-twisting poetry, disability activism and access, the end of injurious chemical culture, Ordinary Mind Zen School, green building

I'd like to meet:

Gender pirates, non-ableist allies, creative comrades.

Music:

Loretta Lynn, Johnny Cash, Hole/Coutney Love, Cat Power, Liz Phair, Sleater-Kinney, Belly, Throwing Muses, The White Stripes, Beth Orton, Marnie Stern, The Trucks, Alison Kraus, Bob Dylan, Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter, Elvis Costello, Sufjan Stevens, PJ Harvey, Mindy Smith, J Tillman

Movies:

Me and You and Everyone We Know, Antonia's Line, The Door in the Floor, Mysterious Skin, The Sweet Hereafter, The Straight Story, Smoke Signals, Grizzly Man, Oleanna, House of Games

Books:

The Dogs and The Terrible Girls by Rebecca Brown, Cruddy by Lynda Barry, anything by Eileen Myles, Joy Harjo, Song by Brigitt Peegan Kelly, HIV, Mon Amour by Tory Dent, Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison, Mark Doty, Pablo Neruda, Cesar Vallejo, Charlotte Joko Beck

My Blog

Largehearted Boy!

My Book Notes essay on Pathogenesis was just posted at the fabulous literature and music blog Largehearted Boy. This blog is worth checking out for a lot of reasons -- free music downloads, musicians...
Posted by Peggy Munson on Thu, 10 Apr 2008 02:58:00 PST

Corkscrewed! Me and My Lyme

Just when I thought there were no other ways to be pathogenically screwed, I have been corkscrewed. I have spent most recent months in what Pamela Weintraub called, "the gullies of sleep so black tha...
Posted by Peggy Munson on Thu, 31 Jan 2008 01:09:00 PST

A Normal Reunion

I had on a peach rayon dress under the black robe and I was about to address the class of 1987. It was my idea for the three valedictorians to talk about the past, present, and future. Rob, whose b...
Posted by Peggy Munson on Wed, 10 Oct 2007 09:23:00 PST

Curve Magazine Review!

The September 2007 ssue of Curve, "The Nation's Best-Selling Lesbian Magazine," includes a review of Origami Striptease! It is also this month's Editor's Pick. From "In the Stacks"Origami Striptease...
Posted by Peggy Munson on Sat, 08 Sep 2007 04:38:00 PST

New Poems Posted!

Switchback Books, who will publish my first book of poems, Pathogenesis, in early 2008, just posted their favorite poems from my forthcoming book! Check out the new poems!...
Posted by Peggy Munson on Fri, 31 Aug 2007 02:33:00 PST

Sins Invalid! Sex and Disability.

Check out Sins Invalid!I'm highlighting this upcoming event as the topic is so important (revolutionary?) and I'm so pleased my work will be included.Here is a description: "Sins Invalid invites a re/...
Posted by Peggy Munson on Sat, 25 Aug 2007 11:12:00 PST

More Press!

Erotica Revealed Review of Origami Striptease"This book reads like poetry and left me stunned with writer's envy."(This review is kind of a plot spoiler but interesting! Be warned)Queer life News: "A...
Posted by Peggy Munson on Thu, 05 Jul 2007 04:55:00 PST

My next book! Poetry!

Along with my super-fabulous publishers Suspect Thoughts, I have joined the amazing skirt-sassy poets at Switchback Books to publish my first full-length collection of poetry, due out in early 2008! ...
Posted by Peggy Munson on Mon, 25 Jun 2007 07:12:00 PST

Feministing Interview with Rachel Kramer Bussel, Bay Area Reporter Article and Review!

"Munson deftly experiments with gender, linguistics, and style."-- Heather Cassell, Bay Area ReporterIt has been a big media week in the aftermath of the the Lambda Lit. Awards censorship scandal arou...
Posted by Peggy Munson on Wed, 02 May 2007 01:40:00 PST

Origami Striptease Videos Uncensored!

For those of you who don't know the details behind the censorship scandal around my video reading of Origami Striptease at the Lambda Literary Award finalist reading in San Francisco, please read my p...
Posted by Peggy Munson on Tue, 24 Apr 2007 07:34:00 PST