This month, we are incredibly excited to publish Shira Spector’s debut graphic memoir, Red Rock Baby Candy! And we’re even more excited to announce not one, not two, but THREE epic virtual events, each with a different superstar special guest, to help celebrate the book’s release. That’s three chances to peek behind the scenes of this gorgeous, ground-breaking book, each with a unique lens for discussion. Plus, you can order your copy of the book via any of our three wonderful retail partners, and receive a free signed bookplate with your copy. Read on for all the details!
The Tour:
Join Shira and feminist painter, illustrator, and cartoonist Fiona Smyth (Somnambulance) for the Canadian virtual book launch and tour kickoff. Hosted by The Beguiling Books and Art and streaming via Instagram Live at instagram.com/thebeguiling.
RSVP on Facebook // Order RRBC from the Beguiling
For the second stop on her tour, Shira is joined by legendary cartoonist and educator Phoebe Gloeckner (The Diary of A Teenage Girl) for a discussion of the art of the graphic memoir. Hosted by Green Apple Books and streaming via Zoom Webinar.
RSVP on Facebook // Order RRBC from Green Apple
And for the finale, Shira will sit down with cartoonist, editor and writer Whit Taylor (Fizzle) to discuss the intersections of comics, pregnancy, and mental health. RSVP to the Bluestockings event via WithFriends for the Zoom Webinar link.
RSVP on Facebook // Order RRBC from Bluestockings
About Red Rock Baby Candy
Self-described as “an infertile, high-femme, low income, non-biological Jewish mom, dyke drama queen, and ectopic pregnancy survivor,” Shira Spector literally paints a vivid portrait of the most eventful 10 years of her life, encompassing her tenacious struggle to get pregnant, the emotional turmoil of her father’s cancer diagnosis and eventual death, and her recollections of past relationships with her parents and her partner. Set in a kaleidoscope of Montreal and Toronto, Red Rock Baby Candy unfolds as one of the most formally inventive comics in the history of the medium. It begins in subtle, tonal shades of black ink, introduces color slowly over the next 50 pages until it explodes into a glorious full color palette. The irreverent characters begin to bloom and to live life fully, resurrecting the dead in order to map the geography among infertility, sexuality, choice, and mortality. The drawing is visceral, symbolic, and naturalistic. The visual storytelling eschews traditional comics panels in favor of a series of unique page compositions that convey both a stream of consciousness and the tactile reality of life, both the subjective impressions of the author at each moment of her life and the objective series of events that shape her narrative.