Camilla Grudova

In 2023 alone, Edinburgh-based Camilla Grudova has been named as one of Granta's Best Young British Novelists and been shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. It is a great pleasure, then, that Camilla will be joining us in November to tell us about her new collection of short stories, The Coiled Serpent.

The Coiled Serpent

A little girl throws up Gloria-Jean's teeth after an explosion at the custard factory; Pax, Alexander, and Angelo are hypnotically enthralled by a book that promises them enlightenment if they keep their semen inside their bodies; Victoria is sent to a cursed hotel for ailing girls when her period mysteriously stops. In a damp, putrid spa, the exploitative drudgery of work sparks revolt; in a Margate museum, the new Director curates a venomous garden for public consumption.

In Grudova's unforgettably surreal style, these stories conjure a singular, startling strangeness that proves the deft skill of a writer at the top of her game.

About Camilla Grudova

Camilla Grudova lives in Edinburgh where she works as a cinema operator and waitress. Her fiction has appeared in The White Review and Granta. She is the critically-acclaimed author of The Doll's Alphabet (2017) and Children of Paradise (2022).