As a troubled ten-year-old, Kid is increasingly disturbed by strange spider-infested visions of his next-door neighbor’s shed; he falls deeper and deeper into his haunted inner world, eventually turning to mind-altering substances to combat the growing torment. As Kid disassociates, the book itself begins to crumble, splintering into disparate narrative voices as the workings of his imagination become animated — and language self-destructs.
Emerging from the anguish, Kid surfaces into adulthood as she navigates love, sex, and self-discovery as a trans woman. But when she returns to her hometown following the death of a family member, she is forced to reckon with all the fears she left behind.
Yellow Barks Spider is an unforgettable portrait of trauma, isolation, and self-compassion. A deeply-felt exhumation of memory, love, and the human spirit by a debut author.

Harman Burns is a Saskatchewan-born trans woman, filmmaker, sound artist and writer. Her practice is informed by folklore, nature, the occult and bodily transfiguration. Yellow Barks Spider is her debut novella. She currently resides on the unceded ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (Vancouver).

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