All She Wrote x Ria Brodell

Join All She Wrote Books at on Wednesday, May 14th at 7:00pm, as we host writers Ria Brodell and S.E. Fleenor! They will discuss Brodell's new book, More Butch Heroes, the much-anticipated sequel to Butch Heroes, an ingenious retelling of history that combines portraits and texts to recover—and celebrate—queer subjects from around the world.

"Inclusivity" isn't just a buzzword to us. We make every effort to ensure our space and events are accessible to and for everyone. If you or someone in your party needs accommodations, please email us at [email protected].

About More Butch Heroes

Ingeniously conceived, Ria Brodell’s Butch Heroes books recover and celebrate queer subjects obscured or misrepresented within the dominant narratives of history. More Butch Heroes presents 15 original paintings and biographies in the style of the first volume, Butch Heroes: slyly subverted Catholic holy cards featuring individuals who were assigned female at birth but who presented as masculine.

In this book, we meet queer individuals in their everyday lives, relaxing or working, enduring their struggles (which sometimes led to death or punishment), or simply living their lives with their partners or pets: Esther Eng stands with her camera in front of the Mandarin Theatre in San Francisco where she worked in the box office as a child. Tom fishes on the Fraser River in British Columbia. Joe sits astride his horse, ready for a day's work in southwestern Idaho.

Brodell uses the format of the holy card in its traditional sense, as a means of remembrance and reverence, but also as a way to memorialize those who were often unjustly persecuted by the church. Each deeply researched portrait draws from social class, occupation, clothing, and environmental details of the time period, as well as artifacts, maps, journals, drawings, prints, or photos. For Brodell, who was raised Catholic, these queer holy figures act as retrospective replacements for the role models they wish they had known.

About the Author

Ria Brodell (they/them) is an artist, educator, and author based in Boston. Brodell has exhibited internationally and throughout the United States, is a recipient of an Artadia Award, a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship and an SMFA Traveling Fellowship. Their work has appeared in New York Magazine, The Guardian, ARTNews, The Boston Globe, and New American Paintings, among other publications.

About the Speaker

S.E. Fleenor (they/them) is an essayist, culture critic, fiction writer, and editor. Their words appear in print and online at The Independent, VICE, Electric Literature, them.us, Upworthy, Decoded Pride, Phasers on Stun!, Class Lives, and many more. They teach writing workshops with Writers Digest University, public libraries, etc. and co-host the comics and pop culture podcast Bitches on Comics, as well as being a head writer for the narrative fiction podcast Decoded Horror Channel. They are a member of GALECA: the society of LGBTQ entertainment critics and graduated from Harvard University with a Master in Theological Studies, focusing on religion and gender and sexuality, as well as literature, TV, and film..

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