Odd Birds & Fat Cats (An Urban Bestiary)

Ravens in Berlin . . . Parakeets in Brooklyn . . . Chickensin Tel Aviv . . . Spiders in Cognac. City creatures spark the imagination andintellect in words and art by this father-daughter team.

Odd Birds & Fat Cats (An Urban Bestiary)is anillustrated collection of brief observations on city creatures. Inspiredbythe tradition of the medieval bestiary, bestiarum vocabulum,a12th-century bestselling genrethat chronicled animals and beings bothreal and fantastical, the book features pithy impressions of birds and animalsthat delight, confound, and edify, writtenby Peter Wortsman, coupledwithdetailed naturalist artwork by his daughter, AurelieBernard Wortsman.

Featured creatures include:

• Pigeons:"When, finally, it takes flight . . . thisasphalt-colored bird is like a piece of the pavement which by some fluke ofgravity broke loose and is foolishly falling upward by mistake."

• Seagulls:"Fallen splinters of eternity, they hangoverhead with the equanimity and mild disdain of angels in a medievalaltarpiece, and unlike pigeons, refuse any direct contact with man."

• Ants:"Micro-managers in three-piece bodies,antsparody human antics to a tee. Or is it the other way around?"

• Dust mites:"Every time you scratch yourself or combyour hair, you are feeding the tiny intruders with the detritus of self."

With four-color images throughout, printed in a beautifulhardboundedition, this one-of-a-kind volume will please the discerning animal lover,traveler, art lover, iconoclast, and literati on your gift list-and, of course,also you!

PRAISE FOR ODD BIRDS & FAT CATS

“Peter Wortsman and Aurélie Bernard Wortsman’s compendium of creatures [features] full-color animal renderings and short meditations seemingly inspired by the intersection of survival instinct, mythic metaphors, and the wisdom found in between. . . . Beginning with an exhortation from the book of Job, this bestiary reminds us that our other-than-human kin will speak to us if we have ears to hear. What once was so readily available in the fiction of my childhood—the ability to talk to animals—is now made accessible again . . .” —Jasmin Pittman, The Christian Century

“Here is a gorgeous example of literary animal husbandry by two artists who give us learning with joy. A beautiful book in every way.” —Roger Rosenblatt, author, most recently, of Cold Moon, Cataract Blues, and A Steinway on the Beach

"How lucky for the world that such a wealth of talent is localized in the Wortsman family. Love the text, love the pics." —Patricia Marx, author of You Can Only Yell at Me for One Thing at a Time

"Odd Birds & Fat Cats is beautiful and an absolute gem. Filled with gorgeous homages and portraits worth poring over, this book will make you appreciate the world around you anew." —Bianca Bosker, New York Times bestselling author of Get the Picture and Cork Dork

"Under the guise of a bestiary, the Wortsman father-daughter duo has produced a keenly written and beautifully drawn account of our encounters, ideas, fantasies, and familiars in the city. The more I read, the more I was delightfully surprised at the generosity of their vision and depth of their shared wisdom." —Dan Nadel, Curator at Large, Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

“Each of these miniature worlds—whether we are given to contemplate a spider drunk on cognac or a seagull “patiently and dispassionately” devouring a pigeon run over on a highway—has its own climate and dimensions. By turns lyrical, gruesome, comically exhilarating or abruptly somber, grotesque or fantastic, they uncover startling likenesses in the heart of the apparently alien (ants are “micromanagers in three-piece bodies”), and strange landscapes in the corners of the ordinary. From the vestigial hind toe of the pigeon to the crannies of the aging human face, any small glance or turn of phrase can turn into an unsettling adventure. Following in the ancient footsteps of Pliny the Elder and Saint Isidore of Seville, the Wortsmans create their own singular bestiary, in which the tiniest spaces are cavernous and full of hidden histories.” —Geoffrey O’Brien, author of Arabian Nights of 1934

“I love this book: first, as an exquisite object, and next, as a poetic and delightful description of city creatures. To be kept on my bedside table and referred to frequently!” —Jeannette Watson, author of It's My Party

PRAISE FOR PETER WORTSMAN

“Peter Wortsman’s compressed fictions strike swift and hard, like a good Zen whack that awakens enlightenment.” —Tom Christensen

“Wortsman . . . connect[s] the power of the dream narrative to conscious language to create unique worksthat walk a curious line between fiction and poetry.” —Russell Edson

“A master of the telling detail, Wortsman is one of thoserare writers upon whom nothing, as Henry James put it, is ever lost.” —MarjoriePerloff

“Marvelous writing, wonderful craft, and the breath ofimagination . . . [Wortsman] succeeds so well in his craft and art that it reads‘artless’ and ‘spontaneous,’ which to me is the highest of compliments.” —HubertSelby, Jr.

PeterWortsman is the author of works of fiction, nonfiction, plays, and poetry. Heis also a critically acclaimed translator from German into English, including works suchas The Golden PotA formerfellow of the Fulbright Foundation, The Thomas J. Watson Foundation, and a Holtzbrinck Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin, hiswriting has been honored with the Beard's Fund Short Story Award and anIndependent Publishers Book Award. He divides his time between New York City and the French Alps.

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