Every secret of a writer’s soul, every experience of his life,
every quality of his mind is written large in his works.– Virginia Woolf
Uh-oh. Daughter, Dead Bee.
The Bitter Life of Božena Němcová
Forthcoming from Rose Metal Press in November 2016
Artistic, rebellious, and unapologetically intelligent, Božena Němcová defied every convention for a woman in mid-nineteenth-century Bohemia: she was active in nationalist politics, she smoked cigars, she took a series of lovers, and she laid bare her ideas and emotions in her letters and stories. The Bitter Life of Božena Němcová is a biographical collage of found texts, footnotes, fragments, and images by and about the Czech fairy tale writer, whom Milan Kundera calls the “Mother of Czech Prose.” Kelcey Parker Ervick’s innovative collage form, with its many voices and viewpoints, questions the concept of biographical “truth” while also revealing a nuanced and spellbinding portrait of Němcová. Inspired by Němcová’s letters, the book’s second section, “Postcards to Božena” is Parker Ervick’s epistolary memoir of her own failing marriage, her quest for a Czech typewriter, and a meditation on reading, writing, and happy endings.
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Liliane’s Balcony
Liliane’s Balcony is a multi-voiced novella-in-flash set at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. Built for Pittsburgh merchants E.J. and Liliane Kaufmann in 1935, the house is as much a character as it is a setting. One September night in 1952, Liliane Kaufmann—tired of her husband’s infidelities—overdoses on pain pills in her bedroom. From there, Liliane’s Balcony alternates Mrs. Kaufmann’s mostly true story with the fictional narratives of four modern-day tourists who arrive at the historic home in the midst of their own personal crises, all of which culminate on Mrs. Kaufmann’s over-sized, cantilevered balcony. With its ghosts, motorcycles, portraits, Vikings, failed relationships, and many layered voices, Kelcey Parker’s Liliane’s Balcony is as dizzying and intricately beautiful as the architectural wonder in which it is set.
Available for purchase from Rose Metal Press, SPD, and Amazon.
Read an interview about it here
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For Sale By Owner, Kore Press 2011
Winner, 2011 Next Generation Indie Book Award in Short Fiction
Finalist, 2012 Best Books of Indiana, Fiction
About the Book
In Kelcey Parker’s tales of twisted domesticity, a woman gives her family up for Lent; a mother finds redemption at Chuck E. Cheese; a former best-friend-forever wreaks baby shower havoc; a bride swallows a housefly at the altar; and a suburbanite’s obsession with memory books puts her family in jeopardy. These stories offer a contemporary and dryly funny view of marriage, parenting and loss. Fans of Lorrie Moore and Aimee Bender will find kinship in Parker’s wit, her generosity of spirit and the confidence of her voice. This debut collection marks the appearance of a writer with a blunt and beautiful perspective on family, home, and an evolving American subculture.
Available for purchase from Kore Press and Amazon.
Short Stories
Limberlost (A PhD student gets stuck in the metaphorical swamps of Indiana. Inspired by the swamps of The Girl from Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter.)
Falling (A woman on the edge of sleep dreams of her ex-husband.)
I Heard a Fly Buzz (A woman swallows a fly at the altar. Perhaps she’ll die!)
Lent (A mother of three gives up her family for Lent. And who can blame her.)
Talking Writing: Liliane’s Balcony, Interview
Other works in print at Notre Dame Review, Third Coast, Redivider, Western Humanities Review, Santa Monica Review, Sycamore Review, and elsewhere.
Web page
For more info on events and reviews, please visit: http://kelceyervick.com
ph.d. in creative writing 