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Facts About Fiction explores the true lives of authors who write fiction with J. Bradley Minnick of the UALR English Department.The Facts About Fiction theme song is performed by the Arkansas band The Cons of Formant.

The Blood & Guts of Kathy Acker

For the UALR English Department, this is J. Bradley Minnick with Facts About Fiction.

“The depths for me personally had to do a lot with the fact of my being female, of having history behind me that says I’m defined by my sexual organs.”

-Kathy Acker

Writer Kathy Acker assembled a cult following with her books Blood & Guts In High School, Great Expectations, and Bodies of Work.

For Acker, ruled by chance and death, the personal and the political were one.

Here Are The Facts:

In 1996, Acker was diagnosed with breast cancer. As an adjunct teacher with no health insurance, she traveled to Tijuana, Mexico, after conventional medicine had given up on her. She found a church and was put on a macrobiotic diet.

Still, Kathy couldn’t embrace convention. At the church, she lay out in the courtyard naked and said, “The breeze feels so good.” The nuns curled up their lady ears and simply whispered, “Oh, Kathy.”

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