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Tessa Fontaine

Biography

Tessa Fontaine

Tessa Fontaine’s writing has appeared in PANK, Seneca Review, The Rumpus, Sideshow World and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from the University of Alabama and is working on a PhD in creative writing at the University of Utah. She also eats fire and charms snakes, among other sideshow feats. She lives in South Carolina. THE ELECTRIC WOMAN is her first book.

Tessa Fontaine

Books by Tessa Fontaine

The Electric Woman: A Memoir in Death-Defying Acts
by Tessa Fontaine - Memoir, Nonfiction

For three years, Tessa Fontaine lived in a constant state of emergency as her mother battled stroke after stroke. But hospitals, wheelchairs and loss of language couldn’t hold back such a woman; she and her husband would see Italy together, come what may. Thus Fontaine became free to follow her own piper, a literal giant inviting her to “come play” in the World of Wonders, America’s last traveling sideshow. How could she resist? Transformed into an escape artist, a snake charmer and a high-voltage Electra, Fontaine witnessed the marvels of carnival life. Through these, she trained her body to ignore fear and learned how to keep her heart open in the face of loss.