Catherine Simone Gray Collects "Sensation Words"

Despite some technical difficulties on my end, our book club discussion with Catherine Simone Gray about her debut memoir Proud Flesh was a delight. Catherine was warm and thoughtful, and our book club participants were so insightful with their questions. I can’t tell you how grateful I am for this group of wise, intellectual, and caring readers.

We covered a lot of territory—Catherine’s exploration of “over healing” in the way her body responded to the trauma of a childbirth wound, but also over healing in a psychic sense, too; the role of Mississippi flora and fauna in the book; and how Catherine’s understanding of her racial identity and heritage has evolved over time. Because sensations—of pain and pleasure and everything in between—are an important theme throughout Proud Flesh, I asked Catherine how she cultivates her ability to describe the sensation of “touch.” The way she described her process of collecting sensation words astounded me.

You can listen to these book club recordi…