Memoir of a Hyena
by Sean Kennerly
Memoir of a Hyena
For thousands of years spotted hyenas (Crocuta crocuta) were thought to be hermaphroditic, because males and females have identical phallic genitalia. Though they look nearly the same, they are sexually distinct, the slightly larger and more powerful females ruling their often extensive clans. With a wide range of communicative vocalizations and sophisticated interpersonal behaviors, hyenas are considered to be as intelligent as chimpanzees. Often mischaracterized as solely scavengers, they are actually skillful and effective hunters, seldom observed because they hunt most often in darkness.
Memoir of a Hyena is the harrowing memoir of one such spotted hyena as he lives his brief and difficult life in the shadow of his sister’s rise to greatness. Marginalized and scorned by his own family, caught in the crossfire of his clan’s political upheavals, his search for meaning and purpose takes him far across the vast, brutal Tanzanian steppe. In his unsparing self-evaluation, through the bravery of his choices and honesty in confronting his limitations, he finds insight and hope. But will this tenuous hope itself be weaponized against him?
Sean Kennerly
Sean Kennerly is a writer and musician living in Brooklyn. Memoir of a Hyena is his debut novel. He was born in Florida in 1967 and grew up shuttling between Houston, Texas and Boulder, Colorado. In 1985 he began college at UC Berkeley and in 1991 graduated with a BA in English. He then moved across the bay to San Francisco where he worked for several years at the SF Bay Guardian and also contributed to several other periodicals. Kennerly moved to New York city in 1997 and began working at Rolling Stone as a fact checker. He quit after a year and became a full-time musician for a few years before taking a job with his brother doing carpentry. He continued to work as a carpenter/contractor and a musician until the present.