Bent on Writing: Contemporary Queer Tales

by Elizabeth Ruth (editor)

Elizabeth Ruth has gathered the work of fifty-five of the talented writers who have performed at the reading series Clit Lit, entering its fifth successful year in 2002. At Clit Lit, writers find inspiration and motivation from each other and are able to showcase their talent in various forms -- prose, poetry, spoken work, playwriting, creative non-fiction, storytelling and drag. Bent on Writing offers readers a permanent and lasting record of that work and a "how to" guide for establishing their own community-based literary events. This book is more than an it is a gathering of three-dimensional talent for the two-dimensional page.

Genres: Queer, Lesbian, Fiction

309 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2002

About the author

Elizabeth Ruth is a writer, creative writing instructor and mother living in Toronto, Canada. Her first novel, Ten Good Seconds of Silence was a finalist for the Writers' Trust of Canada Fiction Prize, the Amazon.ca Best First Novel Award and the City of Toronto Book Award. Her critically acclaimed second novel, Smoke, was chosen for the One Book One Community program and named as a top-ten book of the year by NOW magazine. Elizabeth's third novel - Matadora, featuring a female bullfighter in 1930's Spain and Mexico -was published in April, 2013. Matadora is a novel about ambition, passion, politics, and art. NOW Magazine picked Matadora as #3 on their 2013 Must Read Books list. The National Post gave Matadora a stellar review: http://arts.nationalpost.com/2013/04/...

In 2013, Elizabeth will also publish a Good Reads Books novella for adults with low literacy. Love You To Death is a Psychological thriller.

In 2003 Elizabeth edited an anthology entitled: Bent On Writing, contemporary queer tales.

Elizabeth is well known for her mentorship of aspiring writers. She teaches at the University of Toronto, and within the Humber School for Writers Correspondence Program.

Recently Elizabeth held the position of Writer-In-Residence at the Toronto Public Library. She has also recently delivered workshops and offered manuscript evaluations to writers in northern Ontario. Together with parenting writer Ann Douglas, Elizabeth Ruth delivered professional development workshops to writers across Canada.

Elizabeth Ruth is the current chair of the author's advisory committee of the Writers' Trust of Canada.
She holds a BA in English Literature and an MA in Counselling Psychology, both from the University of Toronto. She is also a graduate of the Humber School of Writers.

Reviews

[Three O'Clock Press]

Elizabeth Ruth has gathered the work of 55 of the talented writers who have performed at the reading series "Clit Lit," now entering its fifth successful year. Clit Lit is the only monthly queer literary series in Canada. With conviction, Ruth says, "Good writing breeds good writing. " Working from this premise, she founded and developed a community-based artistic space where established and emerging writers could meet and learn from each other. Each contributor in this collection is interested in bending or queering the canon in exciting ways that challenge some of our most basic preconceptions about writing, life and love. At Clit Lit writers find inspiration and motivation from each other and are able to showcase their talent in various forms - prose, poetry, spoken word, playwriting, creative non-fiction, storytelling and drag. Bent on Writing offers readers a permanent and lasting record of that work and a how-to guide for establishing their own community-based literary events. This book is more than an anthology; it is a gathering of three-dimensional talent for the two-dimensional page.