I’ve been remiss in not posting this sooner, but tomorrow night is the relaunch of Piece of my Heart: A Lesbian of Colour Anthology. Thanks to contributor Dianah Smith for the heads up on this great event!

This is an official Pride Toronto event.

Matters of the Heart: A celebration and relaunch of Piece of My Heart - A Lesbian of Colour Anthology

Thursday, 19 June 2008 (7 p.m.)
The Revival Bar
783 College Street West
Toronto ON

Piece of My Heart was edited by Makeda Silvera and published by Sister Vision Press in 1991. It was the first North American anthology of literature by lesbians of colour and was a finalist for the the American Library Association, Gay and Lesbian Book Award.(more inside…)

Shameless Magazine would like to congratulate contributor and awesome author Zoe Whittall on not only being longlisted for the ReLit award this week, but also being announced as the recipient of the second annual Dayne Ogilvie Grant! (The grant is given annually to an emerging gay writer from Canada.)

Whittall’s first novel, Bottle Rocket Hearts, was published to rave reviews. It was chosen as a Globe and Mail Notable Book of 2007 and Whittall was named NOW Magazine’s Emerging Author of 2007. In commenting on the book, one of the jurors stated, “Whittall’s writing is smart, edgy, and clear-eyed. She paints a scene beautifully, slows it down to its essence, and yet keeps the novel’s momentum moving forward. Definitely a writer to watch!”

You can catch Whittall at this year’s Proud Voices Reading Series on June 28.

Congratulations Zoe!

I’ve long been a big fan of the Little Sister’s Bookstore in Vancouver. It’s actually where my love of Feminist literature continued and my love of Queer literature really developed, where I discovered great writers like Anna Camilleri and Ivan E. Coyote, and where most of my (few) dollars were spent when I was broke and fresh out of university.

The Globe and Mail has posted an interview with Jim Deva, who opened the store with his partner, Bruce Smyth in 1983. The two have been involved in a 22-year court battle over “the importation of books that customs officials deemed offensive.” As a result, the pair have become heroes of the gay rights and anti-censorship movements.

Deva has some interesting things to say about starting the business:

I was raised on a farm in rural Alberta. My father was very, very right wing. I told him I wanted to open a bookstore. I didn’t give any more specifics. He gave me a small amount of money, which I paid back. But he had no idea that he was financing the first gay bookstore in Western Canada. About three years later, he came to town and he had a conniption. I got disinherited, couldn’t go back to my family. But my father eventually died, and now I do go home and it’s very nice.

Deva and Smyth are selling the business for personal reasons. The Globe and Mail adds: “…the store is now for sale, to the right buyer—someone who will continue the war and keep key staff.”

Via Quill Blog.

“Little Sister’s is a legend in its own time. What fight, what soul, what courage and principled defiance in the face of individual and state thuggery. They stood up for the civil rights of all Canadians—including those who would never have dreamed of crossing their threshold.”
—Ann-Marie MacDonald, author

Shameless Magazine is proud to be a part of the launch for Branding Miss G__: Third Wave Feminists & The Media by Michelle Miller

Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 6:30pm
Branding Miss G__: Third Wave Feminists & The Media by Michelle Miller
Free Times Cafe
320 College Street
Toronto, ON

The launch will feature musical guests, a panel discussion with representatives from Shameless Magazine & refreshments.

Michelle Miller earned her Master of Education from the University of Western Ontario and is currently a graduate student at the University of British Columbia where she is working on a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. She has been a member of the Miss G__ project since 2004.

More about this fantastic book after the jump.
(more inside…)

First Person Queer, edited by Richard Labonte and Lawrence Schimel (and yes, the shameless part, featuring an essay by me) won a prestigious Lambda Literary Award for best LGBT anthology last night at the 20th annual awards in West Hollywood.

I wanted to take a moment to congratulate and thank all of the truly amazing contributors to the anthology, and of course Richard and Lawrence for all their amazing work and dedication. Also, many congrats to the fantastic (Canadian!) press Arsenal Pulp that put out this book, and for continuing to support queer and independent culture through publishing.

More about the (award-winning!) book after the jump.
(more inside…)

Ever thought your parents were evil? Ever feel like you were raised by super villains?

Playing on suspicions we all might’ve had about our families at some point, the kids in Runaways discover that their parents are part of an association of the most powerful super villains in LA. They band together against their parents (and other bad guys) and run away to make up for the destruction their parents have caused.

Runaways is a monthly series (one issue comes out each month, they’re later collected into books), put out by Marvel comics. It’s a mainstream comics series, but it has some of the most inclusive representations and stories of any comic series.

For example, Runaways features some of the best female characters in comics. There’s Nico, who learns her parents’ magic, becomes a wizard and eventully becomes the leader of the team. Karolina, who realizes she’s both an alien and queer. Gert, smart and sardonic, who would probably read Shameless, and has a psychic connection with a razor-toothed dinosaur. The youngest member of the team, Molly, is also the strongest. She’s a mutant and can beat up just about anyone.

The Runaways kids are diverse in gender, race, sexuality and even body types. Writer Brian K. Vaughn does an amazing job of having diverse representations without having any token characters. The kids talk about race, and sexuality (it’s part of who they are) but it’s only one part of their complex characters.

(more inside…)

Comics are totally rad! But the world of comics can be hard to navigate, and a little off-putting for radical minded folks.

I love comics. But when I read some of them, I’m sometimes forcing myself to look past the sexist, racist, ableist, classist and heteronormative aspects of the writing and art. In comics, you don’t always see representations of people who are not white, middle class, able-bodied straight men. When you picture a super-heroine, what usually comes to mind is the sexist image of a crazily-proportioned lady, with giant breasts and an impossibly tiny waist.

Often when characters who don’t fit the norm actually show up, they’re tokenized. The queer characters usually have a brief, sexy and tragic story line, and then disappear so that the straight characters can take the spotlight again. For characters of colour, race tends to be their only defining feature, and they have no story line or personality outside of their race.

Add to all this the hostile and male-centric atmosphere of many comic shops, on-line forums and conventions, and you’ve got a medium that many women or people of colour, or queer folks, or ability activists, or allies just steer clear of.

BUT! There are so many really great comics out there! Really amazingly awesome stuff! The comics industry is getting better, and more diverse all the time. There are comics creators who represent a huge spectrum of gender, race, class, ablity and sexuality. There are comics with characters who are interesting, complex and completely stereo-type busting. There is beautiful, hilarious, perfect art that represents all sorts of people and a range of experiences.

I’m going to post about some of these amazing books and awesome creators.
(more inside…)

We’re thrilled to announce that we have another new blogger! Tiina Johns is going to be writing Comics Are For Everybody, our new Monday comics column and we’re super excited.

A little bit about Tiina:

Tiina Johns lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she plays music with the Stolen Minks and sells comic books at Strange Adventures Comic Shop. She has given talks about ladies, queer folks and comics at the Anchor Archive Zine Library, on Halifax’s campus and community radio station, CKDU, and at Dalhousie and St. Mary’s Universities. Tiina is currently conducting a scientific experiment to see how many projects she can take on before her head explodes.

Welcome friend!

The Big Book of Pop Culture: A How-To Guide for Young Artists
Hal Niedzviecki
Illustrated by Marc Ngui
(Annick Press)

With this book, Broken Pencil Magazine publisher and fiction editor Hal Niedzviecki has created a thorough, informative and easy-to-use guide to why indie matters. Specifically geared to young people poised to make change, this fun foray into all things independent lets readers know exactly how they can (and why they should) make their own culture in an increasingly corporate world. This book features all the dirt on DIY, inviting readers to use modern media to make zines, comics, websites, movies, music and more.

As informative as it is entertaining, the book features interviews with young culture-makers, the dos and don’ts of DIY, resources and realistic how-tos. It’s a must read for anyone ready to make their own mark on our cultural landscape.