Many things have happened since the last update, partly because I am a frantically busy person perfectly willing to sacrifice their long-term wellbeing at the altar of productivity, and partly because… well, maybe it’s just that first thing. Anyway, onto the news!
Give Me Prizes!
First up, I have some exciting news on prizes —my short story collection was a semi-finalist for The Journal Non/Fiction Collection Prize, while the manuscript for my novel Small People was also a semi-finalist, this time for The Big Moose Prize by Black Lawrence Press, as well as being longlisted for the First Pages Prize. Obviously this has been exciting, but if the winners mysteriously go missing do I get to take their place? Yeah, I’m pretty sure that’s how it works.
Not only that, but this Septemer I’ll also be on a panel at Berlin’s LCB (Literarisches Colloquium Berlin) as part of the Parataxe series. I’ll be discussing the themes in the novel alongside the real-life issues which inspired the work, and I’m extremely grateful for this opportunity.
Britain Trip
After five and a half years I finally managed to make it back to my home country of… what’s it called again? Burton? Britpop? Brexitmeansbrexit? Anyway, I went to that place and ate the good junk food and hopefully didn’t get the covid.
I also had chance to meet with two amazing author friends of mine — first I met up with Jennifer Steil in London, where we spent hours chatting at a lovely local cafe (pictured). I first met Jennifer at the Bi Book Awards in New York, and it was truly wonderful to see her and catch up in person.
The following week I met with Meg-John Barker in Brighton, and we had an absolutely fantastic time together, time which flew by all too quickly. (And again we got to be in an amazing cafe — Berlin really could take notes when it comes to coffee places.) I hope to see them again soon, especially if I manage to arrange a British book tour for Proud Pink Sky. Speaking of which…
Advance Praise for Proud Pink Sky
Oh look, it’s my upcoming novel! And I’ve been receiving some wonderful advanced praise from authors I really admire, including the aforementioned MJ Barker, author of Queer: A Graphic History, Calder Szewczak, co-authors of The Offset, Christian Baines, Brett Josef Grubisic, and Gayathri Prabhu — who remains one of the most thoughtful and inspiring people I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.
You can read the quotes on the Proud Pink Sky page on this site. So far the novel has been extremely well received by everyone who’s had chance to read it, and it gives me warm glowy feelings whenever someone has given feedback (and not a small amount of imposter syndrome…).
Upcoming Events
I’ve been very fortunate in being approached to do a bilingual reading of Proud Pink Sky at the Brotfabrik this October (an actor will be reading the German parts so I don’t completely embarrass myself). This will be the first reading of the novel to a live audience — as well as my first live reading since the pandemic began — and I’m more than a little excited about it.
Image from @genderfreeworld
Gender Free World
I forgot to mention a very fun part of my Britain trip — going with my friend Lindsey to Brighton’s incredible gender-neutral clothing store, Gender Free World. It was a wonderfully affirming place after coming out as nonbinary, and thanks to their sizing scheme that’s based in body shape rather than actual gender, I actually found a shirt that fits! (I promise this is not a sponsored post, I’m just an absolute fanperson for this place). They even took a picture of us in our fancy new clothes to put on their Instagram (left).
Beyond the Hallowed Sky review
Among all the time spent frantically running after strangers and begging them to read my novel, I also found chance to write a review of Ken Macleod’s excellent new novel for Strange Horizons. I loved its take on speculative geopolitics, seeing a global cold war between the Union, the Alliance, and the Co-Ord, alongside its intriguing future concepts. You can read my thoughts on the novel and its fascinating worldbuilding here.
Marching in Berlin
Last Friday I went to Berlin’s fabulous Dyke* March, which was a huge amount of fun, filled with people in colourful outfits and a lot of gender nonconformity. I took the opportunity to make my face all kinds of pink for the occassion, and even though my introverted, covid-shocked self can’t be in crowds for long periods of time, it was still an amazing event (pictured: pink me, in the shirt from Gender Free World).
SECRETS
Well that’s enough from this photo album of a post — aside from me pointlessly teasing you with a non-announcement that I’m not allowed to make yet…
I’ll end on a skincare tip: If you never go outside, you’ll never get sun damage!
- Redfern