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.

As I started to see the links pop up on the internet about Wonder Woman’s new “makeover,” I began to repeat in my head, “Please let it be good! Please let it be good!”

I am not a comic aficionado and bow to those with greater super-hero knowledge than I, but I’ve loved Wonder Woman ever since my much-adored older sister would slip into her Wonder Woman bathing suit and fight poolside crime.

On Twitter, OutTV described the costume change as “less…impractically attired.”

To be honest, my first reaction was, “WTF?!!” (you can check out a pic of the full “makeover” below as well as some pics of the former Wonder Woman).
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I’m always intrigued and excited to find out about a band that’s exploring new territory when it comes to what music can do. That’s why it was so great to find out about The Billie Hollies.

The joined talents of Coralie Martens (piano, vocals, French horn), Julia Hambleton (clarinet, bass clarinet, vocals), Janet Morassutti (guitar, vocals), and Donna Linklater (lead vocals, autoharp), make up one super-cool band.

Why?
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In celebration of the launch of their 10th awesome issue, WORN (a fashion journal actually worth reading) is presenting: Pin up, Party down: an exhibition of wearables presented on wearables.

And they want you to be involved…(more inside…)

April is National Poetry Month. Did you know?

While the literary world is buzzing with endless events and contests / competitions / prizes are announced, I’m wondering how many people out there are completely unaware that there even is a National Poetry Month. How “noticed” is poetry?
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There was always plenty of feminist literature around while I was growing up. Pressed on the shelf between Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy and Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull were books like Clarissa Pinkola Estés’ Women Who Run With the Wolves, Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own, and writing by Maya Angelou.

I remember reading bits here and there, examining each and every cover, and wondering who the women writers were whose pictures were tucked inside.

It made feminism normal to me. Words about powerful women and their limitless possibilities were easily accessed, kept in the livingroom where anyone could enjoy them. Stories and histories of brave women who had suffered and yet still succeeded, myths of female warriors, essays on rights, responsibilities, politics, and philosophies.

There were books written by writers from all over the world, voices of women of all colours and backgrounds and beliefs. There were books that contradicted each other, willing to explore opposite sides of the spectrum.

And if there was a book that wasn’t there that I was interested in, my mom would try to get it for me.

Feminist books and literature by women was incredibly important to my development both as a woman and a feminist.

Realizing how much these books meant to me, and in the shadow of The Toronto Women’s Bookstore’s troubles, I started to think about what books I would recommend to young girls who might be looking for some awesome lady lit.
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Shameless publisher Stacey May Fowles has been honoured with a pick in the National Post’s Canada Also Reads panel of books for her novel Fear of Fighting (Invisible Publishing, 2008).

The Canada Also Reads panel was set up by the National Post’s The Afterword in response to the mainstream CBC Canada Reads, which has sometimes been criticized for showcasing already well-known books. Canada Also Reads put out a call for nominations of books that were relatively new and comparatively unknown. A very long longlist was eventually shortened to five, including Fear of Fighting.

Want to read Stacey May’s novel but can’t shell out $19.95? You’re in luck! The book will be available as a free e-book download from the publisher’s website until April.

As you may have heard, Toronto’s Women Bookstore is in danger of closing its doors. A number of fundraisers have been arranged to help out…
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OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!

OTHER TONGUES: Mixed-Race Women Speak Out

Co-editors Adebe D.A. and Andrea Thompson are seeking submissions for an anthology of writing by and about mixed-race women, intended for publication in Fall 2010 by Inanna Publications.

The purpose of this anthology is to explore the question of how mixed-race women in North America identify in the 21st Century. The anthology will also serve as a place to learn about the social experiences, attitudes, and feelings of others, and what racial identity has come to mean today. We are inviting previously unpublished submissions that engage, document, and/or explore the experiences of being mixed-race, by placing interraciality as the center, rather than periphery, of analysis.
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