Sabrina Chapadjiev
We are all pleased to announce that we will be working with Sabrina Chapadjiev, editor of Live Through This on Seven Stories Press. She will be doing events throughout the U.S. this winter/spring, so please get in touch with Matt if you are interested in bringing her to your town!
In a collection of original stories, essays, artwork, and photography, Nan Goldin, Eileen Myles, bell hooks, and other cutting-edge artists explore their use of art to survive madness, abuse, incest, depression, and the impulse toward self-destruction manifest in eating disorders, cutting, addiction, and contemplation of suicide. The book confronts the brutality many women and girls encounter in the world around them, and bravely takes as its subject the often misunderstood violence they at times inflict upon themselves.
The diverse array of contributors here—novelists, poets, cartoonists, dancers, photographers, playwrights, burlesque performers—traverse the pains and passions that can both motivate and destroy women artists and mark a path for survival. Together they show that creative women are not destined to the fate of lost visionaries such as Woolf, Sexton, Arbus, and Plath. Live Through This is a fearless exploration of women’s silent rage, the power that can come from internal struggle, and the possibility of transforming this burning force into fierce and enlightened work.
Sabrina Chapadjiev is a playwright, spoken word artist, and singer-songwriter originally from the suburbs of Chicago. Her plays Whatever Happened to Savannah, Perhaps Merely Quiet, The Insatiable Lite Duet, Security, and Bush have enjoyed productions in Chicago, Manhattan, Brooklyn, Paris, and Malmo, Sweden. She is a recipient of space grants awarded by the Curious Theatre Company in Chicago and Creative Mechanics in New York. Her spoken word career was birthed at Ladyfest Chicago, and she has since performed in Ladyfests in Amsterdam, Paris, New York, Austin, Bay Area and Berlin. In 2002, she toured five European countries performing her spoken word and songs, and ended the tour by competing as a storm poet in the National Poetry Slam. Her songwriting career in Chicago included performing in several independent cafes, hosting a series for songwriters, running a songwriting workshop, and performing in festivals such as Chicks that Kick and Sissy Butch Brothers Burlesque . Her songs are featured on The Burkhart Underground Live cd and The Chicago Arts Program. Her zine Cliterature is a series of interviews with 18 renegade women writers and has been featured in the International Museum of Women's on-line exhibition. Her latest collection, 'Live Through This: On Creativity and Self-Destruction' has just come out on Seven Stories Press and was nominated for the Lambda Literary Awards. She recently finished recording her debut album, "Oompa!" and is scheduling performance dates throughout the States for 2009-2010.
What People Are Saying
“A stunning book. I found myself dreaming conversations with some of the writers—engaging in the conversation they begin here.” —Dorothy Allison
“This intimate book gives you all the tools for self-emergence.” —Janeane Garofalo
