SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: NEEDLEWORK
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://juliawatts.wordpress.com/
CITY: Knoxville
STATE:
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY: American
LAST VOLUME: SATA 103
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born November 18, 1969, in Corbin, KY; daughter of Rayford (a professor of English) and June (a sculptor and artist; maiden name, Queener) Watts; children: one son.
EDUCATION:University of Tennessee, B.A., 1992; University of Louisville, M.A., 1994; Spalding University, M.F.A., 2005.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Educator and writer. Knoxville College, Knoxville, TN, instructor, 1994-97; South College (formerly Knoxville Business College), Knoxville, became English professor, 1997–. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, creative-writing workshop leader, 2006-12; Murray State University, Murray, KY, low-residency MFA program mentor, 2010–.
AVOCATIONS:Movies, reading, cooking.
AWARDS:Grants from Kentucky Foundation for Women, 1995, 1997; Lambda Literary Award for Children’s/Young Adult, 2002, for Finding H.F.; Golden Crown Literary Award, 2013, for Secret City; VOYA Perfect Ten Award, 2018, for Quiver.
RELIGION: Unitarian Universalist.WRITINGS
Contributor to compilations, including Once upon a Dyke: New Exploits of Fairy Tale Lesbians, Bella Books, 2004; Bell, Book and Dyke: New Exploits of Magical Lesbians, Bella Books, 2005; Stake through the Heart: New Exploits of Twilight Lesbians, Bella Books, 2006; and Tall in the Saddle: New Exploits of Western Lesbians, Bella after Dark, 2007.
SIDELIGHTS
[open new]Hailing from the heart of Appalachia, Julia Watts is a writer and professor whose success as a young-adult novelist emerged from her foundations as an author of feminist-minded fiction for adults. She was born in a small town in Kentucky. Speaking about her youth with Eleanor J. Bader of Fiction Writers Review, Watts shared: “Growing up in Corbin, Kentucky, I always felt different. It took me a while to figure out the queer thing, but I was always creative and my brain just seemed to work differently from my peers. Fortunately, I had great parents who were very supportive of me being me. Home was a refuge, even when I encountered difficulties.” As a youth, she attended a Southern Baptist church with her family. Speaking with Julie Danielson of Knox News, she recalled practices like “Bible drill” and Vacation Bible School and characterized the denomination as “fundamentalist.” During her teen years in the 1980s, both she and her parents, affiliates of the Democratic Party, grew apart from the church when the pulpit became a place for spouting political agendas and condemning homosexuality.
Watts got into the habit of writing early in childhood, such that she never needed to make a decision to “become” a writer. She mentioned to a Young Entertainment interviewer curious about her beginnings, “My parents have some really embarrassing notebooks filled with my crayon-illustrated handwritten stories starting from when I was eight.” Attending the University of Tennessee, she majored in English with a focus on literature, rather than creative writing, not yet certain she wanted her authorial voice to be influenced by the criticism or praise of peers. She went on to earn a master of arts in English from the University of Louisville in 1994, and she published her debut novel, Wildwood Flowers, two years later. Her second novel, Phases in the Moon, started to draw young-adult readership because of the focus on the protagonist’s teenage years, and she published her first young-adult novel, Finding H.F., in 2001.
At the Young Entertainment interviewer’s observation that she tends to prioritize the perspectives and voices of rainbow-alliance protagonists in her home region, Watts affirmed, “I grew up queer in rural Appalachia, so representing Appalachian LGBTQ+ people was and is important to me. Also, there are special struggles those of us who grew up in the Bible Belt have, and I want to make readers in that situation feel less alone.” [CE/Ben: I’m not sure if the rest of this paragraph should be included or not; either it’s “warning” SATA readers that the adult titles may be erotica, or it’s “clueing them in,” so I guess leave or cut as you see fit.] Watts’s career shift into young-adult territory has not been entirely without controversy: in 2019, her invitation to the Knox County Public Library’s LitUp festival was retracted after one of the organizers learned that she has written adult books that would be classified as erotica. Watts feared that the fact that those books are specifically lesbian erotica played an outsized factor in the decision. However, the library did invite Watts for a solo appearance, outside of the young-adult festival, at a later date.
Concerning the origins of her shifting gears to write young-adult fiction, [suspend new]Watts told SATA: “When I was writing Phases of the Moon, I was aware that the book could appeal to a younger audience. After all, the novel’s protagonist, Glenda Mooney, is under the age of eighteen for most of the novel’s duration. But since Phases was to be published by Naiad Press, a lesbian/feminist publishing company, I didn’t anticipate that the novel would necessarily reach younger readers. I am delighted to hear that younger readers have found the book and have found both meaning and entertainment in its pages.
“Glenda Mooney is my favorite fictional creation to date. Of course, I would be lying if I said I truly created her. Like Athena springing fully formed from the head of Zeus, Glenda sprang from my head as a fully developed character and proceeded to tell me her story. It is a story of growing up in poverty-stricken eastern Kentucky, with the knowledge that she is different from those around her, but still facing life with confidence, humor, and optimism. Like a dutiful copyist, I wrote down her story as she related it to me, and when the story was written and Glenda was gone from my head, I missed her the same way I would miss a close friend who moved away. I hope that Glenda comes alive for readers as much as she came alive for me.”
[resume new]Finding H.F. is a coming-of-age story about Heavenly Faith, or H.F., a sixteen-year-old being raised in Kentucky by her grandmother after being abandoned by her mother. With Memaw being religious, H.F. knows not what to do about her crush on Wendy, the daughter of a local professor. With support from friend Bo, an outcast effeminate boy, H.F. befriends Wendy, but the relationship is derailed all too soon. Upon finding out that Memaw has been in touch with her mother in Florida, H.F. heads there with Bo in search of some sort of reconciliation. In School Library Journal, Betty S. Evans appreciated some of Watts’s narrative touches, like H.F. and Bo encountering “some homeless gay teens who have their own concept of family,” but she feared that the story ultimately “wraps up too neatly” and summed Finding H.F. up as a “quick and mostly satisfying read.”
One of Watts’s adult titles with crossover appeal for young adults is Women’s Studies, which treats the experiences of three young women in college who have both a feminist professor’s literature course and the name Elizabeth in common. Elisa is planning on becoming an English teacher at the same high school as her girlfriend Jo, a phys ed teacher. Beth is a wealthy sorority girl whose surface successes mask unspoken challenges. Liz has a boyfriend, but her style and appearance often leave her mistaken for a lesbian—and the appearance of Audrey in her life sparks questions. Lambda Book Report reviewer Cecelia Martin appreciated how the narrative “digs deeply to explore how damaging it is for women to judge each other” and concluded that Watts “has done a wonderful job writing a thoughtful, deep, and emotional novel.”
Watt’s young-adult novel Quiver is set in rural Tennesse, where teenager Libby—short for Liberty—has grown up with five younger siblings in an insulated family of Quiverfull Christians, who adhere to strict gender roles and expectations of large families. Her worldview starts to open up when Zo’s family moves into the neighborhood. Zo is gender-fluid, and the family’s move was sparked by difficulty fitting in at Zo’s former high school. Libby and Zo form a fast and mutually enlightening friendship, but the conflicting views of their families bring about conflict and difficult choices.
School Library Journal reviewer Amy Diegelman characterized Quiver as “a slow story about families and the difference between love and obedience,” perfect for “thoughtful readers.” While lamenting that Watts declined to offer more clarity concerning Zo’s gender pronouns—with Libby using “she/her” by default—a Kirkus Reviews writer affirmed that Quiver “opens important conversations about faith, family, independence, and identity.” In Voice of Youth Advocates, Beth Green praised the novel as a “wonderful story of friendship between two young people who are seeking their place within a world that is constantly changing, sometimes not for the better.”
Needlework is Watts’s first novel told from a teenage boy’s point of view. Following a terrible car accident, Kody’s mother ended up addicted to opioids, and with his father incarcerated, he is being raised by his grandmother in Morgan, Kentucky. He and Nanny love quilting and watching The Golden Girls together, but Kody keeps secret his habit of dressing up in women’s clothes to perform Dolly Parton songs in his bedroom. Possibilities start to open up for Kody when he gets a message from a surprise half sister, fifteen-year-old Macey, who is half black, bisexual, and close enough to make a difference in his life.
In the Fiction Writers Review, Bader commented that Needlework is “a redemptive story, and while it steers clear of a sugar-coated happy ending, the story’s emotional resonance, deeply-drawn characters, and vivid depiction of place make it simultaneously uplifting and sad.” In School Library Journal, Catherine Cote called Needlework “engaging” and “uplifting,” as Watts “addresses timely topics like addiction, homophobia, and racism, but her gentle, heartwarming prose makes this book a comfort read.” A Kirkus Reviews writer declared that the “rural setting and community are richly drawn” and that Kody’s is a “tale with a whole lot of heart.”[close new]
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2018, review of Quiver; August 1, 2021, review of Needlework.
Lambda Book Report, May, 1999, Judith P. Stelboum, review of Wedding Bell Blues; winter, 2007, Cecelia Martin, review of Women’s Studies, p. 20.
School Library Journal, February, 2002, Betty S. Evans, review of Finding H.F., p. 138; September, 2018, Amy Diegelman, review of Quiver, p. 124; October, 2021, Catherine Cote, review of Needlework, p. 98.
Voice of Youth Advocates, October, 2018, Beth Green, review of Quiver, p. 72.
ONLINE
Fiction Writers Review, https://fictionwritersreview.com/ (October 4, 2021), Eleanor J. Bader, author interview.
Julia Watts website, https://juliawatts.wordpress.com (January 29, 2022).
Knox News, https://www.knoxnews.com/ (October 25, 2018), Julie Danielson, “Quiver, Julia Watts’ Novel for Teens, Finds Room for Friendship in Culture Wars.”
Knoxville Writers’ Guild website, https://knoxvillewritersguild.org/ (October 18, 2017), David Drews, “Intriguing Interview with Upcoming KWG Presenter and Novelist Julia Watts.”
Publishers Weekly Online, https://www.publishersweekly.com/ (September 5, 2019), Claire Kirch, “Author Julia Watts Disinvited from Teen Lit Festival.”
Three Rooms Press website, http://threeroomspress.com/ (May 28, 2021), Mary Rose Manspeaker, “Writing the Kind of Books You Don’t See on the Shelves: An Interview with Julia Watts.”
Young Entertainment, https://youngentertainmentmag.com/ (October 28, 2021), author interview.
All About Me
Well, maybe not “all about me”…how about we try for “some about me” instead? I’ve lived in Appalachia all my life and have written about Appalachia for over half of it. My fiction focuses on Appalachians who don’t fit the stereotypes and often who don’t fit in, period, because they’re LGBT, because they dream of life beyond the mountains, or (in the case of my middle-grade trilogy) because they have psychic powers. I write adult fiction, young adult fiction, and middle-grade fiction, all set in the Appalachian region. My young adult novel Finding H.F. won the 2002 Lambda Literary Award in the Children’s/Young Adult category, and my 2013 novel Secret City was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist and a Golden Crown Literary Award winner. My decidedly adult novel, The Kind of Girl I Am, about a notorious madam, also received a Lambda Literary Award nomination. My new young adult novel, Quiver, which looks at the culture wars through the perspective of two very different teens, will be released by Three Rooms Press in October 2018 and has already garnered a starred review in Foreword magazine and a Perfect Ten Award from VOYA.
DATE:OCTOBER 18, 2017POSTED BY:DAVID DREWSCATEGORY:COMMUNITY EVENT, EVENT, MONTHLY PROGRAMS, OPEN TO PUBLIC, THE WRITING LIFE
Novelist, Julia Watts, Addresses Knoxville Writers Guild on November 2 @ 7:00pm
I caught up with novelist Julia Watts the other day to get a sense of her notions on her upcoming KWG program (11/2/17). A really interesting exchange developed on good story beginnings, critiques, and guild programing:
DREWS: Can a good book have a bad or even average beginning?
WATTS: Absolutely! Some books are “slow starters.” The danger, though, is that some readers won’t have the patience to get past the weak opening. People have so many things competing for their attention these days that it’s easy for them to set down a book and pick up a device of some kind.
DREWS: Without giving away the special sauce you plan to share with KWG and its attendees on November 2nd, please briefly give us the arc of your development as a writer as it pertains to story beginnings–e.g. to what degree was this aspect of writing a struggle for you?
WATTS: Beginnings are always the hardest. I’m not a heavy outliner/planner, so writing is about discovery for me. I’m very early in the discovery process in the beginning, which can create problems. It’s so tempting to front load the first chapter with exposition, and this is the surest way to bore readers. Sure, they need some background information, but they don’t need it all at once. I also find that some of the background information I want to cram in that first chapter may be stuff that I need to know but not that readers need to know. I remember when I was starting my series of books for middle-grade readers, I read the first chapter of my first draft to my son. As I read through the exposition-heavy prose, I saw his eyes glaze over. It was one of the best critiques I’ve ever gotten!
DREWS: Same request with regards to your experiences with critiques.
WATTS: As an undergraduate English major, I chose a concentration in literature instead of a concentration in writing because I was terrified of sitting in a workshop. I think in retrospect that this was probably a good decision; I needed to work on my own voice before I had other people’s voices in my head. By the time I started grad school I was ready to listen. Listening with an open mind is the key to receiving critiques effectively; really pay attention to what your readers have to say. Later you can decide if you want to incorporate their suggestions or not. Regardless of whether or not you decide to use input from the critiques, you should always be appreciative of the fact that others have read your work carefully and really spent time thinking about it.
DREWS: Which is more difficult for you, making good use of positive or negative criticism? Why?
WATTS: Maybe positive criticism, actually. I love getting positive comments, of course, but there’s always a part of me that’s saying, “Aw, you’re just being nice.”
DREWS: You’ve published 12 novels. Do you still go to writer presentations such as the one you are doing on November 2nd? Why or Why not?
WATTS: Yes, absolutely! I just went to one last weekend, the James Agee Conference at Pellissippi State. I always love to hear about other writers’ process and their reading suggestions. As I’m sure you know at KWG, writers learn from other writers.
Join Julia and the Knoxville Writers’ Guild for our monthly meeting on Thursday, November 2, at 7 p.m. at Central United Methodist Church (201 3rd Ave.).
The Knoxville Writers’ Guild requests a $2 donation at the door. This helps defray our rent for meeting space and entitles you to drawings for door prizes (when we have them).
Julia Watts shares with YEM that her books often depict the lives of LGBTQ+ people in the Bible Belt to make readers in that situation feel less alone
yemagazine BlogBooksBooks - InterviewsInterview October 28, 2021 4:14am 284
Julia Watts is the author of Needlework. Needlework follows a 16 year old boy named Kody who prefers to spend his time quilting with his grandmother (“Nanny”), watching Golden Girls reruns, and listening to old Dolly Parton albums. The novel explores prominent themes of addiction, family, faith, and racism. YEM was able to speak with Julia about what sets the character of Kody apart from any other character she has written, something she hopes that readers can learn from Needlework, and what her writing process looks like.
Young Entertainment Mag: When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
Julia Watts: I’ve always written, so I don’t think I ever made a decision to “become” a writer! My parents have some really embarrassing notebooks filled with my crayon-illustrated handwritten stories starting from when I was eight.
YEM: What can you tell us about your book Needlework?
Julia: Needlework is about a teen boy growing up gay in rural Kentucky, living with his fundamentalist Christian grandmother and trying to help his mom, who struggles with opioid addiction. It’s about identity and family and hope.
YEM: What sets the character Kody apart from any other character you have written?
Julia: Well, Kody is my first time writing from a teen boy’s point of view, so that makes him special to me. Kody has a huge heart, and he’s innocent, but he’s insightful, too. He is also, to his credit, a huge Dolly Parton fan.
YEM: Your books often depict the lives of LGBTQ+ people in the Bible Belt, why did you choose to start writing about this topic?
Julia: I grew up queer in rural Appalachia, so representing Appalachian LGBTQ+ people was and is important to me. Also, there are special struggles those of us who grew up in the Bible Belt have, and I wanted to make readers in that situation feel less alone.
YEM: Is it your goal to write books that readers can relate to and that deal with real life issues, or is that just something that happens organically?
Julia: I think it happens organically. I’m a very character-driven author. But if those characters end up helping readers with real-life situations, I’m happy with that result!
YEM: What is something you hope that readers can learn from Needlework?
Julia: I think the novel is about acceptance but also about healing the pain and the prejudices of one’s personal and regional history.
YEM: What are some of your favorite books that you have read?
Julia: Too many to name in a Tweet! Right now I’m loving Colson Whitehead’s “Harlem Shuffle.” Recent YA faves are Malinda Lo’s “Last Night at the Telegraph Club” and Kelly Ann Jacobson’s “Tink and Wendy.”
YEM: What does your writing process look like?
Julia: I write out the entire first draft by hand. Then I revise as I type it into my laptop. There’s one more revision after that, and then I show the novel to a few trusted readers and revise again according to their feedback.
YEM: What is some advice you have for those who want to become writers one day?
Julia: Ernest J. Gaines answered this question better than any other writer I’ve ever heard. He said he had six words of advice: “Read read read. Write write write.” A writer who doesn’t read is like a chef who doesn’t eat.
YEM: What is the best part of the writing process for you?
Julia: I love it all. I really do, from the first burst of inspiration in the beginning to the fussing over tiny word choices near the end. Regardless of where I am in the process, I’m at my happiest when I’m writing.
YEM: What have you learned about yourself as a writer while writing Needlework?
Julia: As I said, Needlework was my first time writing from a teen male point of view. I learned that I can inhabit a male character just as fully as a female one. Of course, that being said, Kody’s not that butch. 🙂
YEM: How long does the writing process usually take you?
Julia: It depends on how much other stuff I’ve got going on in my life, but generally for a YA novel, I can go from concept to completion in around a year.
Julia Watts
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Julia Watts is an American fiction writer.
Contents
1 Career
2 Bibliography
2.1 Novels
2.2 Miranda Jasper Series (Young Adult)
2.3 Other writings
3 References
4 External links
Career
Julia Watts is the author of novels, short stories, etc.,[1] especially in the genres of young adult fiction and lesbian fiction/erotica. Her novels include Finding H.F. for which she won the 2001 Lambda Literary Award in the children/young adult category. She was nominated again for the 2005 award in the erotica category as one of the authors of the story collection Once Upon a Dyke: New Exploits of Fairy Tale Lesbians. Women's Studies was a finalist for a Golden Crown Literary Society award. Her young adult novel, Kindred Spirits, is for the emerging press Beanpole Books. Her 2018 novel, Quiver was awarded a Perfect Tens Award by VOYA and the Fall 2018 OKRA Pick by Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. In addition to her fiction work, Watts recently co-edited an anthology of essays, memoirs and stories on the sensitive topic of menstruation titled Women. Period..
Watts holds a masters in fine arts, which she obtained from Spalding University. Watts resides in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she teaches at South College.
Bibliography
Novels
Wildwood Flowers (1996)
Phases Of The Moon (1997)
Piece of my Heart (1998)
Wedding Bell Blues (1999)
Mixed Blessings
Finding H.F. (2001) -- Winner Lambda Literary Award
Women's Studies (novel)|Women's Studies (2006)
The Kind of Girl I Am (Novel) (2008)
Secret City (2013) -- Nominated Lambda Literary Award
Hypnotizing Chickens (2014)
Quiver (2018)
Needlework (2021)
Miranda Jasper Series (Young Adult)
Kindred Spirits (2008)
Free Spirits (2009)
Revived Spirits (2011)
Other writings
Once Upon a Dyke: New Exploits of Fairy Tale Lesbians (2004) Novella "Le Belle Rose"
Bell, Book and Dyke: New Exploits of Magical Lesbians (2005) Novella "Skyclad"
Stake through the Heart: New Exploits of Twilight Lesbians (2006) Novella "We Recruit"
Tall in the Saddle: New Exploits of Western Lesbians (2007) Novella "The Sweetheart and the Spitfire"
Women. Period. (editor with Parneshia Jones, Jo Ruby and Elizabeth Slade) (2008)
Author Julia Watts Disinvited from Teen Lit Festival
By Claire Kirch | Sep 05, 2019
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Julia Watts.
YA author Julia Watts has been removed from the slate of authors participating in LitUp, a teen literary festival sponsored by the Knox County (Tenn.) Public Library that was inspired by a teen book festival of the same name launched last year in the Kansas City area. Knoxville’s inaugural LitUp festival is scheduled to take place on October 13 with a full day of programming, including appearances by 10 YA authors, a mix of regional and national names.
Watts, a Knoxville resident, has written 10 books for YA readers that are set in the Appalachian region and feature LGBTQ characters. Her most recent novel, Quiver (Three Rooms, 2018), is the tale of two teens who become friends despite their vastly different backgrounds. Voya named Quiver one of the year’s best books for YA readers and gave it a Perfect Tens Award. The novel was named as one of the favorite 2018 “OKRA” reads by the Southern Independent Booksellers Association. Even Catholic Library World raved about Quiver, calling it a “contemporary gem” and enthusiastically recommending it for both high school and public libraries.
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According to Watts, a local indie bookseller who is involved in the LitUp festival’s planning asked her in July to be one of its featured authors. “My name and photo went up on the website,” she said. Last Friday, however, that same bookseller called Watts to tell her that she was no longer slated to appear, as, after Googling her name, a member of the organizing committee had expressed concerns that she has also written erotica.
“Some of my writings—not my work for YA readers—contain erotic content. Not just erotica, but lesbian erotica,” Watts said, disclosing that she had been informed that the organizing committee had decided to disinvite her from the festival because “kids might Google me and find out I’d written erotica, and that freaked [the committee] out. If they’d Googled me and found that I’d written Harlequin romances, I don’t think there would have been this same kind of pushback.”
In a statement, library communications director Mary Pom Claiborne said that the library had sought out diverse authors, including those who identify as LGBTQ, for its literary festival, and had thus invited Watts to participate.
“It later came to our attention that some of her work is described as erotica and is inappropriate for teens,” she said. “Based on that alone, the library decided to change course. We remain committed to presenting authors who represent different genres of teen literature for this event.”
In response to Claiborne’s statement, Watts said that the library is “trying hard to make sure that they aren’t being seen as homophobic. As if I would present work that was inappropriate for a teen audience. And there’s a lot worse that kids can Google than that an author has written lesbian erotica fiction for adult readers.”
Informed of Watts’ allegations, Claiborne told PW in a phone interview that the library “emphatically denies homophobia. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s based on the committee’s concerns regarding Watts’s full body of work. We regret the whole situation. We’re a public library: we value everyone’s voice.”
Asked if this had ever happened before to her, Watts said, “Not for a long time. To be invited and then disinvited—it brings up all sorts of middle school feelings. ‘You can come to our party. Uh no, you can’t come to our party.’ One thing I’ve learned from this: I shouldn’t take my freedom of expression for granted.”
Disclosing that the library had invited Watts to appear by herself at a future date to read from and discuss her work, Three Rooms co-director Kat Georges said, “This is segregation, pure and simple, by a public, taxpayer-supported institution. It’s unacceptable and discriminatory, and is a throwback to an intolerant time where ‘separate but equal’ was the unfortunate norm.”
Three Rooms co-director Peter Carlaftes, notes however, that there’s an upside to the situation: Watts will now be appearing at the Nashville Festival of the Book that same weekend—October 11 is National Coming Out Day—and the Kansas Library Association wants to book her as the keynote speaker at its 2020 annual conference.
OCTOBER 04, 2021
An Interview with Julia Watts
Julia Watts and Eleanor J. Bader sit down to talk about Watts's new novel, Needlework, Appalachian culture, queer visibility, and the changing South.
by ELEANOR J. BADER
When award-winning writer Julia Watts, now fifty-two, was growing up in southeastern Kentucky, she rarely read books with LGBTQ+ characters. In addition, small Appalachian towns like the one she lived in, were rarely, if ever, featured.
“Books always seemed to be set in cities outside the South,” she told me during our conversation earlier this summer. That’s why her latest novel, Needlework (Three Rooms Press), takes place in the fictional town of Morgan, Kentucky, an economically depressed, Christian-dominant, rural community.
The novel, geared to teens but relevant to adult readers, focuses on the Prewitt family and centers on Kody, a genderqueer, closeted, high school junior who lives with his hardworking grandmother. As the story unfolds, Kody learns that he is not the only family member harboring secrets. In fact, when he learns that he has a younger half-sister, a biracial child his opioid-addicted mother placed for adoption, his world, and that of the rest of his family, begins to fray.
This, however, is a redemptive story, and while it steers clear of a sugar-coated happy ending, the story’s emotional resonance, deeply-drawn characters, and vivid depiction of place make it simultaneously uplifting and sad.
Interview:
Eleanor J. Bader: Kody is an extremely sympathetic character, a teenager who knows he’s gay but fears that if he comes out, he’ll be ostracized and denounced. How much of this is grounded in your own experience?
Julia Watts: Growing up in Corbin, Kentucky, I always felt different. It took me a while to figure out the queer thing, but I was always creative and my brain just seemed to work differently from my peers. Fortunately, I had great parents who were very supportive of me being me. Home was a refuge, even when I encountered difficulties.
The church Kody and Nanny, his grandmother, go to is a rural, country church. These are different from downtown churches in terms of the level of fire and brimstone. I grew up going to a downtown Southern Baptist congregation but started to distance myself from it as a young teen. By the 1980s, when politics began to fuse with religion—remember the Moral Majority?—my parents, who were lifelong Democrats, also began to distance themselves from the church. Kody doesn’t have that distance. He and Nanny sit in the pews every Sunday and likely have to listen to the pastor condemn homosexuality and gay marriage every single week. Many people accept this as truth.
When Kody eventually comes out to his best friend, Lexi Jo—better known as LJ—she calls him an abomination. She is living and behaving as she thinks is right. Her intentions are not mean, but she would need to do some major changing—and she could—for them to become friends again after she disparages him.
At the same time, when Kody goes to see his guidance counselor about post high school plans, she is a quiet ally. She may not be ready to start a Gay Straight Alliance or Gender and Sexuality Alliance, but she takes Kody at face value. When he tells her he likes working with hair and make-up, she says, “okay,” and tells him about cosmetology schools that will get him out of Morgan, get him training and skills in something he’s interested in, and introduce him to people he might have something in common with.
Similarly, some public school teachers throughout Appalachia have installed little libraries in their classrooms to give kids access to a more diverse set of books than might be available in the public or school library. This is true not just for LGBTQ+-themed books, but for texts addressing race and critical race theory.
The town of Morgan is fictional and features in some of your other work. In some ways, it seems like a place untouched by the contemporary Civil Rights, feminist, and LGBTQ movements that launched in the 1960s.
Morgan is essentially a mash-up of three small towns in southeastern Kentucky, but there are many places like Morgan in this region. My novel, Finding H. F., is set in Morgan as well. As I thought about place, I knew I wanted to replicate the things that are always present in these Appalachian communities.
People in Morgan use words like sissy to describe gay men and colored to refer to Black people. While some residents find these terms appalling, they make others feel comfortable, as if their town is a safe harbor for like-minded people, far from viewpoints they find threatening,
Their churches, and Evangelical Protestant Christianity more generally, are not monolithic, but a lot of them perpetuate what they call call traditional values and progressives call bigotry. The Southern Baptist church, in particular, has a terrible history, and while some people are working to promote anti-racism and changes regarding gender, gender-identity, and sexuality, the church Kody, Nanny, and LJ go to has held onto the same narrow views for forty or more years. They’re anti-gay, anti-trans, and white supremacist.
Has anything changed, any progress toward inclusivity been made?
I live in Knoxville, Tennessee, a mid-sized city with a lot of racial and ethnic diversity. It’s where Macey, Kody’s biracial sister, lives with her aunt Diane. Macey is straight; nonetheless, she is aware of drag and queer culture in a way that Kody is not.
Knoxville is a world away from Morgan but if you drive thirty miles outside of the city, you’ll find places just like it.
Before the pandemic, I spent some time in a local drop-in center for LGBTQ+ teens that is located in a Unitarian Universalist church here. Some of the kids who came in came from places like Morgan. Of course, they could only get to the center if they had transportation and usually told us that they’d lied to their families about where they were going. Still, the Internet has made information available to those with Wi-Fi, so there is some progress.
Did you do any research to prepare for writing the novel?
I did, especially around the opioid crisis and how using opioids would affect Kody’s mother, Amanda. I also researched withdrawal and investigated how that process might feel for her, Kody, and Nanny as they supported her through it.
Did you have any concerns about depicting Morgan in a way that conforms to stereotypes about Appalachia?
Yes, of course. Many Appalachian and Southern writers are extremely concerned about being true to people and place without stereotyping them. In the mid-20th century, for example, a lot of Southern writers used phonetic speech and dialect. More recently, there’s been a move away from this and an attempt to capture the spirit of people rather than their actual language or cadence. There’s also been a real attempt to highlight the fact that not everyone is the same. Just because you’re from Kentucky doesn’t mean you have a particular sexual orientation, race, or class background. I try to make people individuals. Kody is not like other boys his age. He likes to listen to Dolly Parton, crochet, quilt, and sew. He also likes to apply make-up, wear a wig, and dress up in women’s clothing when he’s alone.
Just because you’re from Kentucky doesn’t mean you have a particular sexual orientation, race, or class background. I try to make people individuals.
Secrets can be so toxic. Kody, for one, hides the fact that he uses his time alone for what he calls the Dolly Dress-Up Hour. This can be a huge burden.
Secrets always lead to other secrets and you usually need to lie which creates more secrets. It can be hard to keep your secrets straight. Kody, however, is not the only major character in Needlework with secrets. Amanda has never spoken about giving birth to a biracial child that she placed for adoption. She’s also never revealed how Macey’s father died. Nanny knew about Macey, but has also said nothing about her existence, as if this granddaughter had never been born.
Let’s talk about the pervasive opioid crisis in Morgan and beyond.
People like Amanda typically began using opioids for control of legitimate pain. In this area, the jobs available to most people are dangerous, like working in a coal mine, working at a saw mill, or working in a factory. When people get hurt, they go to a doctor, and at least in past years, before the addictive properties of opioids were well-known, they would be given pills and told to keep taking them until they felt better. By the time they’d healed, a huge number had become addicted and overprescribing doctors, pill mills, and street sales made access easy.
It’s almost funny. When I was growing up, people always spoke about cities as big, bad places where you’d end up a drug addict. But it turns out that rural areas are as bad or worse; opioids have been a scourge on the entire Appalachian region.
Still, the reasons for their appeal are not a mystery. In addition to workplace accidents, the state of the economy and the despair and hopelessness that many people feel pushes them to try to numb themselves however they can. One of the ironies of the present moment is that the legalization of marijuana could help with the opioid epidemic and create new, decent-paying, jobs for folks who are desperately in need of them.
Kody takes his mom to a local Narcotics Anonymous meeting. Are these available throughout Appalachia?
Alcoholics Anonymous has been in small towns for a long time, and there would likely be NA and Al-Anon support groups available.
Julia Watts
Amanda is a complicated character and I alternately felt compassion toward her and wanted to slap her!
Amanda is basically a nice woman. I think if she had made better choices she would have had great potential. She could have done something to get out of Morgan that would have helped her. Instead, her rebellion against her closed-minded family was impulsive. She got pregnant younger than she wanted which made it hard for her. But I taught college for years and always had some young moms in my classes. It’s hard but not impossible to go to school and parent.
Let’s talk about Three Rooms and your decision to be published by a small press.
All of my books have been published by different independent presses. It’s a way for me to be true to my vision. Going with Three Rooms for Needlework was a mutual choosing! Three Rooms also published by last book, Quiver. They do a great job promoting the work, getting it out there, and are very devoted to artistry. Like all publishers, they try to maximize their books’ commercial success, but they don’t try to make books fit a mold.
I’m hoping that Needlework will get into the right hands and will reach queer kids in small, rural towns. I want them to see that their stories have value, and realize that they, too, have stories to tell. I’m confident that Three Rooms will make that happen.
'Quiver,' Julia Watts’ novel for teens, finds room for friendship in culture wars
Julie Danielson and Chapter16.orgSpecial to the Knoxville News Sentinel, USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee
Julia Watts, a native of southeastern Kentucky who makes her home in Knoxville, has lived in Appalachia all her life. Her newest novel, "Quiver," is set in East Tennessee and tells the story of two teens who find themselves new neighbors and, eventually, friends.
Libby, the oldest of six children, is from a family of strict evangelical Christians who practice the “Quiverfull” lifestyle. Zo is a gender-fluid teen whose liberal, feminist family moved to the country from Knoxville. Libby and Zo’s budding friendship, what they learn from one another, and how they grow in the process is at the heart of the Lambda Award-winning author’s tale.
Watts will discuss "Quiver" at Union Ave. Books in Knoxville on Oct. 28 at 2 p.m.
Watts teaches at South College and in Murray State University’s low residency M.F.A. program. She recently answered questions from Chapter 16 via email.
Julia Watts with her novel, "Quiver."
Chapter 16: You write with such specificity about the “Quiverfull” lifestyle. Have you known religious fundamentalists like Libby’s family? Or was this all research? Or a bit of both?
Julia Watts: I’d have to say a bit of both. I was raised in rural southeastern Kentucky, so I was surrounded by religious fundamentalism. I grew up in a mainstream Southern Baptist church, which, by definition, was fundamentalist. There was Bible drill (which I was danged good at, by the way) and Vacation Bible School and rousing hymns like “Onward Christian Soldiers” and “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus.” However, this was a downtown church in a big, fancy building, and it was very mainstream, compared to the more country churches.
Despite my early exposure to fundamentalist Christianity, though, I still had to do a lot of research on the Quiverfull lifestyle, which didn’t really start taking off until the mid-1980s with the publication of Mary Pride’s book "The Way Home: Beyond Feminism and Back to Reality," which advocated Biblically-mandated gender roles for men and women, with women staying home and having as many children as the Lord allows. I read lots of books by Quiverfull authors and blogs by Quiverfull moms, who are still part of the movement.
"Quiver," Julia Watts’ novel for teens.
Chapter 16: I like how Libby’s revelation that her father is controlling occurs to her first and is then validated at a later date by others. Was it important to you that Libby come to this understanding on her own?
Watts: Thanks for noticing this! Yes, it was very important to me that Libby has this realization herself. Just like with any other big change in life, the discovery had to come from within. However, I think it was also important for Libby to have other people validate this discovery, whether it be a benevolent stranger like Dr. Nasour or her own mother, who has been trapped in the same situation.
Chapter 16: I like how Libby continues her relationship with God (just a much healthier one) because I think turning away from religion altogether would have been unrealistic for her. Did you always know this would be her path?
Watts: While part of me would have loved for Libby to rebel against her upbringing by becoming a Unitarian Universalist or a pagan or an atheist, I knew any of these moves would be too extreme for her character; she couldn’t realistically move from point A straight to point Z. Also, I didn’t want the book to be against religion and/or spirituality; I wanted it to be against forms of religion that are legalistic and patriarchal. When I started writing Libby’s grandmother, I knew she would be an open-minded Christian who believes that Christians should live in the world and try to make it a kinder place, and who uses her faith as a source of strength, instead of oppression.
Chapter 16: Libby’s father believes Zo and her entire family “ask a lot of the right questions … [but] just come up with the wrong answers a lot of the time.” Clearly, the two families are on two sides of the political and theological spectrum. In many ways, our country now feels this divisive. Was this on your mind as you wrote?
Watts: Oh, absolutely! How could it not be? Turn on the TV or go on the Internet, and it’s all red states vs. blue states, Fox News vs. MSNBC. Living in the South and being progressive, these differences are especially apparent on a daily basis because my views are definitely in the minority!
People have come to define themselves so much by their political and theological views that they surround themselves with people who agree with them 100 percent of the time. I feel like it’s healthier if you can still like someone, even if you disagree about quite a bit of stuff. You can still have empathy for your fellow human beings. And these days a lack of empathy happens on both sides of the political spectrum. Because of the divisive nature of our country now, I wanted to write a book about empathy and the things that unite us as humans, regardless of our political or theological beliefs.
Writing the Kind of Books You Don’t See on the Shelves: An Interview with Julia Watts
Posted on May 28, 2021 by Mary Manspeaker
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As part of our pride month celebrations, and in anticipation of her forthcoming novel Needlework, Three Rooms Press had a few questions for author Julia Watts. Her award-winning YA fiction has been an in-house favorite for quite a while; her stories always center on LGBT Appalachian youth, bringing their lives into focus from surprising and enlightening angles. 3RP editor Mary Rose Manspeaker sat down with Watts to talk writing regional fiction, inspirations, and what we want to see our writing accomplish in the world. Read the full interview below!
Julia Watts with her new novel NEEDLEWORK. Photo by Alec Watts-Windham.
Mary Rose Manspeaker: What are you reading right now, or what writers/books do you admire?
Julia Watts: I just finished reading Alison Bechdel’s The Secret to Superhuman Strength. I’ve been a fan of Bechdel’s since the early days of her Dykes to Watch Out For comics in the ’80’s, and it’s been exciting to see her work find a wider audience, even if it does mean a lot of people felt like they discovered this edgy new author when they read Fun Home. There are so many authors I admire there’s no way to even get started talking about them. Two more recent favorites, though, are Kentucky author Robert Gipe’s Pop and Kelly Anne Jacobson’s Tink and Wendy, a queer reimagining of the Peter Pan universe, which is forthcoming from Three Rooms Press.
MRM: To the process of writing itself: do you have a routine, or a schedule you try to stick to? Once you begin an idea, what is the daily work that turns it into a novel?
JW: As a very young writer, I was very ritualized and routine-driven. Once I became a working parent, though, I discovered that I had to write with whatever snatches of time I could find! I love to have a 2- or 3-hour block of uninterrupted time, generally in the late morning or early afternoon. However, if I have ten minutes and an idea, that idea is going down on paper! And I mean “on paper” literally. I write out my first drafts longhand on yellow legal pads (Okay, maybe some of my habits are still a little ritualistic). After I have a full, messy draft, I revise as I type it into my laptop. There are 1-2 revisions that come after that before I’m ready to let my trusted readers have a look at it and give me their feedback.
MRM: Part of the pleasure of reading your books is following as the young protagonist develop their ideas of the world and the people around them, especially since the big revelations often happen internally rather than externally. Do you often have an idea for what that arc will be at the start, or does it develop for you too as you write?
JW: I always have a starting place in mind, and sometimes I even have a destination for the protagonist. How that protagonist reaches their destination, though, is a mystery that unravels itself through the writing process. Sometimes I’m genuinely surprised by the turns my characters take!
I think I wanted to write the kind of books I didn’t see on the shelves when I was growing up! I hope rural LGBTQ+ kids reading my work will see themselves and know they’re not alone; I hope kids from other settings reading my books will see how limiting stereotypes can be.
MRM: Your YA fiction always centers Appalachian LGBTQ youth, but also touches on the ways societal elements like religion and race interact in the region. What is most important to you when building setting and portraying a region people who haven’t lived there might know little about?
JW: I feel like as a person from the region, I have a moral responsibility to get it right and show things as they really are. Growing up, my experience of Appalachia in national media fell into three categories: (1) invisibility—it wasn’t depicted/mentioned at all, (2) comic stereotypes—the hilarity of laughing at the ignorant, barefoot hillbillies, or (3) objects of pity—the pathos of feeling sorry for/superior to these ignorant, barefoot hillbillies! Clearly, none of these reflected my experience of the region. In my work, I want to show that Appalachians not only exist, but are a diverse people who shouldn’t be reduced to one broadly drawn and inaccurate story.
MRM: I grew up in West Virginia, so many of the places and characters and foods that appear in your novels feel familiar and home-y to me. In Needlework, food plays a large role most times that characters spend time together. How do you think about presenting food as part of a setting, and does it contribute to the type of scene you’re writing?
JW: I’m glad my stories make you feel at home! Food is huge in my novels; scholarly papers have even been written on it. No matter what culture you’re from, it will have its own foodways, and food is a way of bringing people together. Food is also a way of caring for people—both of my grandmothers always kept something sitting on the back of the stove, whether it was a pone of cornbread or a skillet of cold sweet potatoes, in case anybody who came through was hungry. I think the food in my novels, whether it’s soup beans or chicken and dumplings, becomes sort of a shorthand for caring and community. Also, sometimes my rural Appalachian characters come across food from other cultures, which is a way of opening up the world for them.
MRM: Reading your writing now, I wish I had encountered your novels as a teenager living in a small rural town. They are still wonderful as an adult, but there is something special about encountering media that makes you and the people you know feel more seen at a younger age. Maybe this is a very broad question, but what drew you to YA fiction, and what are your hopes for your work out in the world?
JW: I read voraciously as a kid, but I had no exposure to books that depicted LGBTQ+ teens and very few books depicting Appalachian—or even just rural—kids. I think I wanted to write the kind of books I didn’t see on the shelves when I was growing up! I hope rural LGBTQ+ kids reading my work will see themselves and know they’re not alone; I hope kids from other settings reading my books will see how limiting stereotypes can be.
Watts, Julia NEEDLEWORK Three Rooms Press (Teen None) $15.00 10, 5 ISBN: 978-1-953103-07-9
A gay teen drags it up as Dolly Parton.
With one parent incarcerated and the other struggling with addiction, 17-year-old Kody lives with Nanny, his maternal grandmother, in her Morgan, Kentucky, modular home. Between watching The Golden Girls, church on Sundays, and working on sewing projects together, the two have a lot in common. But, close as they are, Nanny doesn’t know Kody’s greatest secrets: He’s gay, and he has a ritual Dolly Dress-Up Hour when she’s not home. A third secret comes to light when a surprise Facebook message connects Kody, who is White, with Macey, the 15-year-old half sister he knew nothing about. Yet another surprise for Kody, given that the town is almost entirely White, is that Macey’s late father was Black. The siblings meet across state lines where Macey lives in Knoxville, Tennessee, and get to know each other. Macey believes she might be bisexual, and her family’s casual acceptance surprises Kody. But the more they connect, the more Kody’s personal secrets—and his family’s own closely kept secrets—begin to unravel. Watts’ latest contemporary Appalachian story movingly melds identity exploration with more prominent themes of addiction, family, faith, and racism. Though she doesn’t skirt away from uncomfortable situations or harsh realities, the overall tone is hopeful—not unlike a Dolly Parton song itself. Although the end of the novel feels too rushed, the rural setting and community are richly drawn.
A would-be “Backwoods Barbie” tale with a whole lot of heart. (Fiction. 14-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2021 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Watts, Julia: NEEDLEWORK." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2021, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A669986569/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c11e763e. Accessed 22 Dec. 2021.
Watts, Julia. Quiver. Three Rooms Press, October 2018. 300p. $15.95 Trade pb. 978-1941110-66-9.
Libby Hazlett, short for Liberty, is the oldest child of a rural Tennessee family whose parents abide by the religious teaching of having a "quiverfull" of children--one of the tenets of the Christian religion they observe. Zo and her family, including younger brother Owen, mother Becky, and father Bob, move into an old farmhouse near the Hazlett's home after leaving Knoxville, Tennessee, in hopes of finding a more peaceful setting for Zo, who began having panic attacks, among other problems, while attending public high school and determining that Zo is gender fluid. Libby's family believes that the best form of education comes from a home setting and is quite vocal about their distrust of the government, as well as anyone who is not a "true" Christian. Zo and Libby form an improbable but quick friendship. While each of them learns that the other is different from their understanding of "normal," they make the attempt to remain friends, even after their fathers have a disagreement about roles within families. Zo and Libby decide to meet each other secretly, only to be found by Libby's younger sister who forces Libby to confess her "sin" to their father.
This is a wonderful story of friendship between two young people who are seeking their place within a world that is constantly changing, sometimes not for the better. For anyone who has felt "different," Watts's novel will be ultimately relatable. Sensitive readers may want to know that there is corporal punishment within the Hazlett family, whose stereotyped personalities may offend some practicing evangelical Christian readers. --Beth Green.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
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Green, Beth. "Watts, Julia. Quiver." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 41, no. 4, Oct. 2018, p. 72. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A560013628/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8ced8e95. Accessed 22 Dec. 2021.
Watts, Julia QUIVER Three Rooms Press (Young Adult Fiction) $15.95 10, 16 ISBN: 978-1-941110-66-9
When genderfluid Zo moves in next door to Libby and her evangelical Christian family in rural Tennessee, their unlikely friendship changes Libby's life.
Libby, who has five younger siblings, has little exposure to life outside her family's isolated home, where her father's word is law. She's prepared to fulfill her duty of marrying young and bearing children, even if she's beginning to realize that's not what she wants. Things change when Zo's family moves into the neighborhood and the two teens strike up a friendship. Zo's family, liberal and fully supportive of Zo's genderfluidity, are the antithesis of Libby's family. When Libby's parents cease contact with their neighbors, Libby must decide whether to obey her parents or maintain her friendship. Crucially, neither teen attacks the other's beliefs or way of life; instead, Zo gently challenges Libby's teachings about a woman's subservience. Although the somewhat stiff narration alternates between Libby's and Zo's perspectives, the story belongs to Libby as she questions what she's been taught ("The only way I've ever been is the way I've been told to be"). Disappointingly, readers don't gain much insight into Zo's genderfluidity and are never introduced to Zo's personal pronouns (Libby presumes she/her/hers). The primary cast assumes a white default except for Zo's friend Claire, a Thai-American transgender girl.
Despite some issues, the novel opens important conversations about faith, family, independence, and identity. (Fiction. 13-16)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Watts, Julia: QUIVER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2018. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A548137871/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=987d350a. Accessed 22 Dec. 2021.
WOMEN'S STUDIES
Julia Watts
Spinsters Ink / ISBN 1-883523-75-3
Paperback, $14.95
The year is 1990 and three women, all named Elizabeth, share a path of self-discovery at William Blount University in Women's Studies by Julia Watts. The stories of Beth. Elisa, and Liz are told with depth while Watts explores the complicated theme of women's perceptions of outward appearances.
It is the beginning of the school year, and each "Elizabeth" is taking a "Women in Literature" class by Professor Angela Rivers. Professor Rivers takes a particular interest in small town girl Elisa, who plans on teaching high school English at the same school where her girlfriend Jo would teach PE. However, Professor Rivers encourages Elisa to reach for higher goals and begins to mentor her not just academically but personally. Then there is straight Liz, who is constantly being mistaken for a lesbian because of her short hair, baggy clothing, and her feminist ideals. Then after meeting Audrey, a fellow student and lesbian, Liz feels an attraction that she cannot deny and starts to question her relationship with her boyfriend. Lastly there is rich sorority girl Beth. She is the all American dream: thin, blond, rich, and dating handsome frat-boy Mike. But she cannot completely mask the inner anxiety, hollowness, and conflict of a life lived in the shadows.
Along with the self-discovery of each character, Watts digs deeply to explore how damaging it is for women to judge each other on physical appearances. Beth's mother and sorority sisters are constantly commenting about weight. For Liz, a core group of women only include her because they assume she is not "one of the token straight girls." Professor Rivers should be the supportive mentor of Elisa but she is the guiltiest by belittling Elisa's small town ways. All of this insidious behavior leads to emotional hurt and pain that the reader feels for each character. Watts has done a wonderful job writing a thoughtful, deep, and emotional novel.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2007 Lambda Literary Foundation
http://www.lambdaliterary.org/lambda_book_report/lbr_back_issues.html
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Martin, Cecelia. "Women's Studies." Lambda Book Report, vol. 14, no. 4, winter 2007, p. 20. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A161612917/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ce5ed9f2. Accessed 22 Dec. 2021.
by Julia Watts Naiad Press ISBN 1562802305 paperback $11.95, 233 pp.
Naiad Press has announced that they are not accepting any new manuscripts. On the one hand, I am happy that they have so many manuscripts that they can't keep up with the reading, but I am conversely concerned about what this could mean for the future of the lesbian romance genre. This would seem to be the moment to attempt expansive, experimental, and more inclusive options for this popular genre. I fear that this glut of old manuscripts will cause the forthcoming novels to be static, old, and cliched formulas closer to fantasy-driven hetero-romance, than to the socially themed, forward-looking work found in fresh lesbian romance. The four books reviewed here are representative of the contemporary popular lesbian novel, focusing on issues and situations intrinsic to lesbian lives.
Wedding Bell Blues, is a sophisticated story, told with humor and attention to detail and character which is characteristic of the best of lesbian popular writing. The problems inherent in the newly structured lesbian-mom-couple-family is the focus of Julia Watts' fourth book for Naiad Press. Living in a society which only recognizes biological kinship or state-sanctioned marriage, lesbians can never achieve spousal status in the heterosexual world...unless they try to pass. Playing on the theme of convenience marriages, Wedding Bell Blues hones in on a tragic situation all too familiar to lesbians who are partnered parents. Little Mimi's birth mother, Charlotte, dies in an auto accident and even though Charlotte's will specifically states that her child is to be raised by her lover Lily, Charlotte's fundamentalist, homophobic family claims the baby belongs with them as Lily has no legal rights to keep her. They want Charlotte's will revoked on moral grounds, and they want to raise their grand daughter in the "god fearing way young gifts should be raised." The family hires a notorious right-wing lawyer to pursue their case for legal adoption. In order to keep the baby, Lily's gay friend Ben agrees to marry her and pretend that they are a heterosexual couple and that he is the baby's biological father. They move to Cobb county Georgia where Ben's family are rich and respected members of the community. Ben believes that his family's political influence will protect Lily and allow her to keep the baby, even if they have to go to court. In a reversion to pre-Stonewall existence, this modern portrait of a marriage has Ben and Lily living their separate lives; Ben meets Ken and Lily meets Jackie. Ben and Lily believe that they have fooled everyone, but Ben's parents know all along that Ben is gay and they assume, therefore, that Lily must be a lesbian. However they accept them as a couple and love the child. The book also addresses the question of lesbian and gay assumptions and fears about heterosexuals, and reminds us that we get support from those who understand difference and are as upset as we are about narrow-minded prejudice. Important issues have ensued from the new lesbian baby boom.
Those Who Wait, builds its story on another realistic aspect of lesbian life. The phenomenon of the lesbian family, mother and two daughters is a very modern situation. What happens when one of the sisters, the responsible lesbian, falls in love with her irresponsible sister's lover? The plot of Those Who Wait is similar to, but different from the stock "brother who loves his brother's wife' story so familiar in hetero romance. It would have been impossible to have written a book about generational lesbian families even ten years ago, now some of us may know such families or be part of that family ourselves. The tension of the mother's loyalty to both her daughters and her real affection and friendship with the daughter's lover is recognized as a complex issue which provides an original, well written undercurrent to the stock theme of good sister, bad sister competing for the same woman.
These lesbian novels recognize the subtle variances between lesbian lives and hetero lives even in comparable situations. Marriage, children, two sisters in love with the same woman, a mother's loyalty to her two children, are universal, basic elements in many novels, but in lesbian fiction they are treated differently reflecting the differences in our lesbian lives. I think it is this subtle ability to pinpoint and recognize those differences, to translate the ubiquitous, heterosexual codes into a particular language which has meaning for us, that makes lesbian popular writing unique.
Side Dish, is a first person narrative told by a young Los Angeles waitress. Named Mutt by her best friend Jeff, she keeps meeting the wrong people, in the wrong places and at the conclusion of the novel, doesn't seem to have changed much, despite her experiences of loss and discovery. She expresses doubts about the direction of her life, and lacks an understanding of how one might control those directions. For example, Mutt, sees her job at Mexicali Joe's as onerous but temporary, but the reader knows that because Mutt cannot guide her choices, the temporary job will mm permanent, and before Mutt knows it she's forty and wondering where the last twenty years went. Although not very enthusiastic about her love for Diane, she passively accepts the daily activities of such a life. "All in all, things aren't half bad.... Diane picks me up from work everyday. Not that I'm using her for a ride or anything, She wants to do it, so we don't waste any time apart. Okay, so it's a little codependent. Whatever." She is unsure of the future. "I mean, who knows what lasts in this world? "Whatever happens, happens. Hey, life's like that, you know?" The writer assumes the reader knows much more about life and love than does our wanna-be-butch heroine. While reading the book I wanted to call Mutt on the phone and tell her "to get a [middle dot] life". The tone of this novel is straight forward, and, at times humorous. This is a young lesbian's novel, reflecting the self-doubts and hasty judgments based on lack of experience, and inability to analyze the limited experiences she does have.
Whispers in the Wind ties together science fiction and romance with the themes of time travel and unrequited love. Loving your best friend who only wants the relationship to remain a friendship is not news. Falling in love with that woman's great-great grand daughter who is also your contemporary is the sci-fi mystery of this novel. On a camping trip, Elizabeth Colter and Dixon Hayes, longtime friends, crawl through a tunnel to find themselves back in a concurrent time dimension of 1859. Elizabeth, who has always found herself out of step with twentieth century life, is perfectly happy in the nineteenth century, and happier still when she meets Rachel and they become lovers. Dixon, is jealous, and wants to rerum to her own time. The time tunnel opens and closes at intervals that are related to the monthly arrival of a stagecoach. Scrambling back through the collapsing tunnel to the twentieth century, Dixon is distraught by the loss of Elizabeth whom everyone assumes to be dead, and she is confused by the time travel. One year later she is contacted by a lawyer whose great-grandfather handled Rachel's estate. He wants to give Dixon a package that has been waiting in his office for 80 years. The package contains journals written by Elizabeth recounting her life with Rachel. Later Dixon meets Elizabeth's great-great grand daughter, Megan and they fall in love. The brief descriptions of nineteenth century home life in Texas were well done and an interesting contrast to Dixon's twentieth century world. This book, although lesbian in content, does not implicitly focus on lesbian issues, but it is a welcoming diversion to read any and all books where our own sensibilities take center stage.
JUDITH P. STELBOUM IS EDITOR OF THE NEW HARRINGTON LESBIAN FICTION QUARTERLY. HER NOVEL PAST PERFECT WILL APPEAR IN THE SPRING 2000. SHE TEACHES ENGLISH AT THE COLLEGE OF STATEN ISLAND, CUNY.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 1999 Lambda Literary Foundation
http://www.lambdaliterary.org/lambda_book_report/lbr_back_issues.html
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Stelboum, Judith P. "Wedding Bell Blues." Lambda Book Report, vol. 7, no. 10, May 1999, pp. 23+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A55577146/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=e0eeec66. Accessed 22 Dec. 2021.
WATTS, Julia. Needlework. 288p. Three Rooms Pr. Oct. 2021. pap. $15. ISBN 9781953103079.
Gr 8 Up--Growing up in rural Kentucky in a mostly white, Christian community and with little to no access to the internet, Kody lives a very insular life with his grandmother, Nanny. Life is tough for many in his hometown as job prospects dry up and the opioid epidemic claims a whole generation of parents. Following a serious car accident years ago, Kody's mother became addicted to oxycontin, leaving Kody and Nanny to pick up her pieces again and again. Nevertheless, Kody gets by with a solid routine of church, quilting, and The Golden Girls. He also takes comfort from the words and music of classic country stars, especially Dolly Parton. However, no one in his family knows that Kody feels the most free during "Dolly Dress-Up Hour," when he dons feminine clothes and performs Dolly songs in his bedroom. When a Facebook message arrives from an unexpected source, Kody's worldview begins to open up, and he glimpses a life where he could freely be his most authentic self, but he is also forced to confront uncomfortable truths about his family and community. Watts's engaging book addresses timely topics like addiction, homophobia, and racism, but her gentle, heartwarming prose makes this book a comfort read. Kody's sweetly honest narration makes it impossible not to cheer for him. VERDICT This uplifting page-turner is highly recommended for readers looking for modern Christian fiction with lots of depth, or for fans of Jeff Zentner.--Catherine Cote, John Champe H.S., Aldie, VA
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Cote, Catherine. "WATTS, Julia. Needlework." School Library Journal, vol. 67, no. 10, Oct. 2021, p. 98. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A678583663/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=9517172c. Accessed 22 Dec. 2021.
WATTS, Julia. Quiver. 324p. Three Rooms Pr. Oct. 2018. pap. $15.95. ISBN 9781941110669.
Gr 8 Up--Libby's family are Quiverfull Christians--a strict sect that requires firm gender roles, lots of children, and the rejection of most modern society. When new neighbors move in to their secluded rural Tennessee area, they begin a tentative move toward friendship. The newcomers, however, have chosen this escape for very different reasons, including social turmoil of their gender-fluid child Zo. Both starved for company, Zo and Libby become friends despite their extreme family differences. Zo's family of liberal vegetarian feminists show themselves to be kind and loving even as Libby's father declares them sinners and heathens. Despite being told in alternating voices, this novel showcases Libby as the real star of the show as she navigates complicated doubts and contradictions. Zo's family is not without its own faults, and hir recent past is frill of problems surrounding hir gender and sexual identities; but there is no real conflict or resolution to be had there. Watts, a Lambda Award winner, describes both families in great detail. While the extent of information is helpful for readers unfamiliar with the identities, most of it would be better presented as the story unfolds through character interaction. The ending is far from a surprise, but finding out how the characters, particularly Libby, get there is still fulfilling. VERDICT A slow story about families and the difference between love and obedience. Give to thoughtful readers and purchase for medium YA collections.--Amy Diegelman, Chicago Public Library
KEY: * Excellent in relation to other titles on the same subject or in the same genre | Tr Hardcover trade binding | lib. ed. Publisher's library binding | Board Board book | pap. Paperback | e eBook original | BL Bilingual | POP Popular Picks
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Diegelman, Amy. "WATTS, Julia. Quiver." School Library Journal, vol. 64, no. 9, Sept. 2018, p. 124. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A553280127/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=28fc4214. Accessed 22 Dec. 2021.
WATTS, Julia. Finding H.F. 165p. CIP. Alyson. 2001. pap. $12.95. ISBN 1-55583-622-4. LC 2001031596.
Gr 7 Up--Abandoned by her teenaged mother and raised in Kentucky by her religious grandmother, 16-year-old Heavenly Faith (H.F. to all but Memaw) knows she is different. She has a crush on Wendy, a local college professor's daughter, and the only person she can tell is her best friend Bo, a "girlish boy" who is beaten regularly by the local jocks. When H.F. finally musters the courage to speak to Wendy, they quickly become friends, and soon the relationship intensifies with disastrous results. Still hurting from this first love experience, H.F. discovers that Memaw has been secretly communicating with her long-lost daughter. Feeling doubly betrayed, H.F. and Bo head out to track her down in Florida. Along the way they share some big-city experiences, including an overnight encounter with some homeless gay teens who have their own concept of family. When H.F. finally finds her mother, she quickly realizes that "Momma" still has no interest in having a daughter. Curiosity satisfied, the two friends head home only to discover that H.F.'s mother or boyfriend has stolen their money. The story wraps up too neatly when H.F. calls Wendy to wire them some money, Wendy asks for another chance, they return home, and life goes on with college in their future. It's a quick and mostly satisfying read, but for a better story about gay teens in a rural setting, try M. E. Kerr's Deliver Us from Erie (HarperCollins, 1995).--Betty S. Evans, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield
Evans, Betty S.
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Evans, Betty S. "Finding H.F. (Fiction)." School Library Journal, vol. 48, no. 2, Feb. 2002, p. 138. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A83317118/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=397a2c4f. Accessed 22 Dec. 2021.