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Cindy Cunningham's memoir, Wild Woman: Memoir in Pieces is the story of how a precocious child, raised by the Bible and emotionally absent parents, survives a violation that steals her youth and sends her on a journey of bad boys and dangerous girls, mental institutions, losing her daughter, and a deadly dance with addiction. Exploring the realms of sexual abuse, suicide, loss, and mental illness, we follow Cindy as she learns not so much how to love her self, as how to become her self: a PHd, a writer, a teacher, and a loving grandmother able to marvel at the beauty that streams through the cracks of a broken world.
¿Divided into three sections: Maiden, Whore, and Crone, Wild Woman is a testament to a girl's, and then a woman's, ability to navigate the darkest depths of the human heart, and emerge not unscathed, but ready to guide others through the dark.
About the author
Cindy Cunningham holds a BA in Psychology from Wake Forest University, an MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University, and a PhD in Literature from Georgia State University. She teaches Creative Writing, Composition, and Literature courses at the college level and at the Appomattox Regional Governor's School for Arts and Technology (ARGS) in Petersburg, VA where she has served as Director of Literary Arts since 2002. In addition, she's an instructor at Life in 10 Minutes in Richmond, VA. She has taught writing workshops for over two decades and thrills in hearing stories from all sorts of voices. Her special skill lies in finding kernels of truth within each person's words. Cindy writes memoir, essays, and poetry and sits on the Board of the nonprofit, Richmond Young Writers. She is currently at work on both a full-length memoir and a poetry manuscript.
She has published poetry and essays in journals including the Greensboro Review, Lilliput Review, Aethlon, Charlotte Poetry Review, and The Dead Mule, and Nine Lives: A Life in 10 Minutes Anthology
Bittersweet Swallows, her poetry Chapbook was published by Finishing Line Press in 2013.
Her poem, "Good Luck Charm," was selected to appear in Aethlon: XXXVI:2 Spring 2019 / Summer 2019 THE JOURNAL OF SPORT LITERATURE Special Issue: Teaching Sport Literature.
Her greatest teaching accomplishments are earning the title, "Empress of Safe Spaces," from a L10 group and "Most Real Teacher" from a high school group. There's no honor higher.
