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Thank you sisters for all of your support of Sinister Wisdom, in every form that it may take. Everyone at Sinister Wisdom truly appreciates the lesbian community and all of its creations! Enjoy this week’s Sinister Snapshot, Sinister Wisdom’s biweekly newsletter with a featurette and lots of links. If you have suggestions for future editions of Sinister Snapshot, send them to info@sinisterwisdom.org
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Elana Dykewomon was the editor and publisher of Sinister Wisdom from 1987 until 1994. Her leadership came to the journal at a crucial time in lesbian herstory. While researching an article this spring, I came upon a great article by Elana in Feminist Bookstore News (FBN). FBN was a trade journal for feminist bookstores and attracted readers from feminist literary journals and publishers as well. Carol Seajay was the editor and publish of FBN. Members of the Sinister Wisdom community likely recognize her name because Carol contributed to Sinister Wisdom 116: Making Connections, and Carol has joined us for a number of zoom events. In many ways, Carol and Elana are matriarchs in our Sinister Wisdom community.
In the January/February 1990 issue of FBN, Elana’s article, subtitled “Thoughts on Being Part of the Travels of Sinister Wisdom,” provides a snapshot of the journal, Elana’s approach as editor and steward of the journal as well as some of the broader ideas and concerns being discussed by lesbians at the time. When I came upon the article, I was riveted and I hope you will be as well. We include the full article, reproduced in the pages of FBN in this Snapshot and have made it available on our website as an exhibit as well. Read all the way to the end where Elana expresses beautifully an idea of Sinister Wisdom that continues to resonate with me today:
Sinister Wisdom is a dyke who travels; who teases our minds open; a lesbian who delights in touching flesh and lives. Who knows where she’ll turn up next?
—Julie R. Enszer
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View other Sinister Wisdom virtual exhibits here.
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From May 16 to July 15, Stonewall National Museum and Archives is hosting an exhibition showcasing excerpts from speeches and presentations from the 1990s OutWrite conference alongside contemporary writers to show the influence of the writers that attended OutWrite. There will be an inperson opening reception on May 26.
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On May 22, Judith Masur, in conversation with her brother, will discuss her creative journey and artistic process as a part of the Ashby Village Exploring Creativity Series. Self described simply as “an artist,” she is gifted wtih an array of talents from ink and pen drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and poetry. To register, email your first and last name to info@ashbyvillage.org View Judith Masur's art here.
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Judith Masur's work is also featured in Sinister Wisdom 124, on the cover of Elana Dykewomon’s What Can I Ask?, and other Sinister Wisdom issues!
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Join Sinister Wisdom on May 24 for a celebration of the six issues published with the Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project. Come pay tribute to issue editors, contributors, and all of the amazing women involved with the project! See all the issues here. Register for the zoom event here.
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Elana Dykewomon was given the 2022 Golden Crown Literary Society Trailblazer Award to honor her lifetime achievement and dedication to writing outstanding literature centered around the sapphic/women-loving-women experience. Congratulations to Elana Dykewomon!
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Also check our the 2022 Goldie finalists list, which highlights “high quality sapphic and women loving women literature.”
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Sara Youngblood Gregory’s chapbook RUN confronts a diverse and nuanced set of emotional registers while tackling themes like disability, tragedy, and heartache. RUN, “mimics, panics, and compromises the trappings of modern capitalism, queerness, and disability.” Preorder here.
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Read about the public outcry in response to the SCOTUS draft opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in Minnie Bruce Pratt's “We won’t go back!” published by Worker’s World. Pratt describes the parallels between this decision and the institutionalization of racial violence. Also read Tyrone Beason interview Barbara Smith about the leaked draft.
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It is especially important in these times to remember The Very Queer History of the Suffrage Movement.
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Read about Afeni Shakur, the intersection of queerness, criminality, and how it affects the narrative of the Stonewall protests. Adapted from The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison.
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In the Closet: a triad by Geri Gale intertwines the story of a lesbian named S. with the intergenerational story of S.’s Russian-Jewish family. 60 readers will recite the first act, “Thelonious Monk,” while sitting in their very own closets @inthecloset.atriad on Instagram.
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How Blenheim Hills Books, owned by Barbara Balliet and partner Cheryl Clarke, and other independent bookstores, revived the town of Hobart.
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If you would like to support Sinister Wisdom's thriving lesbian community please consider donating or subscribing. Your support is vital to our mission of profiling, supporting, and nurturing lesbian culture as well as providing educational resources to women and lesbians. Thank you to our sustainers for supporting the advancement of lesbian art and culture!
Curated with community, history, and an understanding that every present moment is a nexus of many pasts. May these stories of queer culture inspire, enthuse, and rouse you to lesbian actions. We hope you've enjoyed the eighth installment of Sinister Snapshot! Have a lovely weekend.
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