Roz Kaveney (original) (raw)

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British writer, critic, and poet (born 1949)

Roz Kaveney
Kaveney in 2007Kaveney in 2007
Born (1949-07-09) 9 July 1949 (age 75)
Occupation Writer and editor
Nationality British
Website
glamourousrags.dymphna.net

Roz Kaveney (born 9 July 1949) is a British writer, critic, and poet, best known for her critical works about pop culture and for being a core member of the Midnight Rose collective.[1][2] Kaveney's works include fiction and non-fiction, poetry, reviewing, and editing.[3] Kaveney is also a civil liberties and transgender rights activist.[4] She has contributed to several newspapers such as The Independent[5] and The Guardian.[6] She is also a founding member of Feminists Against Censorship and a former deputy chair of Liberty.[7][8] She was an editor of the transgender-related magazine META.[9]

Early life and transition

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Kaveney attended Pembroke College, Oxford, where she participated in a poetry group that had a particular interest in Martian poetry and shared a flat with Christopher Reid.[10] Kaveney is a transgender woman, who began transition in her last year at Oxford.[11]

In the early 1970s, Kaveney was part of the Gay Liberation Front's Transvestite, Transsexual and Drag Queen Group.[12] Along with several other individuals, including Rachel Pollack, she contributed to the 1972 essay "Don't call me mister, you fucking beast", which has been described as Britain's "first trans manifesto".[13][14] This was published alongside other works in the second women's issue of Come Together, the newspaper of the Gay Liberation Front.[15]

After being "persuaded to desist by feminist friends", Kaveney delayed her transition for several years. She eventually transitioned around 1978.[11]

Since the late 1970s Kaveney has been a prolific cultural critic.[16] She has written reviews and essays for numerous publications, including science fiction and fantasy periodicals such as Vector and Foundation,[16] and The Times Literary Supplement.[17] Kaveney is also known for editing books which contain a range of essays about popular films and television shows, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Battlestar Galactica.[18][19]

Kaveney's first novel, Tiny Pieces of Skull, was published in 2015 by Team Angelica Press, 27 years after she originally wrote it in the 1980s.[11] The story follows trans protagonist Annabelle Jones, who travels from London to the United States in 1978 to join a friend, only to find herself isolated in Chicago.[20] An early draft was read by Neil Gaiman, who wrote in 2016 that he "was saddened and horrified that publishers wouldn’t publish it".[21]

In a review for The Times Literary Supplement, Lucy Popescu describes Tiny Pieces of Skull as a work which "deserves to be recognised as a seminal fictional work on transgender identity and transphobia ... hilarious and chilling".[22] It won the 2016 Best Trans Fiction Lambda Literary Award.[23]

From 1982-1984 Kaveney was an editor for the British fantasy and science fiction magazine Interzone.[16] She later edited the short story collections Tales From the Forbidden Planet (1987) and More Tales From the Forbidden Planet (1990), which featured contributions from authors including Iain Banks, Gwyneth Jones, Michael Moorcock, Larry Niven, Rachel Pollack, and Terry Pratchett.[24][25]

As part of the Midnight Rose collective, Kaveney wrote various short stories for the group's series of shared world anthologies through the 1990s, and (with Mary Gentle) co-edited The Weerde Book 1 and Book 2, plus Villains!.[16]

In 2012 Rituals was published, the first of five novels in Kaveney's fantasy series Rhapsody of Blood. It was short-listed for the Crawford Award, and made the Honor Roll for the Tiptree Award.[26][27]

Kaveney gave up poetry in her twenties, not resuming until reaching 50.[11] Kaveney's poetry was originally written in a rhythmic free verse, although her work later shifted into formalism.[11][28] Kaveney cites a number of bereavements as the trigger for returning to poetry. Speaking to PinkNews, she said: "When my friend Mike Ford died, suddenly and tragically, I organised a memorial meeting for him and wrote a poem for it completely out of the blue.”[11]

In 2012, Kaveney's first two poetry collections were published by A Midsummer Night's Press. What If What's Imagined Were All True is a book of poems with science fiction, fantasy, and mythological themes.[29] Dialectic of the Flesh collects Kaveney's poetry about queerness, trans experience, and the body, and was shortlisted for the Lambda Award.[30]

In 2018 Sad Press published Catallus, Kaveney's translation and reimagination of the Latin works of Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus. Reviewing Catallus for Tears in the Fence, Antony John praises Kaveney's "very rude translations" of Catullus' "very rude poems".[31] In the Bryn Mawr Classical Review, Tori Lee argues that Kaveney "upends traditional understanding of what Catullus—in all his aggression, obscenity, and sexuality—represents", and describes the collection as a "light, readable, enormously fun Catullus that will delight classicists and non-classicists alike".[28]

Appearing on television discussion programme After Dark in 1988

In 1988, Kaveney made an extended appearance on the television discussion After Dark with among others Andrea Dworkin and Anthony Burgess.[32] Kaveney wrote later:

I met Burgess when I did an After Dark with him and Andrea Dworkin, and it remains worth saying that he was so dreadful that Dworkin and I formed an alliance against him.[33]

In 2021 Kaveney appeared in the documentary Rebel Dykes, which explores the history of a radical lesbian subculture in 1980s London, England.[34]

Creative influences

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Kaveney has cited Marilyn Hacker, Thomas M. Disch, and Samuel R. Delany among her literary influences.[35]

Other published work

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  1. ^ "SURVEYOR OF THE SUPERHEROES: KAVENEY TALKS NEW BOOK". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  2. ^ Taylor, Laurie. "Superheroes - Ribbon Culture". BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  3. ^ Jackson, Stevi (1998). Contemporary Feminist Theories. Edinburgh University Press. p. 120. ISBN 0748606890.
  4. ^ "META magazine: the sex issue". Gay Times. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  5. ^ "Roz Kaveney". The Independent. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  6. ^ "Roz Kaveney | The Guardian". the Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  7. ^ "40 Years of Women: Roz Kaveney". www.pmb.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  8. ^ Welsh, Kaite (31 December 2015). "Meet the amazing LGBT women who defined 2015". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  9. ^ "London: One week until UK's second dyke march". PinkNews. 14 June 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
  10. ^ "Roz Kaveney on the Potent Sexuality and Humor of an Ancient Roman Poet". Lambda Literary. 28 October 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  11. ^ a b c d e f "Prolific trans writer Roz Kaveney: 'Pain gave me a dark sense of humour'". PinkNews. 2 October 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  12. ^ Giles, Harry Josephine (28 September 2020). "F-Words: The Many Languages of Transfeminism". Engender. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  13. ^ Grimwade, Charlotte (12 April 2023). "In remembrance of the brilliant Rachel Pollack". Diva. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  14. ^ Nicolas, Rees (10 October 2021). "Mario Mieli in the GLF: poofs, parties, picket lines, and propaganda of the deed". night offices. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  15. ^ "lesbians come together" (PDF). Come Together (11). January 1972 – via Bishopsgate Archive.
  16. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s "Summary Bibliography: Roz Kaveney". The Internet Speculative Fiction Database. 27 February 2024.
  17. ^ "Roz Kaveney". Times Literary Supplement. Retrieved 17 February 2024.
  18. ^ Beard, David (2003). "Book Review of "Reading the Vampire Slayer: An Unofficial Critical Companion to Buffy and Angel," edited by Roz Kaveney". Popular Communication. 1 (3): 189–191. doi:10.1207/S15405710PC0103_5. S2CID 144953243.
  19. ^ Cheney, Matthew (February 2012). "Sacred Space: The Quest for Transcendence in Science Fiction Film and Television by Douglas E. Cowan, 2001: A Space Odyssey by Peter Krämer, Battlestar Galactica: Investigating Flesh, Spirit and Steel edited by Roz Kaveney & Jennifer Stoy, A Review by Matthew Cheney" (PDF). Scope: An Online Journal of Film and Television Studies (22).
  20. ^ Seggel, Heather (16 April 2015). "'Tiny Pieces of Skull' by Roz Kaveney". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  21. ^ Gaiman, Neil (9 June 2016). "British trans lesbian wins prestigious literary award". Neil Gaiman. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  22. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.{{[cite web](/wiki/Template:Cite%5Fweb "Template:Cite web")}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. ^ Team, Edit (7 June 2016). "28th Annual Lammy Award Winners Announced".
  24. ^ "Tales From the Forbidden Planet". Goodreads. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  25. ^ "More Tales From the Forbidden Planet". Goodreads. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  26. ^ "William L. Crawford - IAFA Fantasy Award 2013". Science Fiction Awards Database. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  27. ^ "James Tiptree Jr Memorial Award 2013". Science Fiction Awards Database. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  28. ^ a b Lee, Tori (2019). "Catullus. The Poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus: Some English Versions". Bryn Mawr Classical Review.
  29. ^ Scholes, Sandra (2013). "What If What's Imagined Were All True, Roz Kaveney, A Midsummer Night's Press, 60 pages". SF Site. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  30. ^ Lor, Prathna (22 May 2013). "'Dialectic of the Flesh' by Roz Kaveney". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  31. ^ John, Antony (30 June 2019). "Catullus translated by Roz Kaveney (Sad Press)". Tears in the Fence. Retrieved 24 February 2024.
  32. ^ Andrea Dworkin and Anthony Burgess | After Dark | Late-night live talk show | 1988, 9 November 2020, retrieved 8 November 2021
  33. ^ By popular demand..., Roz Kaveney, 3 November 2005, accessed 29 December 2021
  34. ^ "Rebel Dykes (2021) Review – BFI Flare | The Film Magazine". 22 March 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  35. ^ EDITOR (11 February 2021). "Roz Kaveney: "LGBTQI voices are important and culture loses so much if we are suppressed"". DIVA. Retrieved 9 November 2021.
  36. ^ Guiley, Rosemary (2004). The Encyclopedia of Vampires, Werewolves and Other Monsters. Checkmark Books. pp. 7. ISBN 0816046859.
  37. ^ Booklist Review: Reading the Vampire Slayer. Booklist. Retrieved 19 October 2012.
  38. ^ GRAVETT, PAUL (13 June 2008). "Kirby: king of comics, by Mark Evanier; Superheroes!, by Roz Kaveney". The Independent. London. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  39. ^ Keen, Tony. "Superheroes! by Roz Kaveney". Strange Horizons. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 19 October 2012.