Fowl Eulogies
Fowl Eulogies is an absurd fairy tale for the ethical carnivore, fiction of perfect madness, of brutal and unprecedented humour. From the meadow to the supermarket, this dazzling first novel of mischief and feathers, brings to life the singular poetry of the industrial chicken.
Upon her mother’s death, Paule Rojas, a vegetarian city-dweller, returns to the chicken farm where she grew up. Pressured to fulfil her mother’s last request, Paule rediscovers pleasure and meaning in running the old family business. Yet, eager to bring something of herself to a family tradition, Paule embarks on increasingly intricate ways of helping the chickens to self-actualise before their deaths. She records the chickens’ life stories, adding them to the labels that decorate the vacuum-packed meat sent off to market — an individual biography for every chicken. But not all runs smooth in her childhood village; Paule finds she has few friends and many enemies. She is forced to spread her wings, relocate her livestock, and oversee the construction of an urban farm of never-before-seen practices and proportions.
'A quirky, moving novel propelled by love, grief, and violence.' ―Kirkus Reviews
Lucie Rico is an author, screenwriter, and director hailing from Perpignan in the South of France, and currently based in Paris. She worked for several years in publishing and online media before devoting herself to writing for the page and the screen. She has directed several series and short films and written feature films. In addition, she is an associate professor in creative writing at the University of Clermont Auvergne. Fowl Eulogies, awarded both the Prix du Roman d’Ecologie and the Prix Littéraire du Cheval Blanc, is her first novel.
Daria Chernysheva translates from Russian and French. She completed her MA in Translation Studies at the University of Warwick on a Fulbright Scholarship, and is currently a doctoral candidate in Creative Critical Writing at University College London. She was a recipient of the 2019 French Voices Award for excellence in translation. Her work has appeared in the Brooklyn Rail, Triple Canopy, AzonaL, Comparative Drama, and Tether’s End.
