cliterature

CLITERATURE:
18 INTERVIEWS WITH WOMEN* WRITERS

....From the Isle of Sappho to Djuna Barnes' salon, throughout the history of the written word, there have been groups of women writers coming together to form communities. Today, groups of like-minded women have been meeting across the world at Do-It-Yourself (DIY) festivals like Ladyfest. Since its inception in 2000, Ladyfest has been more than simply a festival for performance; it is a gathering of independent women artists that is helping to form new women's communities.

...Cliterature is a series of interviews with 18 current-day renegade women* writers brought together for the 2004 Bay Area Ladyfest. The women of this community have a wide range of age and experience, from the 21 year old up and coming hip-hop artist, JenRo, to the well-known sexology royal, Carol Queen. Their forms of expression are equally diverse, covering genres like comic books, personal narrative, spoken word, erotica, mystery novels, and punk rock.

....Below is a list of the women interviewed in this huge zine. take a look at their web-sites, and be inspired yourself.

INCLUDES INTERVIEWS WITH:

E-MAIL:
livethroughthis2008@yahoo.com
to buy your copy!!!

BOOKS

trina robbins	daphne gottlieb	charlie anders
lynn breedlove	carol queen	thea hillman
lauren wheeler	sherilyn connelly	mary wings
tina butcher	anonymous	fern capella
jessica melusine	julia serano	wendy-o matik
suzy lafollette	charlotte green honigman-smith	jenro

Trina Robbins can't draw superheroes. That's okay, because she is one: for the past 30 years, she's been saving women from pop culture stereo-types. Trina was one of the feminist forerunners of the underground zine movement in the 70's, helping to found Wimmin's Comix which set the stage for future indie feminist cartoonists. In the 80's, she jumped headfirst into mainstream comic-strips to give Barbie Comics a feminist bent. After tracing the role of women in cartooning in books like From Girls to Grrlz , she used her super-human strength to begin a series of books reclaiming the stories of women who break the rules, be they murderers or Goddesses. Among her current heroic deeds are giving young adolescent girls a kick ass super-heroine in the comic series 'GoGirl!' Who will she save in the next millennia? Stay tuned...

Charlie Anders is one humorist you should take seriously. She explains her crossdressing philosophy in the hilarious how-to manual, The Lazy Crossdresser . Her website God Hates Figs combines high-flying absurdism with deadly serious social commentary. In a step away from satire, her new novel Choirboys takes a dark look at a seemingly angelic world of enforced masculinity. Co-founder of Other Magazine: pop culture & politics for the new outcasts , Anders is making a serious contribution to women, trans people, and anyone who checks "other" on any form. Lucky for us, she's too much of an absurdist to take any of it seriously.

Tina Butcherhas clit. At age 20, she left college for San Francisco. Soon after, Butcher began her own gallery called Femina Potens to support women, transgendered and genderqueer artists. Femina Potens has since been lauded as a 'crucial bit of justice' by the likes of Michelle Tea, providing a supportive and intelligent meeting place for artists whose voices often aren't heard. Fiercely sexy yet sweet, this bondage model cum erotica writer is the type of woman we've been warned about.

Mary Wings What others may see as a void, Mary Wings sees as a space for building something new. In the 70s, she noticed that there weren't any lesbian comics, so she published the first one - Come Out Comics. Later on, after reading volumes of bad mystery novels, she thought "Why not write a good one?" She Came by Book was the first in a series of five mystery novels which introduced the intelligent and sardonic detective, Emma Victor, a woman that could dodge a bullet, hide the goods, and still have time for her leading lady. Wing also penned Divine Victim , a novel that demonstrated her ability to depict the mysteries of lesbian relationships and established her as one of the first writers of the genre. Not bad for a graphic designer who, until her first novel, had only written postcards.

Lynn Breedlove Combine the punk ethic of Patti Smith, the humility of Charlie Brown, and the daredevil antics of Evil Knevil, and you get Lynn Breedlove. As a kid, Lynn witnessed the communism of East Berlin first hand. At age 18, s/he joined the army for 6 years. Fast forward to the end of a ten year drug addiction-- Breedlove started a band you mighta heard of: Tribe 8. After rocking the world of punk dykes everywhere, s/he did what anyone would do- wrote a kick ass novel. Godspeed introduces the gender-queer character, Jim, who rivals Neal Cassady's legend in spirit, passion, and sex- and does it with only one dyke, one bike, and one hell of a ride.

Anonymous is the only tranny boy we've got in this line-up of killer ladies. Lucky for us, he's man enough to handle it. He found his strength as a singer-songwriter in high school. He has since explored the territory of classical music, from the fine counterpoint of a string quartet to the avant-garde fusion of viola and electric guitar. Stripped back down to one guitar and voice, he's found that the simplest mode of communication is sometimes the most effective.

Fern Capella is only 24, but she's lived a million lives: spoken word artist, sex worker, unemployed hitch hiker- but none of these has compared to the one that changed the course of her life and writing: mother. A contributor to "Hip Mama Magazine" and the book, Mamaphonic , Fern also exercises her mama muscles with her powerhouse performance pieces. By combining razor words with lullabies, her performances both cut and heal. More than anything, they simply tell the story of a single woman who is fiercely committed to both her child and her art

Jessica Melusine One look at Jessica Melusine and you'll know that you're in for a ride. Her web-site picture is of a steam, corseted vamp looking at you with come hither eyes, yet when she performs, it's all pink and tiaras. So which is she, the virgin or the whore? Depends on how she wants to play you. A former phone sex operator, Jessica has perfected the art of seduction. By mastering this trade, this short story writer delights in the ability to turn desire into satire with just one mascara-ed wink .

Sherilyn Connelly If Sherilyn Connelly ever crosses your path, consider yourself lucky. Host of Pirate Cat Radio, and co-producer of the cult cable access show, kittypr0n,(Best of the Bay Award) she avidly pursues all channels of media to provoke and amuse. Her short stories and chapbooks are a sly take on the dark fringes of San Francisco's streets. Connelly's stage work ranges from portraying Karen Carpenter to directing her live adaptation of a Twilight Zone Episode. Welcome to another dimension. Welcome to Sherilyn Connelly.

Daphne Gottlieb is a double agent, infiltrating the literary world to provide a voice for the voiceless. A whip-smart accomplished wordsmith, her books Pelt, Why Things Burn , and Final Girl received awards from such esteemed publications as the Village Voice. Yet, she refuses to settle for mainstream accolades, preferring instead to forge her own path in the vital scene just below the radar. As poetry editor for Lodestar and Other magazines , as well as the upcoming book, Homewrecker: An Atlas of Illicit Love , her support for cutting edge writers is unwavering. She is both a role model for and a challenge to women to be smart enough to work the system, but tough enough to fight it.

Julia Serano Its amazing to hear Julia Serano's reflections on life as a woman, especially since she's lived a majority of her life in a man's body. From the in your face brashness of her band Bitesize to her powerhouse spoken word performances, she's geared and ready to fight gender stereotypes. As an organizer and educator, Julia's become a convincing voice for trans-inclusion in women's spaces. She is also the host of GenderEnders, a trans/intersex/genderqueer focused performance show. That is, when she's not working as an evolutionary biologist. All in all, this bitesize rocker's got a mouthful to say.

Thea Hillman has found that the most interesting moments to capture in writing are the 'in betweens.' As a spokesperson for the Intersex Society of America, she is committed to breaking down the binaries of gender. She brings this commitment to her poetry, which celebrates the marginalized areas of sex, politics, gender and relationships. Her books of prose Depending on the Light as well as the upcoming For Lack of a Better Word examine these themes from a personal perspective. For this poet, the magic of writing isn't in the words, it's in between the lines.

Suzy LaFollette is a nice girl who was born into a Mormon family: facts that aren't revealed in her dyke manifesta "Suzy Strap-on." She brings a wide range of sensibilities to each poem, handling such subjects as sexual assault with velvet gloves, while bringing out the boxing gloves to face off patriarchy. As a National Poetry Slam finalist, it's often easy for the brilliance of her performance to eclipse the craft of her writing. But she can't help being such an intense performer- she's trying to hand you a world in each poem, and has to do it in under three minutes.

Carol Queen's understanding of sex is everything they didn't teach you in sex ed. From her experiences as a sex worker to her PhD in Sexology, she's seen sex from about every angle possible (no kidding). Her series of essays, Real Live Nude Girls , are thoughtful meditations on sex, while her hardcore erotic novel, Leather Daddy and the Femme , reveals a completely different side. Not content to simply write about sex, Queen co-founded the sex-positive Center for Sex and Culture. Add to this the fact that she is also co-owner of the San Francisco feminist sex shop, Good Vibrations, and it's obvious that this sexologist is doing all she can to make you come and become aware of the cultural significance of a good fuck.

Lauren Wheeler Straddling a literary and performance background, this poet has an amazing ability to create well crafted poems out of a single visceral experience. Though she can discourse on T.S. Eliot's influence on Gwendolyn Brooks, Wheeler's not afraid to then get her hands dirty organizing open mics in bar rooms. She started two in Ithaca, NY, bringing a D.I.Y. ethic to the academic literary community there. She has competed in two National Poetry Slams, and continues to hone her writing skills in the San Francisco poetry scene. Always committed to building communities, Wheeler then came together with other strong female Bay Area writers to help organize ForWord Girls, the first spoken word conference festival for anyone who is, has been, or will be a girl.

Wendy-O Matik 's power doesn't lie solely in her words, but in her spirit as well. The native Californian claims to be a dissident, a "revolutionary activist of the heart," and she's been shaking things up around the globe for the past 15 years. Known for her raw spoken word performances, she's also written a sex positive book on polyamory that she self- published on Defiant Times Press, proving that when there's not a platform for your work, sometimes it's best to build your own.

Jenro is a one woman revolution. Filipino, Hispanic, gay, and female....don't try to pin her down to any one category. She's been rapping against stereotypes since she was eleven, performing in as various venues as San Quentin prison to LGBT Pride Festivals. Recently signed to La Movida Records, JenRO's debut cd "The Revelation" proves that this 21 year old powerhouse has been writing, freestyling, and creating her own identity for ten years. She's got a plan for herself and for the way things should be, and lucky you, all you have to do is listen.

Charlotte Green Honigman-Smith is one of the reasons the hyphen was invented, and it's not only to link her Irish and Jewish last names. This Jewish feminist-essayist-novelist has found the strength in her separate identities to pull disparate communities together through her writing. She has published articles in Lilith , Tikkun , Jewish Currents , Beliefnet and InterfaithFamily . She also is the editor of Maydeleh: a zine for nice Jewish grrrls and Jewish & , an anthology of writing by Jewish women with hyphenated identities like her.