Class Acts

Robyn Braun, MFA'22

My novella, The Head, is forthcoming with Enfield and Wizenty press.

A surreal and penetrating tale of academia, work life, and surviving trauma.

On the morning of her thirtieth birthday, Dr. Trish Russo, a math professor at Cascadia University, discovers a disembodied but living infant head on her dresser. Attached to nothing, somehow it still manages to wail and produce tears. Unsure what else to do, she takes it with her to work, if only to keep her neighbours from complaining about the head’s terrible crimes.

At the university, her colleagues are mortified, not of the head itself, but that Trish has brought it into the office with her. She is soon put on leave and hopes that visiting her parents might provide solace and advice on what she should do with the head. But no matter where she turns, Trish finds no help and is instead vilified for not knowing what to do with this impossible thing that has happened to her.

The Head is a bizarre journey through trauma, bad relationships, and toxic workplace culture.

Buy it on the publisher’s site and Amazon.

Book cover of "The Head"