Allyson Shaw's Blog, page 4

Riotgrrl Zine & Video Collab in the Brooklyn Museum

Myself and Laura Splan in the trailer park where we lived while making Beehive.
Film still from the video poem “Truss” included in Copy Machine Manifestos at the Brookly Museum.

Working in collaboration with artist Laura Splan in the mid-90s, I created a zine called Beehive. Issues of the zine will be included in the exhibition Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines at the Brooklyn Museum, opening this month. There will also be a short video poem called “Truss,” included in the show which I created, born out of this collaboration.

Copy Machine Manifestos: Artists Who Make Zines is the first exhibition dedicated to the rich history of five decades of artists’ zines produced in North America. Since the 1970s, zines—short for “fanzines,” magazines, or self-published booklets of texts and images, usually made with a copy machine—have given a voice and visibility to many operating outside of mainstream culture. Artists have harnessed the medium’s essential role in communication and community building and used it to transform material and conceptual approaches to art making across all media. This canon-expanding exhibition documents zines’ relationship to various subcultures and avant-garde practices, from punk and street culture to conceptual, queer, and feminist art. It also examines zines’ intersections with other mediums, including collage, craft, film, drawing, painting, performance, photography, sculpture, and video. Featuring nearly one thousand zines and artworks by nearly one hundred artists, Copy Machine Manifestos demonstrates the importance of zines to artistic production and its reception across North America.

[above text from the Brooklyn Museum]

I have my own reflections about the zine from my perspective as a disabled, queer, working class woman working outside of mainstream culture looking back on this work.

You can read it at my Substack here.

The exhibition is accompanied by the first comprehensive publication to explore artists’ zines, co-published with Phaidon Press.

Beehive is included with with Niagra’s Destroy All Monsters & Kathleen Hanna’s Bikini Kill zine in Hyperallergic in a piece by Maya Pontone.

A Deep Dive Into the Underground World of Zines

My early zine work led circuitously to the ‘gathering of texts’ in the writing of Ashes and Stones. I have my own reflections about the zine from my perspective as a disabled, queer, working class woman working outside of mainstream culture, looking back on this work. You can read it at my Substack here.

IT’S WORLD MENOPAUSE DAY, Again

“My own ordeal was my link to those accused of witchcraft in the 17th century. Writing about women’s tribulations in a culture that deliberately disbelieves women’s pain gave meaning to the meaningless anguish I faced daily in my own life as well as the women’s lives I researched.”

–World Menopause Day: a witch chimes in

Last year I wrote about my struggles accessing HRT and my disabling perimenopausal symptoms I experienced while writing Ashes and Stones. I revisit this up at my Substack. We should talk about the menopause to everyone who will listen and even those who won’t–I’ve thrown the discussion wide open in a sister thread at my Substack.

Lapham’s Quarterly Round Table

An excerpt from Ashes and Stones appears this week in the Lapham’s Quarterly .

Ashes and stones on Herstory on the rocks

Listen to me talk about Ashes and Stones with Katie and Allie of Herstory on the Rocks. I love that Ashes & Stones actually has a cocktail now! I’m a huge fan of Katie & Allie’s podcast—every week they talk about different women in history, and their take is always surprising and engaging, excited to  be in conversation with them. Give it a listen! 

[Image: black graphic image with a hot pink cocktail glass. A women’s symbol is the garnish. It says the title of the podcast HERstory On The Rocks in hot-pink and white letters]

Unboxing the North American edition of Ashes and Stones

The North American Edition of Ashes and Stones arrived today—published by Pegasus Books in the US on October 3rd. The stone on the cover is the Nicnevin stone in the village of Monzie. Named after the legendary woman burnt as a witch named Kate Nicnevin who also shares a name with Nicnevin, the mythic Scottish witch-goddess and the leader of the wild hunt in lore. According to Sir Walter Scott, she is the “Scottish Hecate.” The most notable fragments of her come to us from 17th century ‘flyting’ poems—word fights where she is mentioned satirically. Yet, in Monzie, magical women, holy wells, cliffs and neolithic menhirs are named after her. I write about this stone and mythic Nicnevin at length in a chapter in Ashes and Stones. It’s so exciting to see the wee stone on the spine of the book!

 [IMAGE DESCRIPTION]: Hand holding a hardback book entitled Ashes and Stones. The book has a standing stone in a moor on it and the grey sky is full of ravens. The hand holds the book over a moor of blooming heather and the horizon on the book lines up with the horizon on the photo.]

Pre-oder the North American edition here.

Ashes & Stones is Waterstone’s Scottish Book of the Month

Today, the day after the Blue Super Moon, Waterstones announced that Ashes and Stones is the Scottish Book of the Month for September, 2023. Is this not magic? I’m over the (blue, super) moon about this news. Grateful to have the support of Waterstones which will display the book prominently in all Scottish locations, and there will be promotions as well. It will help get the book to a whole new readership!

Ashes and stones at the Edinburgh international book festival

Allyson Shaw discussing Ashes and Stones at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, 2024 Alice Tarbuck,, Mairi Kidd, and Allyson Shaw at the Edinburgh International Book Festival 2023 Signing paperback copies of Ashes and Stones in the signing tent with Emma from Waterstones, Oban.

I was honoured to be a presenter at the 40th anniversary Edinburgh International Book Festival speaking about my debut book of creative nonfiction, Ashes and Stones. It was wonderful to be a part of an accessible, inclusive event. Pre-release paperback copies of the book were available in the signing tent–exciting to get an early peek!

Appearing at the Edinburgh international book festival

I’ll be speaking at the 40th Anniversary Edinburgh International Book Festival. 

I’m on a panel with Mairi Kidd, moderated by Alice Tarbuck. 

Wed 16 Aug 13:45 – 14:45  Spark Theatre

Tickets go on sale today, 29th June. You can buy them here.

#EdBookFest23

Lecturing at the Witches’ School of Wonder

I’m excited to be a speaker at the Witches School of Wonder at the Witches Revival Weekend at The Storey meeting house in Lancaster. This event is a memorial for the Pendle Witches, but also incorporates other memorial projects and ideas. I’ll be presenting my research and writing about the witches monuments of Scotland–the work that went into writing Ashes and Stones. This is an immersive weekend of talks, workshops and performances focusing on remembrance and empowerment.

I’m BetwixT the Sheets with Kate Lister!

I’m a fan of Dr. Kate Lister–@whoresofyore on Twitter, so I’m chuffed to be on a recent episode of her podcast, Betwixt the Sheets, talking about the Scottish witch hunts. You can listen here.

My book, Ashes and Stones is available in the UK. Find formats and places to purchase here.

Ashes and Stones will be published in North America by Pegasus Books on October 3, 2023. Pre-order here.