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Gender Failure

Gender Failure

$ 17.95

by Coyote Ivan, Rae Spoon

Arsenal Pulp Press

4/8/2014, paperback

SKU: 9781551525365

 

A powerful collaboration between two extraordinary performer-writers on matters of gender and identity.

 

Two great Arsenal authors, Ivan E. Coyote and Rae Spoon, collaborate on this unique book that combines narrative, dialogue, and photographs to delve into the complex world of gender identity. Ivan and Rae both grew up with gender issues, feeling more like boys than girls; because of this, they felt like they were "gender failures" when they were young.

  • The book grew out of a stage show that the two first developed in 2012 and have subsequently performed across North America as well as the Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in London. They will tour with the show again in Spring 2014 in support of the book.
  • Both Ivan and Rae are well known in LGBT writing communities. Ivan is the author of seven books published by Arsenal, including the story collections The Slow Fix and Missed Her, the novel Bow Grip, and the young-adult collection One in Every Crowd. Ivan is also co-editor of Persistence, the anthology that was named an ALA Stonewall Honor Book. Rae is known principally as a singer-songwriter; their first book First Spring Grass Fire was published in 2012, and was shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award.
  • Non-traditional market: LGBT accounts; academic market (gender studies, LGBT studies).

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    "Being a girl was something that never really happened for me."--Rae Spoon

    Ivan E. Coyote and Rae Spoon are accomplished, award-winning writers, musicians, and performers; they are also both admitted "gender failures." In their first collaborative book, Ivan and Rae explore and expose their failed attempts at fitting into the gender binary, and how ultimately our expectations and assumptions around traditional gender roles fail us all.

    Based on their acclaimed 2012 live show that toured across the United States and in Europe, Gender Failure is a poignant collection of autobiographical essays, lyrics, and images documenting Ivan and Rae's personal journeys from gender failure to gender enlightenment. Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, it's a book that will touch LGBTQ readers and others, revealing, with candor and insight, that gender comes in more than two sizes.

     

    About the Author:

    Ivan E. Coyote is the author of six story collections and the award-winning novel Bow Grip, and is co-editor of Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme. Ivan frequently performs at high schools, universities, and festivals across North America.

    Rae Spoon is a transgender indie musician whose most recent CD is My Prairie Home, which is also the title of a new National Film Board of Canada documentary about them. Rae's first book, First Spring Grass Fire, was a Lambda Literary Award finalist in 2013.