JAZZ featured in today's N.B. Film Co-op newsletter
And...I am the N.B. Film Co-op's Artist of the Week!
Award winning Canadian author, theatre artist, arts educator and rabble rouser shares rants, raves, stories, poetry and anything else that strikes her fancy.
Friday 9 January 2015
Thursday 8 January 2015
Wednesday 7 January 2015
Changing Course at Mid-Life / A View So Far
Jung said something to the effect that we should not do in the afternoon of our lives what we did in the morning. For artists, this can often mean a change in focus, allowing the muse to express in another form. Thus a songwriter takes up painting. A filmaker decides to learn to play guitar. A theatre artist becomes a writer.
After thirty years in the professional theatre working as an actor, singer, dancer, director and producer, I felt the call to shift my primary focus to writing back in 2008. A few years later, Glenn and I pulled up stakes and moved east - looking for a simpler life, one that would allow us time to practice our art.
New creative forms can take a while to gestate, and for me, this meant three years of writing for the sake of writing alone. And then...a poem published here, a short story there, a monologue professionally produced, and in 2014, a rush of energy. A portion of my book, Traeh Gnul - Miranda's Journey from the Great Forest won the Writer's Federation of New Brunswick Young Adult Fiction Prize. And my first full length work of fiction, JAZZ, won the Ken Klonsky Novella Contest, and was published by Quattro Books / Toronto in Nov. 2014.
JAZZ is an important story. We have to look no further than the recent suicide of trans teen Leelah Alcorn to know why.
About the book, JAZZ:
There is a shadow of a boy walking within me. His spirit is lightning fire. He will not be shackled. At birth, I was labelled a girl. My name is Jazz. Like the music, I am nature’s improvisation.
When he is forced to leave his suburban home at age seventeen, Jazz - a transgender F2M - moves into the heart of Toronto's LGBTQ community in hopes of finding the help he needs to begin his transition. A true hero's journey, this narrative features a cast of colourful characters, including Martine, a dope-smoking drag queen; Kimmie, a hairdresser with a heart of gold; Sister Mary Francis, a sharp-talking ex-nun, and his counselor; Kendall, who must face his own demons in order to support Jazz in his journey. With comedy and pathos, Jazz wrestles with the realities of the courage it takes to be transgendered in today's society.
Review by Toronto filmaker and playwright, Sugith Varughese:
A heartfelt and authentic depiction of a transgendered boy's difficult break from his unaccepting family and discovery of a new family on the streets of downtown Toronto. Copeland writes authentically and movingly with a style that's engaging and terrifically dramatic. Gripping and very real.
If you are interested in buying the book, or have read it and want to offer a review:
This year has been a time of searing loss and soaring success. Interesting how things work like that, huh? All in all I am grateful for the gifts that continue to bless my life - good health, loving relationships and the stories and characters that fill my writing hours with exquisite delight.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)