Tongue

Researching the cultural history of the tongue unlocks family silences in this debut work of lyric non-fiction.

‘As I enquire into the hidden, the taboo, the absences, there is a kind of power in making this record, in choosing what gets stored and excluded.'

Deep in a library half a world away from home, Kathryn Crowcroft researches the unruly history of the human tongue, portrayed through centuries as prisoner, demon, whore for its singular biology and transgressive power.

But the archives conjure memories, transporting her into the silence lodged between herself and her mother, and the never discussed events that shaped her past.

Written in the shadow of gendered violence, and evolving through text messages, historical documents and the spaces between, Tongue is a work of intellectual and personal reckoning: a sensitive articulation of the truths we learn to lie for, as well as those we dare to speak.