Natasha Calder is a graduate of Clarion West 2018 and her work has previously appeared in The Stinging Fly, Lackington’s and Curiosities, amongst others. She is one half of Calder Szewczak, whose first book, The Offset, was released in September 2021 by Angry Robot. Her solo-authored debut, Whether Violent or Natural, is out now from Bloomsbury in the UK and is soon to be released in the US with The Overlook Press.
Agent: John Ash, CAA
Praise for Whether Violent or Natural
“Intimate, evocative, darkly unsettling … with an undeniable strange power.” – The Guardian
“Intelligent and refreshing … The prose is intoxicating – dark, heady, lyrical.” – The Daily Telegraph
“A terrifying and inventive tale … The twists come thick and fast and Calder keeps us guessing until the final pages.” – The Observer
“Hugely impressive.” – SFX
“Sly, sharp, and utterly captivating, Whether Violent or Natural tumbles headlong toward its surprising – yet inevitable – end. Calder’s voice is one I won’t soon forget.” – Rory Power, New York Times bestselling author of Wilder Girls
“Whether Violent or Natural hits you like a shot of the very good stuff – which it is. I downed it in one. It went down very smoothly. There is – in all the right ways – a faint top-note of Iain Banks’s The Wasp Factory, but it’s very much its own dark-hearted, complex, and accomplished thing, with an engaging narrator as snarled in the seductive tangle of her own words as she is hemmed in by the overgrown vegetation that covers the small island on which she is trapped.” – C. A. Fletcher, author of A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World
“Tantalizing prose carries what is essentially a cautionary tale about unintended consequences; Calder is worth watching.” – Kirkus
“Whether Violent or Natural is a visceral and tension filled read … dark, thrilling … I finished it in three days.” – writing.ie
“Experimental fiction . . . Calder tells a unique tale that will appeal to many cli-fi fans.” – Library Journal
“An intensely lyrical writer … Calder is excellent at conjuring an eerie atmosphere, with Gothic undertones and a creeping sense of unease.” – The Irish Times