Polluted Sex
Lauren Foley

‘A pithy, transgressive collection of gender and bodies.’
– Guardian

‘Foley joins a cohort of contemporary authors — including Cathy Sweeney, Claire-Louise Bennett, Eimear McBride — whose work seems dissatisfied with narrative conventions. What happens when we blow them open?’
– Irish Independent

‘Formally experimental – mini plays, time-stamped fragments, prose-as-prayer – in work that’s political, comic and genuinely original.’
– Sinéad Gleeson, author of Constellations

‘A brave and boisterous new voice in Irish fiction.’
– June Caldwell

A pregnant woman takes the ferry to the UK.

A fractious intimate relationship develops between an Irish woman, an English man, and her girlfriend.

Two ungendered characters contest the same female body.

A deserted wife takes a lover but remains unsatisfied.

Lauren Foley’s debut collection of dramatic short stories, Polluted Sex, is fearless in its depiction of women’s bodies and sexuality, offering an unflinching window into Irish girl and womanhood.

ONLY AVAILABLE IN UK&IRELAND

Praise for Polluted Sex

‘Why can't all books be half this good? Almost every experiment is in service of re-sensitising the reader to the spoken & written word, and the world.’
– Tom Benn, author of Oxblood

‘Lauren Foley is a gifted, fearless writer. These vivid, dynamic stories range from the visceral to the experimental with moments of intense, expressive lyricism. They announce a strong new voice on the literary scene, bound to make her presence felt in years to come.’
– Lia Mills

About the Author

Lauren Foley is Irish/Australian and bisexual. Her stories are published internationally, including in Overland, The Irish Times, Award Winning Australian Writing, Lighthouse, No Alibis and gorse. She has Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and is disabled; the majority of her writing is dictated. In 2016, her story ‘K-K-K’ won the inaugural Neilma Sidney Short Story Prize with Overland Literary Journal and was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Short Story of the Year. She was shortlisted for the Hennessy New Irish Writer of the Year in 2017; and nominated for The Pushcart Prize. Lauren was awarded a 2018-19 Next Generation Artist's Award in Literature from the Arts Council of Ireland.

ISBN: 9781910312919

Publication date: April 2022

Formats: Paperback