She’s Shameless has been picked to be part of the Toronto Public Library’s Word Out! 2010 reading program for teens. August 9-15 the book will be featured and discussed online as part of the initiative.

With wit and honesty, the writers share stories of their teen experiences (both positive and negative) on everything from pop culture to high school principals. The book is founded on Shameless magazine’s tradition of smart, sassy, honest and inclusive writing, and reaches out to young female readers who are often ignored by mainstream: freethinkers, queer youth, young women of colour, punk rockers, feminists, intellectuals, artists, and activists.

Check out all of the library’s 2010 picks here.

An exciting, brand new issue is being polished up while I type this, so there’s no better time to subscribe to Shameless Magazine and make sure you’re the first to get your hands on it! Order online for only $12! Get in on the action right now and enjoy three fantastic issues of Canada’s favourite feminist magazine for teens!

Already a subscriber? Please consider renewing, or making a small donation to help support the work we do. Even something as small as $2, $5 or $10 will go a long way to helping us keep our fresh alternative to typical teen magazines going. We’re entirely volunteer run and rely entirely on the support of readers just like you.

If you’ve been reading the headlines, you know that times are really tough for magazines big and small, so there’s no better time to make a small gift to the publications you love to help them survive. Every dollar helps!

Click this convenient Paypal button and support us today!

‘A’ is for Orange - a reading series featuring queer Caribbean writers hosts

Replenish! A Pride Celebration
Friday, June 18, 2010
Palmerston Library Theatre
8 PM

How do we re-energize when we get depleted?
What gives us nourishment?
Where do we go for restoration?

Emerging and established queer Caribbean writers explore these questions through storytelling, dub, poetry, prose and spoken word.

Co-hosted by Michele Chai and Kyisha Williams, the evening will feature fresh faces and familiar favourites including trey anthony, D-lishus, Dianah Smith, Kim Quashie, Zakiya, Kyisha Williams, Kadeem Brown, tonya parriag and others.

You will leave feeling renewed, reinvigorated and replenished!

Readings will be followed by an audience Talk Back. Lite refreshments will be served.

Palmerston Public Library Theatre is located at 560 Palmerston Avenue
(between Bathurst and Christie just north of Bloor)

Tickets are $8-10 sliding scale (No one turned away for lack of funds)
Doors open at 7:30 pm, performances begin at 8:00 pm.

For more information please contact Dianah Smith (Curator)

Email: d@aisfororange.org
Website: www.aisfororange.org

Like what you see? Want to support independent media? Get Shameless delivered straight to your door, three times a year, for only $12, and save a couple bucks off the newsstand price to boot!

Subscriptions are available through PayPal right now! Or, if you’d rather mail in a subscription form, you can print one off here (2,438K PDF). All prices are in Canadian Dollars (CAD).

Buy a two-year subscription and save an additional $2 off the normal subscription price. That’s $22 for a two-year Canadian subscription and $42 for a two-year American subscription.

Not sure what to get that sassy, Shameless girl in your life this holiday season? We make it easy for you. Give her a meaningful, informative, entertaining gift that she actually wants — a whole year of Shameless for only $10!

You can give Shameless as a gift for only $10! That’s right, for only $10 a strong young woman in your life will receive Shameless for a full year (three issues). You can buy and give as many subscriptions as you like for only $10 each ($20 in the US) and we’ll send the lucky recipients their gift on your behalf!

$10 SHAMELESS SUBSCRIPTIONS MAKE THE PERFECT GIFT FOR EVERYONE ON YOUR LIST!

Giving the gift of Shameless is a great way to support vital independent media. Shameless is Canada’s award-winning independent voice for smart, strong, sassy young women. It’s a fresh alternative to typical teen magazines, for girls who know there’s more to life than makeup and diet tips. Packed with articles about arts, culture and current events, Shameless reaches out to readers who are often ignored by mainstream media: freethinkers, queer youth, young women of colour, punk rockers, feminists, intellectuals, artists, activists.

You can even take advantage of this holiday offer and give yourself a well-deserved gift! You’ll get a whole year of smart, well-written, thought-provoking reading material. What better way to start the New Year off right? (Or, if you’re already a subscriber, for the same price, we’ll be happy to extend your subscription for one more year.)

Subscriptions are available through PayPal right now! All prices are in Canadian Dollars (CAD).

Our latest issue, on newsstands now!

The 2009 Scream Literary Festival Presents
Youth These Days: The Scream Youth Workshop
Sunday, July 12th, 2009 – 1 pm
The Loop Studio at Wychwood Barns
601 Christie Street, Toronto
Cost: PWYC

The book may be dead, but words aren’t. What’s old is new again —
narrative hip hop music is a dynamic occurrence of a thriving oral
literary tradition. Led by hip hop artist Paul Sackichand and professional
storyteller Rico Rodriguez, the Scream’s youth workshop provides an
opportunity to learn how to add suspense to your rhymes and rhythm to your
stories—participants will get to create, as well as perform, their own
narrative raps.

Check out this rad retreat happening in Manitoba this summer!

The Youth Activist Retreat is a free, five-day overnight camp that brings together activists aged 16-20. YAR is a great place to meet other young folks who are interested in social change and to learn new skills and ideas.

YAR 2009 is being held August 10th to 14th in Clearwater, Manitoba.

During the week of the retreat, participants will take part in workshops and other events to learn from other experienced activists about different political struggles and issues.

The retreat offers a variety of workshops to accommodate all levels of experience. Whether you just want to sit back and listen, or work with others to develop strategies for organizing, YAR is a great place to meet other youth who care about similar issues.

Workshops are taught by people who have experience working for social change, including organizers, activists, and artists.

Some of this year’s workshops will include Worker’s Rights and Unions, Anti-Racism, Colonization in Canada, Ecological Justice, Gender Oppression and Heterosexism, Direct Action, and many others. There will also be creative workshops offered on silk-screening, radio, puppet-making, and zines!

The retreat is completely free; all that is asked for is your time and commitment. Some travel subsidies are available for people who live outside of Winnipeg.

YAR is an anti-racist, LGBT*-positive event, and is wheelchair accessible.

Register early, because spots are filling up fast!

VISIT YAR’S WEBSITE FOR MORE INFO: http://youthactivistretreat.ca

There’s a great write-up of the She’s Shameless launch and an interview with editor Megan Griffith-Greene, posted on BlogTO:

When I was a kid there was Chickadee magazine and then Owl, and then the thinking girl was unceremoniously dumped off the science train of the Mighty Mites, and into the world of Tiger Beat.

“Maybe you can think big thoughts again when you’re older,” the magazine rack seemed to say. “But the teen and pre-teen magazines that tide you over until then will be wholly populated by doe-eyed boys, glossy ads for lip gloss, and vanilla-flavoured sex tips. Be prepared for a solid decade where your interests are presumed limited to bangles and boyfriends.”

Then 2004 rolled around, and a Canadian upstart broke through these piles and piles of flippant frou frou and frizz — Shameless, a magazine “for girls who get it.”

Read the entire post here.

(L-R) She’s Shameless on sale now, Teen Workshop Leader and celebrated author Ibi Kaslik, Megan signs books. Image via BlogTO.

Also, check out coverage and a great photoset of the event on Newsfix:

She’s Shameless, a compilation from emerging and established female writers, shares honest, intimate, sometimes embarrassing stories about growing up. Edited by Stacey May Fowles and Megan Griffith-Greene, the magazine’s publisher and editor-in-chief, this book talks about things most people experienced in their teenage lives but were too ashamed to speak up about.

The anthology is in bookstores now, so you can order or buy it from your local independent, ask for it at your local library, or get it online here or here.

She’s Shameless launches TONIGHT in Toronto!

SHE’S SHAMELESS / SHE’S WRITING
Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St West, Toronto
Tues June 23; 8pm (doors 7:30pm) $5 (or free with book purchase)
With readings from Dianah Smith, Shannon Gerard, Zoe Whittall and Shannon Webb-Campbell.

Prom and anti-prom attire encouraged!

Here’s what people are already saying about She’s Shameles:

“An offshoot of the self-described, ‘fiercely independent’ Shameless magazine, She’s Shameless is an anthology that boasts an array of autobiographical accounts taken from the lives of female writers, thinkers, and activists who have learned to be unashamed of themselves and the paths their lives have taken. Body image, teen pregnancy, sexual discovery and creative pursuits are all fair game for conversation in these poignantly honest firsthand narrations of PoMo coming-of-age.”
-Kelli Korducki, This Magazine

“Cautionary tales abound — a pregnant 16-year-old contemplates, then rejects, abortion; a fourth-grader’s French teacher peers down her shirt; a virginity is lost to a slimy married father twice her age — but that’s not the point….Young women are rarely ever heard from in society. It’s adults, often men, that are invited on TV to wring their hands about teen-girl crises (pregnancy, anorexia, depression, promiscuity) and asked how to ‘fix’ these problems…Grow up, be smart, take responsibility, teens are told — but in practice they’re not often given that agency, which is what makes She’s Shameless remarkable. The essays neither condone nor condemn; some are full of regret, but the contributors’ bios tell of eventual successes — writers are ‘proud feminist mamas,’ university graduates, artists.”
-Canice Leung, Metro

Read an interview with Stacey May Fowles at Open Book Toronto, an interview with Megan Griffith-Greene at Masthead Online, and an interview with Ibi Kaslik at Pages Books and Magazines.

Many thanks to Tightrope Books, NOW Magazine, and Pages Books and Magazines.

See you tonight!