Textual tennis

 

Introduction from Sexual Textual Tennis,

Copyright © 2015 by Carolyn Gage and Rachel J. Fenton

 

 

Back in January, I connected with playwright Carolyn Gage on LinkedIn. A few years previously, I'd asked Carolyn for permission to quote from her play The Second Coming of Joan of Arc and use her as a character in one of my stories, which she agreed to, so I was pleased when she messaged me the following:

"If you're ever looking to illustrate a graphic novel, esp. a lesbian one... I've got some!"

Although I was too busy with the NZ Book Council's Graphic Exchange Residency, and the subsequent graphic work that went into Island to Island, and Three Words, and I wasn't able to take on a large unpaid project, I still wanted to collaborate, so I suggested we take the text from one of the essays on her blog and turn it into a comic. Sexual Textual Tennis is the result. Also available in paperback and as downloadable pdf.

New shoes

I am utterly chuffed for Peadar and Collette O' Donoghue whose labour of love The Poetry Bus is finally receiving some long overdue recognition with a terrific review of The Money Issue in The Irish Times. And my "New Shoes, Another Brick" gets generously mentioned, too - many thanks to Martina Evans, The Poetry Bus and The Irish Times.

Trees, words

Much gratitude to Nik Perring, author of Beautiful Trees (Roast Books), for inviting me on to his blog to talk about Three Words, which Nik had this to say about:

"It’s because the whole thing just drips with goodness – it’s the sort of thing that anyone and everyone should be excited about. It’s an excited thing". 

You can read the whole post here.

Threes fame

 

Click on cover to pre-order

You can now pre-order your copy of Three Words: An Anthology of Aotearoa / NZ Women's Comics at a special pre-order price of $45! Estimated delivery date: 3rd of March, 2016.

"A brilliant, collaborative, manifold project, 'Three Words' features all kinds of comics from all kinds of Kiwi women, a vast and varied representation of the beautiful diversity that makes up women's comics in New Zealand – a completely unprecedented collection." Beatnik

With comics by Adele Jackson, Alex McCrone, Alex Wild, Alice Tumblescribbleson, Alie Macpherson, Andra Jenkin, Bek Coogan, Anna Crichton, Beth Duckingmonster, Beth Sometimes, Carolyn Anderson, Celia Allison, Claire Harris, Dawn Tuffery, Demarnia Lloyd, Diane Rimmer, Elsie Joliffe, Emma Blackett, Erin Fae, Debra Boyask, Giselle Clarkson, Indira Neville, The Rabbid, Jem Yoshioka, Jessica Dew, Jessica Hansell, Joanna Anderson, Judy Darragh, Kayla Oliver, Kerry Ann Lee, Lauren Marriott, Margaret Silverwood, Olga Krause, Linda Lew, Lisa Noble, Liz Mathews, Loux McLellen, Lucy Meyle, Maiangi Waitai, Marina Williams, Mary Tamblyn, Mengzhu Fu, Mirranda Burton, Miriam Harris, Pritika Lal, Rachel Benefield, Rachel Shearer, Rae Joyce, Raewyn Alexander, Rebecca Hawkes, Renee Jones, Rosemary McLeod, Warsaw, Sally Bollinger, Sarah Laing, Sarah Lund, Sharon Murdoch, Sophie McMillan, Sophie Oiseau, Stella Corkery, Susan Rugg, Susan Te Kahurangi King, Suzanne Claessen and Zoe Colling.

And essays by Robyn Keneally, Ruth Boyask, Jem Yoshioka, Miriam Sapphira and Rae Joyce.

 

Please pre-order Three Words and support us making history!

Et al knowing

There's currently a really interesting and important display on level 2 of Auckland Central City Library, giving a detailed and engaging summary of Aotearoa/New Zealand's contraception history and abortion debate.

It's a subject area I covered in my Dundee International Book Prize finalist novel Some Things the English, so I was very interested to read about the developments, and lack of them, in the law and archives.

I was pleased to see the reproduction of some of the Broadsheet magazine illustrations, having only become aware of this amazing and influential publication during my co-editorship on the Three Words Aotearoa/NZ women's comics and cartoons anthology (to be published by Beatnik very soon).

There's also an accompanying blog - the most comprehensive and readable research resource I've seen on this topic - at Auckland Libraries' Heritage & Research site "Heritage et AL".

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Refugees welcome

I'm extremely happy one of my stories is going to help refugees as part of the Refugees Welcome Anthology. My thanks and gratitude to Greg McQueen and team. More details to come!

State of mind

TheNormal State of Mind, Parthian 2015

Susmita Bhattacharya

Set in India in the 90s, The Normal State of Mind tracks the lives of two women as they navigate societal norms, and defy them, to become inseparable friends and fulfilled individuals. First we join Dipali on her wedding night in Mumbai. She has married a man her family found in an ad., but beyond this convention their relationship is far from traditional. Next, we join Moushumi, about to embark on her first love affair in Calcutta. Against the odds, Dipali’s marriage is a success, for a time. Moushumi’s love is a little more complicated by India’s standards and soon tragedy sets these two women on a collision course. Indian society of the 90s might not consider either woman to be of a “Normal State of Mind”, but Susmita Bhattacharya’s debut novel evokes wonderfully a Mumbai as rich with potential and positive change as it is with sensual stimuli, and shows the power of friendship to enable women to overcome societal barriers to succeed on their own terms. Written with wit, warmth and wisdom; Bhattacharya draws a portrait of Mumbai that feels at once intimate and international - a state we can all relate to.