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Queer and How We Got Here
The following description was submitted by the event organizer.
Join an evening with Hazel Newlevant in conversation with Shay Mirk about Hazel’s new book: Queer and How We Got Here: A (Personal) History. After the speaking portion of the evening, there will be an opportunity for Q&A as well as a book signing and photo opportunity.
More than a historical narrative, this story of queer identity interweaves the author’s personal history, showing queerness as both a community endeavor and a deeply personal journey. When Hazel was twelve years old, they came out as bisexual to their parents. At the time, they couldn’t have imagined who they are today: a nonbinary, transmasculine person in a loving queer relationship. In seeking to understand their own history, Hazel takes readers on a parallel journey through queer history — from the origins of Western concepts of sexual orientation to the synthesis of hormones to the evolution of trans health care. They unpack the economic underpinnings of gender roles. They dive into the origins behind our concept of “coming out,” the history of “female husbands,” neopronouns, and the emergence of drag kings. As Hazel grows and changes, so does their understanding of those who came before them, and the interweaving of both narratives gives the reader a powerful entryway into not just Hazel’s journey of self-actualization but the queer community at large.
Hazel Newlevant (they/them) is a Portland-raised, Brooklyn-based cartoonist. Their other comics include the graphic novellas If This Be Sin and Sugar Town, and the graphic novel No Ivy League. They also served as editor of the comics anthologies Chainmail Bikini, Comics for Choice, Puerto Rico Strong, and Becoming Who We Are: Real Stories About Growing Up Trans. Hazel’s work as a cartoonist and editor has been honored with the Ignatz Award, the Eisner Award, and the GLAAD Media Award
Shay Mirk (she/they) is a graphic journalist, editor, and teacher. She is the author of Guantanamo Voices (Abrams ComicArts, 2020), which received a starred Kirkus review and was named a Best Book of 2020 by the New York Times. They were a contributing editor at the graphic journalism website the Nib, where they wrote and edited nonfiction comics, including Be Gay Do Comics, which won the 2020 Ignatz for Best Anthology. They also cowrote the investigative comics series In/Vulnerable, illustrated by Thi Bui, which won an RFK Human Rights Journalism Award in 2021. She resides in Portland, Oregon.