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Talk Teeny

Talk Teeny is a work of fiction in linked vignettes, shaped from childhood memory and reconstructed through narrative.

Born in the early 1950s to intelligent but unstable parents, Claire enters the adult world too early—learning to perform, to read people, and to stay quiet when it matters most. In Virginia, she trades words for coins in bars before the age of two, a fleeting stage in a childhood shaped by family mobility, curiosity, and precocious intellect. The family moves repeatedly through the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, absorbing the manners, tensions, and social hierarchies of each new place. School, at age six, crystallizes Claire’s sense of self and the limits imposed by money, gender, and social rules.

Prolonged abuse and instability shape her understanding of trust and boundaries, though the narrative never lingers on injury. Her older brother appears intermittently, a stabilizing yet unreliable presence, while other family figures offer partial guidance. Through it all, Claire discovers music, literature, and emerging countercultures—small openings that hint at worlds beyond constraint.

Told in linked, understated vignettes, Talk Teeny traces the objects, gestures, and quiet moments that mark a life lived early, precisely, and without sentimentality.

Contains mature and potentially distressing themes, handled with restraint.

Cover design by Paula Millet, Boadicea Designs LLC.

Published by Entity Press (an imprint of Apathy Press Poets)

Available through Bookshop.org (they support indie bookstores!), Amazon , independent bookstores or directly from the publisher.

Live events:

November 1st, 2026 – 7pm Shivastan Poetry Ashram: Book Store, Woodstock, NY

 

Praise for Talk Teeny

“This book is not a lullaby. It offers numerous jabs in a format reminiscent of Hemingway. Short chapters and word economy that delivers the message. The author does not dwell on either the good or bad, yet illustrates life as it is truly lived and what enormous adaptations that children must make to reach adulthood. It is a matter of survival. From the start the prose reminded me of a bonfire. Some of the sparks burned out immediately while others stayed lit as they traveled upward and out of sight. This work is worth a read to see another side of humanity.” — Diane Purvis, author of More Than Flower Power: coming of age in the tumultuous 1960’s

“Cheryl Fair’s Talk Teeny is an array of autobiographical sketches that offers a deeply nostalgic look at growing up in Baltimore in the 1960s. Claire (‘Teeny’) is small in stature, but smart, curious, and thirsty for life. The vignettes follow her as she navigates her stubbornly peripatetic family, survives sexual abuse, and ultimately finds salvation in creativity, music, and love. Finely wrought sensory details capture coming of age through the eyes of a child wise and observant beyond her years.”
— Jennifer Keith, winner of the 2023 Able Muse Book Award

“Loved the voice. That affectless third person makes the text easy to read but painful to absorb — in a good way. It’s a hard story, well told. The social issues are woven in without being overt, the Baltimore details are a real kick, and the ending is terrific. Letting Claire finally have a LOUD voice was perfect.”
— Kini Collins, author of Cloud Shadows and The Singing Bowl

 

Author

Cheryl Fair is a Baltimore-based artist and writer working in photography, film, and painting. She is the author of the nonfiction book Joe Quigley, Alaska Pioneer (McFarland). Talk Teeny is her first novel, published by Entity, an imprint of Apathy Press Poets.