Flamingo Rampant (a fantastic project co-created by S. Bear Bergman) is now taking pre-orders for its two children’s books, written especially for gender independent children. The books are The Adventures of Tulip, Birthday Wish Fairy and Backwards Day. Pre-order yours today!
Both books are written by S. Bear Bergman, with illustrations by Suzy Malik (The Adventures of Tulip) and KD Diamond (Backwards Day).
Butches + choir FTW!
Introducing… Leadfoot, Vancouver’s brand-new, butch-laden choir! They make their debut at Ivan’s book launch on May 3rd.
We’re so excited to tell you that Persistence contributor and amazing musician Rae Spoon has a book of their own coming out! Rae’s book, First Spring Grass Fire (Arsenal Pulp Press), tells the story of a young person growing up queer in a strict Pentecostal family in Alberta. The book will be out in September 2012. Stay tuned for updates!
Gender Failure: The Haircut Edition
Ivan Coyote and Rae Spoon are premiering their brand-new show, Gender Failure, in New York, NY and Toronto, ON this week. In honour of their show, they also got brand-new haircuts.
New York event info (Wed., April 11 and Thurs., April 12, 2012) can be found here.
Toronto event info (Sat., April 14, 2012) can be found here.
Persistence nominated for a Lambda Literary Award
We just found out that Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. I’d be doing jazz hands of excitement right now if it wouldn’t render it impossible to type.
Even better, several Persistence contributors received nominations of their own: Karleen Pendleton Jiménez received a nomination for her memoir How to Get a Girl Pregnant, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha recieved a nomination for her poetry collection Love Cake, and Jeanne Córdova received a nomination for her memoir When We Were Outlaws: A Memoir of Love and Revolution.
Congratulations to all the finalists!
Ivan Coyote - Dear Younger Self
Check out Ivan’s newest video - “Dear Younger Self,” shot at Seattle’s Empty Sea Studios at a recent show with S. Bear Bergman.
Rae Spoon - Ocean Blue
Rae Spoon, in typical sartorial splendour, premieres their newest video, “Ocean Blue.” Makes me want to go to Venice right now. Ideally with Rae, who knows where to buy the best shoes.
The Radical Doula Guide
Persistence contributor Miriam Zoila Pérez has launched an exciting new project - The Radical Doula Guide.
Doulas provide emotional support during pregnancy and childbirth. The guide is a political primer to doula work as activism, and how being a doula connects to and must take into consideration things like race, class, sexuality, ability, immigration status and much, much more. Want to support the project? Check out its Indie GoGo site!
Sex + writing = awesome
We’re proud to tell you that Amber Dawn’s piece “To All the Butches I Loved Between 1995 and 2005: An Open Letter About Selling Sex, Selling Out and Soldiering On” from Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme is featured in the anthology Best Sex Writing 2012: The State of Today’s Sexual Culture, edited by the lovely and talented Rachel Kramer Bussel. As big fans of sex, writing and Amber Dawn, we’re thrilled!
Sometimes I can spot a femme a mile away, even in trackpants. Hard to describe, but I know it when I feel it. A certain curl of lip, or an almost too-long look hello. But sometimes it is hard to tell, especially if I’m not looking.
Sometimes the radar is muted outside of gayland or a super queer literary thing, in places you don’t go looking for femmes, necessarily. But there they are. Everywhere. Just like the rest of us.Ivan Coyote, In Plain Sight
