The Seal Press Women's Interest Blog

Six months from now let's ask Jon & Kate about their divorce

2009-06-30T10:10:00.000-07:00

The Jon & Kate divorce is all over the news. I was in the airport bookstore this weekend and at least three tabloids featured covers of Jon & Kate.

It's unfortunate that their marriage didn't work out. But this divorce could open up new worlds, for both Jon & Kate. What I'd really like to do is send them a copy of our book, Ask Me About My Divorce edited by Candace Walsh. Both of them could benefit from the positive stories in this book. Stories about dreams becoming possible, life opening up, and love blossoming again. It's a fun and inspiring collection, and anyone who has had a divorce can find at least one chapter to connect with. One chapter where they recognize themselves and the ways in which their great loss became a great transformation.

So if you have Jon's new address in NYC, or Kate's address, send it along to me and I'll send them a copy. Because maybe someday they will want people to ask them about their divorce, so they can share the wisdom and the happiness they experienced in their new lives.

If you want to learn more about the book, check out their website at Ask Me About My Divorce.

~ Andie East

Melissa Ford wins the RESOLVE: National Fertility Associate Hope Award for Best Blog

2009-06-04T14:50:00.000-07:00

Melissa Ford, author of Navigating the Land Of If: Understanding Infertility and Exploring Your Options (Seal Press / May 2009 / $16.96) was recently honored by RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association this last weekend. Ford received the Hope Award for Best Blog for her blog Stirrup Queens. This was an Inaugral Award given to an individual/organization whose virtual initiative and mission is to foster awareness in the infertility community through the use of a blog. Please join Seal Press in congratulating Melissa Ford on her achievements. Learn more about her book here and check out her website here.

RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, established in 1974, is a non-profit organization with the only established, nationwide network mandated to promote reproductive health and to ensure equal access to all family building options for men and women experiencing infertility or other reproductive disorders.

The mission of RESOLVE is to provide timely, compassionate support and information to people who are experiencing infertility and to increase awareness of infertility issues through public education and advocacy.

Seal Press titles honored in the ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Awards!

2009-06-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

ForeWord Magazine announced the winners of the 2008 Book of the Year Awards and two Seal Titles were honored! My So-Called Freelance Life by Michelle Goodman won Gold in the Career category while The Maternal is Political edited by Shari MacDonald Strong won Silver in the Women's Issues category.

At a ceremony at BookExpo America in New York City, the 220 Book of the Year Award winners in 61 categories were honored. These books, representing the best independently published books from 2008 were selected by a panel of librarian and bookseller judges.

Congratulations to the authors and contributors of these two great titles!

Jenny Block wins a Lambda Award!

2009-05-29T09:20:00.001-07:00

Last night Jenny Block won the Lambda Award in the category for bisexual book for her book Open: Love, Sex and Life in an Open Marriage. The Lambda Literary Awards seek to recognize excellence in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature. Each year, over 80 judges -- writers, booksellers, librarians, journalists -- assess the entries in more than 20 categories. Check out Jenny's website at to learn more about her book and get on her newsletter!

DIRT authors on tour!

2009-05-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

The editor and contributors to DIRT: The Quirks, Habits, and Passions of Keeping House are on a multi-state book tour. Check out this great picture of them reading at Borders 10 Columbus Circle last week. From left to right: Mindy Lewis, Patty Dann, Mindy Greenstein, Sally Koslow, and Joyce Maynard. Catch them at one of the following events!

Tues June 2nd, 6-8PM Cornelia Street Café, Greenwich Village
Laura Shaine Cunningham, Katy Brennan, Lisa Selin Davis, Thad Rutkowski, and Alissa Quart

Sat June 6th, 7PM Inquiring Minds Bookstore, New Paltz NY
Laura Shaine Cunningham, Rand Richards Cooper, Mindy Lewis
Reception and raffle for Eco-friendly products donated by True-Value Hardware

Sun June 14th, 2PM McIntyre’s Bookstore, Fearrington Village, Pittsboro NC
Julianne Malveaux, Nancy Peacock, Lisa Solod Warren

Sat August 8th, 11AM, Toadstool Bookstore, Peterborough, New Hampshire
Mindy Lewis, Joyce Maynard, Mimi Schwartz

Tues Aug 11th, 7PM Books, Inc., Alameda CA
Kayla Cagan, Mindy Lewis, Krista Lyons, Louise Rafkin

Sun Sept 13th, 4PM The Lounge at Hudson View Gardens
Kathleen Crisci, Rebecca McClanahan, Laura Shaine Cunningham

Announcing the She-Smoke Virtual BBQ Contest

2009-05-19T10:10:00.000-07:00

Julie Reinhardt, co-owner of Smokin’ Pete’s BBQ in Seattle and author of the newly released She-Smoke: A Backyard Barbecue Book (Seal Press/ June 2009), is excited to announce the She-Smoke Virtual Barbecue Contest, which aims to create the largest virtual barbecue in the world. Perfect for Memorial Day and the upcoming summer weekends, The She-Smoke Contest will not only bring together the wonderful community of BBQ, but will also serve as a fundraiser for Heifer International to fight world hunger, as Julie will donate $1 to the organization for every entry.

Here's how the contest works:

1) View the contest trailer HERE.
2) Have a barbecue and video tape it.
3) In your 1-3 minute video tell us what you are smoking or grilling (we're not going to get too hung up on definitions here), and tell us what barbecue means to you.
4) Upload your video in response to the trailer on YouTube.
5) For every entry we will donate $1 to Heifer International.
6) Contest dates are now through June 15th. Winners will be announced by July 5th.

Categories include:

1) Best looking barbecue (we can't eat it virtually, so make it a feast for our eyes!)
2) Best Video
3) Best Party - let us feel like we are there!
4) Most Interesting Smoker
5) Best Overall Entry/Grand Champion

Winners will receive a signed copy of She-Smoke: A Backyard Barbecue Book, and the Grand Champion will receive a Junior Traeger Grill! A $399 value, thanks to Traeger Grills!

For more information, go to Julie’s website.
Watch the YouTube contest video.
Or read Julie’s Blog.

We look forward to seeing all your BBQ videos!

Helen Boyd on Air America

2009-05-14T16:17:00.000-07:00

Helen Boyd, author of My Husband Betty and She's Not the Man I Married, was interviewed earlier today on Air America on Nicole Sandler's show. It's a great clip, which you can access here:

Start it at Minute 9.

Though the interview is a lot about what it's like to be in a trans relationship, with plenty of personal questions for Helen, the interview was prompted because of Jennifer Finney Boylan's op-ed in the NY Times earlier this week about being “differently married.” Boylan is a trans woman, legally a female, married to a woman because she married her when she was still a man.

This was a largely overlooked issue in Labor of Love, by Thomas Beatie. The media doesn't really want to talk about the fact that trans people are allowed to marry as long as they're legally "opposite sexed," while gay and lesbian couples can't. And Thomas sheds light on the ironic fact that he and his wife Nancy could have easily gotten sperm if they had wanted to conceive as a lesbian couple, but his being trans made doctors suspicious of his mental stability.

The fact is that trans folks and genderbenders mess things up for people who like everything to be in nice, neat categories. And kudos to Jennifer for pointing out the obvious:

"It’s my hope that people who are reluctant to embrace same-sex marriage will see that it has been with us, albeit in this one unusual circumstance, for years."

---Brooke

Against the Grain talks with Yes Means Yes

2009-04-28T14:00:00.000-07:00

Tune into Against the Grain on KPFA 94.1 FM and KFCF 88.1 FM today at noon to hear an amazing interview with Yes Means Yes contributors Jill Filopovic and Julia Serano. They will be discussing how rape culture needs to change and how Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and A World Without Rape provides a variety of different viewpoints aimed to educate men and women.

If you miss the original broadcast you can listen to the interview at Against the Grain.

Next week the editors and contributors will be reading at bay area bookstores. Join editors Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti with contributors Lisa Jervis, Julia Serano, and Susan Lopez for a reading at Modern Times Bookstore on May 7th at 7pm. Modern Times Bookstore is located at 888 Valencia Street, San Francisco, CA 94110. Editor Jaclyn Friedman and contributors
Lisa Jervis, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha, and Julia Serano will be reading at Pegasus Books Downtown, 2349 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley, CA on Saturday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m.

Get great travel tips from Travel Therapy author Karen Schaler

2009-04-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

"I need a vacation!" If you've gotten that far, but aren't sure how to proceed, Karen Schaler has advice for you straight from her book, Travel Therapy: Where Do You Need To Go? Schaler shares her secrets for planning a tailored-to-you vacation, including some luxurious getaways with a pleasantly surprising price tag. Check out her informative Seal Press podcast here!

Delve into Nicole Johns' experience with Purge: Rehab Diaries

2009-04-01T10:27:00.000-07:00

April 1rst was the official release date of Purge: Rehab Diaries, by Nicole Johns, and the word has already been spread far and wide. Here's a recap:

Kirkus Reviews said in the March 1rst issue: "[Purge is] a revealing glimpse into the trauma wrought by eating disorders—especially important for the afflicted and those who care for them."

Library Journal's Online Addendum said, "If you could handle Girl, Interrupted, you can handle this unflinching work rooted in feminist self-reflection."

Nicole Johns has been interviewed for the May Issue of Marie Claire. Look for it on shelves in the middle of April.

Rachel Kramer Bussel has excerpted a great blog post by Johns, on her blog. Check it out here. An interview between Bussel and Johns is also in the works!

Amanda at That Teen Can Blog, interviewed Johns and reviewed Purge. Head over to Amanda's blog and check out the great review and interview.

Yesterday, Nicole Johns appeared on Twin Cities Live for a wonderful discussion about her new book. Check out the clip, here. Click on the pink book cover on the side for her segment.

Purge is also being reviewed for Eating Disorders Victoria. An Australian organization who provide information, referrals and support to people with Eating Disorders, their families and friends.

Johns was also interviewed for KFAI's Write On Radio! Scroll down to the announcements section and take a listen to the March 26th show. Nicole comes in at about 24 minutes.

Purge: Rehab Diaries is also being reviewed in the upcoming issue of the Journal of American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Also upcoming are two events in the Twin Cities:

April 24th, 2009, 4pm, Coffman Bookstore on the University of Minnesota campus.

May 6th, 2009, 7pm, The Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Congratulations to Nicole on the release of her memoir. We look forward to seeing more publicity in the coming weeks.

Stress-Busting Vacations from Travel Therapy

2009-03-30T16:17:00.000-07:00

Karen Schaler, author of Travel Therapy: Where Do You Need to Go?, made an appearance Saturday on Fox News to give suggestions for relaxing vacations to decompress from stress. Check out her suggestions here and learn more about travel destinations that will help you relieve stress, and save money, during tax time.

For more information go to her website www.traveltherapytrips.com.

Finalists Announced for the Lambda Literary Awards

2009-03-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

We're excited to announce that Open, by Jenny Block, and Transgender History, by Susan Stryker, have been announced as finalists for the 21rst Annual Lambda Literary Awards, which "seek to recognize excellence in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature."

Jenny Block, author of Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage, has been named a finalist in the Bisexual category.

Susan Stryker, author of Transgender History, has been named a finalist in the Transgender category.

Winners will be announced May 28th, 2009, at an awards ceremony in New York! For more information go to the Lambda Literary Awards website here.

Start your LIST today!

2009-03-12T12:31:00.000-07:00

We recently sent out The List: 100 Ways to Shake Up Your Life by Gail Belsky to some of our favorite female bloggers. Thanks to these great interviews and reviews, many readers have been inspired to start a List of their own. Check out these wonderful posts, then go over to Gail's website, ShakeUpList and get started building your own list, today.

For Her Information's Falise Platt added The List into a round up of great books for Women's History Month!

Gail was also interviewed by Rachel Kramer Bussel at her blog, The Lusty Lady. Here's a spicy quote: "I went topless in my twenties and thirties, but not since. Same thing with skinny dipping and watching porn." Click here for the rest of the interview.

The Book Lady already finished her giveaway but you can still check out her review here.

Read this review at Story Circle Book Review, which says, "I'll keep this one as a permanent part of my library and reread it for ideas when I get bored. Perhaps I'll flip it open and do whatever happens to be on that page. That is a sure way to step out of my comfort zone."

The Adventurous Women Blog is a great place to get ideas for new and exciting things to try. Check out this interview with Gail about what inspired her to write The List!

The Fly Girl Guide says "It’s a fun, upbeat, inspiring way to get out of the rut of your daily life. "

Bella Online recommends the book for anyone looking for inspiration to shake up their lives!

And you can also listen to Gail's interview with Marrie Stone on the show Writers on Writing.

Open now available in trade paper

2009-03-05T11:46:00.000-08:00

Author Jenny Block has a promo going on the trade paperback version of Open this week to sell 5,000 copies of her book!

It's a valiant goal, so we're here to help her make it happen!

Check it out today.

Own It! author Jennifer Musselman on KTLA TV

2009-03-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

Own It! author Jennifer Musselman appeared on KTLA this morning and offered up expertise and advice for women looking to buy their own home. She discussed the economic climate and why this may be a great time for you to get the home you've always dreamed of. She also discussed how to start planning and saving if buying your own home is on the horizon. Check the great clips, here.

Michelle Goodman Discusses Nightmare Clients!

2009-02-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

Michelle Goodman, author of My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire is going to be giving an online presentation with the Freelancer's Union on how to deal with a nightmare client!

Michelle will discuss how to:

• Sniff out a client’s reputation ahead of time
• Chase down missing checks
• Set better boundaries with clients who make excessive demands on your time
• Close up contract loopholes that could come back to haunt you later
• Decide whether a relationship with a client is salvageable
• Gracefully let a troublesome client go

Learn more about the presentation and register online here. Check out her book for more information on troubleshooting other freelance problems!

Join LInda Furiya as she reads from How to Cook a Dragon

2009-02-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

Linda Furiya, a San Francisco Chronicle food critic and author of the poignant coming of age memoir Bento Box in the Heartland, has just released her second book, How to Cook a Dragon: Living, Loving, and Eating in China. How to Cook a Dragon describes the difficult and rewarding six year period she spent living in Beijing and Shanghai. Furiya moved to China to start a life with her boyfriend Eric, but she never expected to fall in love with China through her amazing culinary experiences.

Linda Furiya will be reading at the following venues:

February 22nd, 2009 at 7:00pm
Book Passage Corte Madera
51 Tamal Vista Blvd
Corte Madera, CA 94925
(415) 927-0960

February 24th, 2009 at 7:00pm
A Great Good Place for Books
6120 La Salle Ave
Oakland, CA 94611
(510) 339-8210

February 25th, 2009 at 7:00pm
Get Lost Travel Books
1825 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
415-437-0529

Maria Raha, author of Hellions: Pop Culture's Rebel Women, wins the Emily Toth Award

2009-02-19T16:03:00.000-08:00

It's been announced today that Maria Raha, author of Hellions: Pop Culture's Rebel Women, has won the Popular Culture/American Culture Association's Emily Toth Award for the Best Single Work in Women's Studies in Popular and American Culture in 2008. Congratulations, Maria. The award will be presented at the PCA/ACA Conference in New Orleans in April.

Rachel Kramer Bussel gives advice on book gifts for Valentine's Day

2009-02-13T10:49:00.000-08:00

Watch this great video of Rachel Kramer Bussel's recommendations for Valentine's Day as she walks around San Francisco's Booksmith! She's the author of more than 22 erotic anthologies including Seal Press' Dirty Girls. Watch out for her mention of Fucking Daphne, an anthology about having sex with local legend Daphne Gottlieb!

Yes Means Yes receives a starred review from Publishers Weekly

2009-02-11T16:38:00.000-08:00

Seal Press is excited to share an amazing review from Publishers Weekly for Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape, edited by Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti.

In addition to the starred review below check out the Yes Means Yes blog.

Congratulations to the editors, contributors, and all involved, for this review. It's so well deserved.

*Yes Means Yes! : Visions of Female Sexual Power & A World Without Rape
Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti. Seal, $15.95 (256p) ISBN 9781580052573

Activists and writers Friedman and Valenti (He's a Stud, She's a Slut) deliver an extraordinary essay compilation focusing on the struggle to stop rape in the U.S. and the importance of sexual identity and ownership. Early on, Thomas MacAulay Millar and Rachel Kramer Bussel explain how the “no means no” concept (sexual consent equals the absence of no) must be rejected in favor of a “yes means yes” mentality: the idea that consent means affirmative participation in the act itself, a broader definition that better protects women while encouraging power over—not fear of—personal sexual identity. Other topics include body image and self-esteem issues as well as incest, the dangers faced by female immigrants and the public perception of rape; in “Trial by Media,” Samhita Mukhopadhyay looks at the Duke Lacrosse rape case and finds the media acting in the tradition of slavery by commodifying the young, female African-American body. Though surprisingly entertaining throughout, with no shortage of wit or humor, unexpected topics (Friedman on enjoying sex, transsexual writer Julia Serano on the mixed cultural messages that lead “nice guys” to sexual aggression) keep the book dynamic. Sure to empower and inform, this is an important and inspiring read for assault survivors, educators, activists, experts and those on a path to self discovery. (Jan.)

Campus Progress.org spends Five Minutes With: Jessica Valenti

2009-02-05T15:38:00.000-08:00

On February 3rd, Sarah Karlin of Campus Progress, interviewed Jessica Valenti, founding editor of Feministing.com and the author of the upcoming Purity Myth (due out April 2009) In this interview Jessica talks about her new book, her motivation, and how feminism shapes her daily life. Check out the interview here.

Yes Means Yes Blog Tour!

2009-02-02T09:48:00.001-08:00

The editors and contributors of Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape (Seal Press / January 2009) will be participating in a blog tour starting today. Join Jessica Valenti, Jaclyn Friedman, Cara Kulwicki, Samhita Mukhopadhyay, and Miriam Perez for a 3PM livechat on Feministing to kick things off.

Below is a listing of the tour as it progresses:

Feministing - 2/2
Kickoff livechat with Jaclyn Friedman, Jessica Valenti, Miriam Perez, Samhita Mukhopadhyay & Cara Kulwicki

The F-Word - 2/3
Q&A with Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

RH Reality Check - 2/4
Live chat with Julia Serano & Latoya Peterson

Our Bodies Our Blog - 2/5
Q&A with Brad Perry & Lisa Jervis

Shakesville - 2/9
Live chat with Jaclyn Friedman

Scarleteen - 2/10
Heather Corinna on the notion that post-feminism, young women are expected to have a LOT easier time with the yesses, with their sexuality, but that that simply is often not so, in part because they have a whole new set of challenges to grapple with.

Angry Black Bitch - 2/11
Q&A with Tiloma Jayasinghe

Shapely Prose - 2/12
Q&A with Kimberly Springer

Bitch Ph.D. - 2/16
Guest blogging with Jaclyn Friedman & Jessica Valenti

Shameless - 2/17
Q&A with Jill Filipovic

IMPACT - 2/18
Q&A with Anastasia Higginbotham

Radical Doula - 2/19
Q&A with Hazel/Cedar Troost

Feministe - 2/20
Grand finale conversation: Rachel Kramer Bussel, Toni Amato, Javacia Harris, Kate Harding, Stacey May Fowles, Hanne Blank, Heather Corinna

students expelled for sexual orientation

2009-01-28T09:41:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's the word, from an article in today's SF Chronicle.

Two students who were presumed to be lesbians were expelled from California Lutheran High School for their presumed sexual orientation. They were interviewed by the school's directors, suspended based on their answers, and then expelled a month later.

According to Justice Betty Richli, "The whole purpose of sending one's child to a religious school is to ensure that he or she learns even secular subjects within a religious framework."

Way to go, Fourth District Court of Appeal in San Bernardino. If Proposition 8 got you riled up, then this story should send you through the roof. According to Justice Richli, secular education is anti-gay. As if we needed more evidence that religious organizations are in the Dark Ages where issues of civil rights are concerned.

For the past month I've been going to Glide Memorial Church, where gays and lesbians worship alongside their straight counterparts. For the past five years my dad has been the pastor of a GLBTQ church in Palm Springs. It seems odd that there should be so few places where gays and lesbians can worship freely---and out. It's past time for churches to embrace gays and lesbians as equals and get over the toxic rhetoric and belief systems that this ever-visible segment of the population is somehow less-than or damned to hell. The Catholic and Mormon churches already made a huge mess in California, funneling money and energy that could have been so much better used into a campaign that strips loving partners from basic civil rights. Now this Lutheran high school is stepping up to condemn its gay students. As if navigating your sexuality in high school isn't hard enough.

When is it going to stop?

---Brooke

36th Anniversary of Roe V. Wade

2009-01-22T13:03:00.000-08:00

Today is the 36th Anniversary of Roe V. Wade and I felt it was fitting to post some of the news that I've heard regarding this event, as well as discuss a book that encompasses it all: Abortion Under Attack: Women on the Challenges Facing Choice, edited by Krista Jacob.

"Our Bodies, Ourselves" has a really nice round up of all the political news surrounding this anniversary and I urge you to take a look. There is a lot going on, including the possibility of President Obama reversing many of the anti-abortion policies that were enacted by George W. Bush, the annual March for Life on the National Mall, and a Weeklong Blog-a-Thon. "Bloggers at Amplify, a youth-led online community are commemorating Roe’s anniversary by posting stories about what the right to a legal and safe abortion means to them and to women around the world and by sharing ideas for how we can preserve our right to choose. The blog-a-thon continues through Jan. 27." Go to Our Bodies, Ourselves for all the links.

Today is great day to talk about a book that Seal Press published in 2006. Abortion Under Attack addresses a spectrum of personal and social influences, ranging from dealing with remorse to the impact that economics, race, and culture have on a woman's choice to have an abortion. Krista Jacob, a longtime advocate for reproductive rights and former abortion counselor, compiled an impressive collection of writings by a diverse group of pro-choice activists who go beyond the same old analysis of reproductive rights to document and deconstruct the issues currently facing the pro-choice movement. This book is perfect to read at a time like this.

Today is a day to educate ourselves and each other. It's a day to remember what this anniversary means.

Happy Anniversary Roe V Wade,

Eva

Oh happy day!

2009-01-20T10:23:00.001-08:00

It's hard not to be in a good mood this morning following the awesome and monumental swearing in of President Barack Obama. We made it! It's been a long, downward-spiraling eight years of Bush, and so I had to smile yesterday when I saw this in downtown SF:

So as to leave on a positive rather than a kicking-Bush-to-the-curb note (as gleeful as I feel), can I just say I wish I could have been in DC this morning. Two million people. Yes we can!

Adios Bush! Bienvenido Obama, y gracias a Dios!!

---Brooke