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Alison Bechdel

March 11, 2023

"Bechdel" redirects here. For the test, see Bechdel test. For other uses, see Bechdel (surname).

Alison Bechdel (/ˈbɛkdəl/ BEK-dəl;[1] born September 10, 1960) is an American cartoonist. Originally known for the long-running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir Fun Home, which was subsequently adapted as a musical that won a Tony Award for Best Musical in 2015.[2] In 2012, she released her second graphic memoir Are You My Mother? She was a 2014 recipient of the MacArthur "Genius" Award.[3] She is also known for originating the Bechdel test.

Alison Bechdel
Bechdel at the Boston Book Festival in 2011
Born (1960-09-10) September 10, 1960 (age 62)
Beech Creek, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Occupation
  • Cartoonist
  • author
EducationSimon's Rock College
Oberlin College (BA)
GenreAutobiography, social commentary
Literary movementUnderground
Notable worksDykes to Watch Out For,
Fun Home,
Are You My Mother?
Spouse
Amy Rubin
​
​
(m. 2004; voided 2004)​

Holly Rae Taylor
​
(m. 2015)​
Website
dykestowatchoutfor.com

Early life

Bechdel was born in Lock Haven, Pennsylvania. She is the daughter of Helen Augusta (née Fontana)[4] and Bruce Allen Bechdel. Her family was Roman Catholic. Her father was an army veteran who was stationed in West Germany. He was also a high school English teacher, working full-time and operating a funeral home part-time. Her mother was an actress and teacher. Both of her parents contributed to her career as a cartoonist.[5] She has two brothers, Bruce "Christian" Bechdel II and John Bechdel, a keyboard player who has worked with many bands including Fear Factory, Ministry, Prong and Killing Joke. Bechdel left high school a year early and earned her A.A. in 1979 from Bard College at Simon's Rock. She graduated with a degree in studio arts and art history in 1981 from Oberlin College.[5] After her father died in 1980, her mother sold the family house, in Beech Creek, Pennsylvania, the small town where Bechdel grew up, and moved to Bellefonte, a less provincial small town near State College with her long-time partner Dr. Robert Fenichel.[6]

Career

 
Bechdel at a London signing for Fun Home in 2006

Bechdel moved to Manhattan during the summer of 1981 and applied to several art schools, but was rejected and worked in many office jobs in the publishing industry.[7]

She began Dykes to Watch Out For as a single drawing labeled "Marianne, dissatisfied with the morning brew: Dykes to Watch Out For, plate no. 27".[8] An acquaintance recommended she send her work to WomaNews, a feminist newspaper, which published her first work in its June 1983 issue.[7] Bechdel gradually moved from her early single-panel drawings to multi-paneled strips.[9] Dykes to Watch Out For began this process, developing into a series of posters and postcards, allowing for people to have a look into the urban lesbian community.[5] After a year, other outlets began running the strip.

In the first years, Dykes to Watch Out For consisted of unconnected strips without a regular cast or serialized storyline. However, its structure eventually evolved into a focus on following a set group of lesbian characters. In 1986, Firebrand Books published a collection of the strips to date.[9] In 1987, Bechdel introduced her regular characters, Mo and her friends, while living in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dykes to Watch Out For is the origin of the "Bechdel test", which has become a frequently used metric in cultural discussion of film. In 1988, she began a short-lived page-length strip about the staff of a queer newspaper, titled "Servants to the Cause", for The Advocate. Bechdel has also written and drawn autobiographical strips and has done illustrations for magazines and websites. The success of Dykes to Watch Out For allowed Bechdel to quit her day job in 1990 to work on the strip full-time.[7]

In November 2006, Bechdel was invited to sit on the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary.[10][11] In 2012, Bechdel was a Mellon Residential Fellow for Arts and Practice at the Richard and Mary L. Gray Center at the University of Chicago and co-taught "Lines of Transmission: Comics & Autobiography" with Professor Hillary Chute.[12] On April 6, 2017, Bechdel was appointed as Vermont's third Cartoonist Laureate.[13]

In 2014, she posted a comic strip based on her Fun Home! The Musical![14] After Donald Trump's election as U.S. president she posted three new episodes of Dykes to Watch Out For: "Pièce de Résistance,"[15] "Postcards From the Edge,"[16] and "Things Fall Apart."[17]

Bechdel resides in Bolton, Vermont, and works with the Vermont-based alternative weekly Seven Days.[18]

Graphic novels

Fun Home

Main article: Fun Home

In 2006, Bechdel published Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic, an autobiographical "tragicomic" chronicling her childhood and the years before and after her father's suicide. It follows both the past and present regarding the relationship she shares with her parents, specifically her father. Additionally, this graphic memoir helps show the hardships individuals face when coming out.[19] Fun Home has received more widespread mainstream attention than Bechdel's earlier work, with reviews in Entertainment Weekly, People and several features in The New York Times.[20] Fun Home spent two weeks on The New York Times Bestseller List for Hardcover Nonfiction.[21][22]

Fun Home was hailed as one of the best books of 2006 by numerous sources, including The New York Times,[23] amazon.com,[24][25] The Times of London,[26] Publishers Weekly,[27] salon.com,[28] New York magazine,[29] and Entertainment Weekly.[29]

Time magazine named Alison Bechdel's Fun Home number one of its "10 Best Books of the Year." Lev Grossman and Richard LeCayo described Fun Home as "the unlikeliest literary success of 2006," and called it "a stunning memoir about a girl growing up in a small town with her cryptic, perfectionist dad and slowly realizing that a) she is gay and b) he is too… Bechdel's breathtakingly smart commentary duets with eloquent line drawings. Forget genre and sexual orientation: this is a masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds, and their mysterious debts to each other."[30]

Fun Home was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award in the memoir/autobiography category.[31][32] It also won the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work.[33] Fun Home was also nominated for the Best Graphic Album award, and Bechdel was nominated for Best Writer/Artist.[34]

In 2014, the Republican-led South Carolina House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee considered cutting the College of Charleston's funding by $52,000, the cost of the summer reading program for selecting Fun Home for a reading program.[35][36][37]

Fun Home premiered as a musical Off-Broadway at The Public Theater on September 30, 2013, and opened officially on October 22, 2013. The score was by Jeanine Tesori and the book and lyrics were written by Lisa Kron.[38][39] Kron and Tesori made history as the first all-woman team to win a Tony Award for best score.[40] Originally scheduled to run through November 3, 2013, the run was extended multiple times and the musical closed on January 12, 2014. The Public Theater production was directed by Sam Gold. Sets and costumes were by David Zinn, lighting by Ben Stanton, sound by Kai Harada, projections by Jim Findlay and Jeff Sugg and choreography by Danny Mefford.[41] The musical played at Broadway's Circle in the Square Theatre, with previews from March 27, 2015, and an official opening on April 19, 2015, running to September 10, 2016. Sam Gold, who directed the Public Theater production, also directed the show on Broadway, leading the Off-Broadway production team. The Off-Broadway cast reprised their roles on Broadway, except for the actors playing John, Christian, and Medium Alison. The Broadway musical won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Performance by an Actor in Leading Role in a Musical, Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Direction of a Musical.[42]

On January 3, 2020, it was announced that Jake Gyllenhaal and his Nine Stories Productions banner secured the rights to adapt the musical version of Fun Home into a film. Sam Gold, who directed the Broadway production, is set to helm the film, in which Gyllenhaal will star as Bruce Bechdel.[43]

Are You My Mother?

Main article: Are You My Mother? (memoir)

Bechdel suspended work on Dykes to Watch Out For in 2008 so that she could work on her second graphic memoir, Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama, which was released in May 2012.[44] It focuses on her relationship with her mother. Bechdel described its themes as "the self, subjectivity, desire, the nature of reality, that sort of thing,"[45] which is a paraphrase of a quote from Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse.

The story's dramatic action is multi-layered and divides into a number of narrative strands:

  • Bechdel's phone-conversations with her mother in the present.
  • Bechdel's memories of interactions with her mother throughout her life, beginning in childhood.
  • Bechdel's therapy sessions, whose primary content is composed of analysis of her relationship with her mother.
  • Bechdel's richly imagined, and diligently researched, historical portrayals of psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, and author Virginia Woolf, spliced together with Bechdel's own therapeutic journey with text from the psychoanalytic writings of Alice Miller, along with the story of Bechdel's own reading-through and relating to the works of Sigmund Freud.

An excerpt of the book, entitled "Mirror", was included in the Best American Comics 2013, edited by Jeff Smith. This episode riffs heavily on psychoanalytic themes quoted explicitly from the work of psychoanalysts Alice Miller and Donald Winnicott.

The Secret to Superhuman Strength

Bechdel published another memoir The Secret to Superhuman Strength in 2021.

Personal life

Bechdel came out as a lesbian at age 19.[46] Her sexuality and gender non-conformity are a large part of the core message of her work, and has said that "the secret subversive goal of my work is to show that women, not just lesbians, are regular human beings".[47] In February 2004, Bechdel married Amy Rubin, her girlfriend since 1992, in a civil ceremony in San Francisco. However, all same-sex marriage licenses given by the city at that time were subsequently voided by the California Supreme Court. Bechdel and Rubin separated in 2006.[48] She subsequently lived with her partner Holly Rae Taylor, a painter,[6] for seven and a half years before their marriage in July 2015.[49] She lives in Bolton, Vermont, in a house she bought in 1996, adding her own studio to work in.[6][50]

Selected works

  • The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For (Houghton Mifflin, 2008, ISBN 978-0618968800)
  • Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (Houghton Mifflin, 2006, ISBN 0-618-47794-2)
  • Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, ISBN 0-618-98250-7)
  • The Secret to Superhuman Strength (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2021, ISBN 978-0224101905)

Awards

For her outstanding contributions to the comic art form, Comics Alliance listed Bechdel as one of twelve women cartoonists deserving of lifetime achievement recognition.[57]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Alison Bechdel Audio Name Pronunciation". TeachingBooks.net. Retrieved August 11, 2014. (mp3)
  2. ^ Michael Paulson; Patrick Healy (June 8, 2015). "Tony Awards: 'Fun Home' Wins Best Musical and 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time' Best Play". The New York Times. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  3. ^ a b Lee, Felicia R. (September 17, 2014). "MacArthur Awards Go to 21 Diverse Fellows". The New York Times.
  4. ^ . Wetzler Funeral Home, Inc. May 14, 2013. Archived from the original on December 20, 2013. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  5. ^ a b c Tyrkus, Michael J.; Bronski, Michael, eds. (1997). Gay & Lesbian Biography – "Alison Bechdel". Detroit: St. James Press. ISBN 978-1-55862-237-1. Literature Resource Center. Web. March 8, 2016.
  6. ^ a b c Judith Thurman (April 16, 2012). "Drawn from Life". The New Yorker. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c "Collection: Alison Bechdel papers". Smith College Finding Aids. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  8. ^ The Indelible Alison Bechdel: Confessions, Comix, and Miscellaneous Dykes to Watch Out For. Firebrand Books. 1998. ISBN 978-1-56341-097-0.
  9. ^ a b Bechdel, Alison. "Frivolous, Aimless Queries". Dykes to Watch Out For. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  10. ^ "Dictionary". Dykes to Watch Out For. November 30, 2006.
  11. ^ Robertson, Mike (October 22, 2013). "College to Host Award-Winning Cartoonist and Author Alison Bechdel". The College Today. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  12. ^ "Alison Bechdel". Richard and Mary L. Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry – The University of Chicago. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  13. ^ Hallenbeck, Brent (March 28, 2016). "Alison Bechdel named Vermont Cartoonist Laureate". Burlington Free Press. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  14. ^ Bechdel, Alison. "Fun Home! The Musical!". Seven Days. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  15. ^ Bechdel, Alison (November 23, 2016). "Dykes to Watch Out For: Pièce de Résistance". Seven Days. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  16. ^ Bechdel, Alison (March 14, 2017). "New 'Dykes to Watch Out For' Tackles the Ides of Trump". Seven Days. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  17. ^ Bechdel, Alison (July 5, 2017). "'Dykes to Watch Out For' Ponders How to Unify a Divided Country". Seven Days. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  18. ^ "Alison Bechdel". Seven Days. Retrieved January 10, 2023.
  19. ^ Killacky, John R. "Alison Bechdel: graphic alchemist." The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide 19.5 (2012): 44+. Literature Resource Center. Web. March 8, 2016.
  20. ^ Wilsey, Sean (June 18, 2006). "The Things They Buried". The New York Times.
  21. ^ "July 9, 2006 Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers". The New York Times. July 9, 2006. Retrieved December 18, 2006.
  22. ^ "July 16, 2006 Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers". The New York Times. July 16, 2006. Retrieved December 18, 2006.
  23. ^ "100 Notable Books of the Year". The New York Times. Sunday Book Review. December 3, 2006. Retrieved December 12, 2006.
  24. ^ "Best Books of 2006: Editors' Top 50". Amazon. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  25. ^ "Best of 2006 Top 10 Editors' Picks: Memoirs". Amazon. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  26. ^ Gatti, Tom (December 16, 2006). "The 10 best books of 2006: number 10—Fun Home". The Times. London. Retrieved December 18, 2006.
  27. ^ . Publishers Weekly Online. Publishers Weekly. December 19, 2006. Archived from the original on January 23, 2007. Retrieved December 19, 2006.
  28. ^ Laura Miller; Hillary Frey (December 12, 2006). . salon.com. Archived from the original on May 12, 2008. Retrieved December 12, 2006.
  29. ^ a b Christopher Bonanos; Logan Hill; Jim Holt; et al. (December 18, 2006). "The Year in Books". New York. from the original on December 13, 2006. Retrieved December 12, 2006.
  30. ^ Grossman, Lev; Richard Lacayo (December 17, 2006). . Time. Archived from the original on January 9, 2007. Retrieved December 18, 2006.
  31. ^ Getlin, Josh (January 21, 2007). "Book Critics Circle nominees declared". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  32. ^ . National Book Critics Circle. Archived from the original on October 2, 2006. Retrieved January 22, 2007.
  33. ^ . San Diego Comic-Con. Archived from the original on June 26, 2010. Retrieved July 31, 2007.
  34. ^ . San Diego Comic-Con. Archived from the original on August 8, 2007. Retrieved July 31, 2007.
  35. ^ Seanna, Adcox (February 19, 2014). . San Francisco Chronicle. Associated Press. Archived from the original on February 26, 2014. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  36. ^ Borden, Jeremy (February 20, 2014). "Palmetto Sunrise: College of Charleston dollars cut for 'promotion of lesbians'". The Post and Courier. Charleston, SC. Archived from the original on February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 21, 2014.
  37. ^ Tracy Mumford (September 1, 2015). "College students object to reading bestselling, 'pornographic' memoir". Minnesota Public Radio News. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  38. ^ "The Verdict: Critics Review Jeanine Tesori-Lisa Kron Musical Fun Home at the Public Theater". Playbill. October 23, 2013. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  39. ^ Ben Btantley (January 12, 2014). "'Fun Home,' a New Musical at the Public Theater". The New York Times. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  40. ^ Purcell, Carey (June 7, 2015). "Fun Home Duo Make History as First All-Female Writing Team to Win the Tony". Playbill. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  41. ^ . October 12, 2014. Archived from the original on October 12, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  42. ^ Pedersen, Erik (June 8, 2015). "Tony Award Winners 2015 – Full List: 'Fun Home,' 'Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time' Lead The Way". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved April 15, 2017.
  43. ^ "Jake Gyllenhaal to Produce & Star in Movie Musical Adaptation of Fun Home". Broadway.com.
  44. ^ "Bechdel's ARE YOU MY MOTHER gets 100K first printing". The Beat: The News Blog of Comics Culture. January 4, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2012.
  45. ^ Garner, Dwight (July 20, 2007). "Stray Questions for: Alison Bechdel". ArtsBeat (blog). The New York Times. Retrieved August 14, 2007.
  46. ^ Samer, Roxane (February 23, 2010). "A Conversation with Alison Bechdel". Genderacrossborders.wordpress.com. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  47. ^ Joost, Wesley (May 15, 2000). (PDF). The Guardsman. p. 10. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 17, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2015. (pg. 11 missing)
  48. ^ Burkeman, Oliver (October 16, 2006). "A life stripped bare" (free registration required). The Guardian. Retrieved January 22, 2007.
  49. ^ Tim Teeman (April 29, 2015). "Lesbian Desire, a Father's Suicide and 12 Tony Noms: Alison Bechdel on 'Fun Home'". Thedailybeast.com.
  50. ^ Sollberger, Eva (director) (May 6, 2021). Stuck in Vermont: Alison Bechdel Shares 'The Secret to Superhuman Strength'. Seven Days. Event occurs at 10:31. Retrieved May 6, 2021.
  51. ^ a b Kennedy, Martha H. (2018). Drawn to purpose : American women illustrators and cartoonists. Hayden, Carla Diane, 1952-. Jackson, Mississippi: Library of Congress. pp. 182–183. ISBN 978-1-4968-1592-7. OCLC 993601764.
  52. ^ "ALA | Stonewall Book Awards". www.ala.org. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  53. ^ "Inkpot Award". Comic-Con International: San Diego. December 6, 2012.
  54. ^ "Winners of the 26th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Announced". Lambda Literary. June 3, 2014. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
  55. ^ "Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media". Austen Riggs Center. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
  56. ^ Gustines, George Gene (September 25, 2019). "Harvey Awards Hall of Fame to Induct New Members". The New York Times. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  57. ^ . Comicsalliance.com. Archived from the original on August 1, 2016. Retrieved January 13, 2017.

Further reading

External links

March 11, 2023
alison, bechdel, bechdel, redirects, here, test, bechdel, test, other, uses, bechdel, surname, dəl, born, september, 1960, american, cartoonist, originally, known, long, running, comic, strip, dykes, watch, came, critical, commercial, success, 2006, with, grap. Bechdel redirects here For the test see Bechdel test For other uses see Bechdel surname Alison Bechdel ˈ b ɛ k d el BEK del 1 born September 10 1960 is an American cartoonist Originally known for the long running comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For she came to critical and commercial success in 2006 with her graphic memoir Fun Home which was subsequently adapted as a musical that won a Tony Award for Best Musical in 2015 2 In 2012 she released her second graphic memoir Are You My Mother She was a 2014 recipient of the MacArthur Genius Award 3 She is also known for originating the Bechdel test Alison BechdelBechdel at the Boston Book Festival in 2011Born 1960 09 10 September 10 1960 age 62 Beech Creek Pennsylvania U S OccupationCartoonistauthorEducationSimon s Rock CollegeOberlin College BA GenreAutobiography social commentaryLiterary movementUndergroundNotable worksDykes to Watch Out For Fun Home Are You My Mother SpouseAmy Rubin m 2004 voided 2004 wbr Holly Rae Taylor m 2015 wbr Websitedykestowatchoutfor wbr com Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Graphic novels 3 1 Fun Home 3 2 Are You My Mother 3 3 The Secret to Superhuman Strength 4 Personal life 5 Selected works 6 Awards 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External linksEarly life EditBechdel was born in Lock Haven Pennsylvania She is the daughter of Helen Augusta nee Fontana 4 and Bruce Allen Bechdel Her family was Roman Catholic Her father was an army veteran who was stationed in West Germany He was also a high school English teacher working full time and operating a funeral home part time Her mother was an actress and teacher Both of her parents contributed to her career as a cartoonist 5 She has two brothers Bruce Christian Bechdel II and John Bechdel a keyboard player who has worked with many bands including Fear Factory Ministry Prong and Killing Joke Bechdel left high school a year early and earned her A A in 1979 from Bard College at Simon s Rock She graduated with a degree in studio arts and art history in 1981 from Oberlin College 5 After her father died in 1980 her mother sold the family house in Beech Creek Pennsylvania the small town where Bechdel grew up and moved to Bellefonte a less provincial small town near State College with her long time partner Dr Robert Fenichel 6 Career Edit Bechdel at a London signing for Fun Home in 2006 Bechdel moved to Manhattan during the summer of 1981 and applied to several art schools but was rejected and worked in many office jobs in the publishing industry 7 She began Dykes to Watch Out For as a single drawing labeled Marianne dissatisfied with the morning brew Dykes to Watch Out For plate no 27 8 An acquaintance recommended she send her work to WomaNews a feminist newspaper which published her first work in its June 1983 issue 7 Bechdel gradually moved from her early single panel drawings to multi paneled strips 9 Dykes to Watch Out For began this process developing into a series of posters and postcards allowing for people to have a look into the urban lesbian community 5 After a year other outlets began running the strip In the first years Dykes to Watch Out For consisted of unconnected strips without a regular cast or serialized storyline However its structure eventually evolved into a focus on following a set group of lesbian characters In 1986 Firebrand Books published a collection of the strips to date 9 In 1987 Bechdel introduced her regular characters Mo and her friends while living in St Paul Minnesota Dykes to Watch Out For is the origin of the Bechdel test which has become a frequently used metric in cultural discussion of film In 1988 she began a short lived page length strip about the staff of a queer newspaper titled Servants to the Cause for The Advocate Bechdel has also written and drawn autobiographical strips and has done illustrations for magazines and websites The success of Dykes to Watch Out For allowed Bechdel to quit her day job in 1990 to work on the strip full time 7 In November 2006 Bechdel was invited to sit on the Usage Panel of the American Heritage Dictionary 10 11 In 2012 Bechdel was a Mellon Residential Fellow for Arts and Practice at the Richard and Mary L Gray Center at the University of Chicago and co taught Lines of Transmission Comics amp Autobiography with Professor Hillary Chute 12 On April 6 2017 Bechdel was appointed as Vermont s third Cartoonist Laureate 13 In 2014 she posted a comic strip based on her Fun Home The Musical 14 After Donald Trump s election as U S president she posted three new episodes of Dykes to Watch Out For Piece de Resistance 15 Postcards From the Edge 16 and Things Fall Apart 17 Bechdel resides in Bolton Vermont and works with the Vermont based alternative weekly Seven Days 18 Graphic novels EditFun Home Edit Main article Fun Home In 2006 Bechdel published Fun Home A Family Tragicomic an autobiographical tragicomic chronicling her childhood and the years before and after her father s suicide It follows both the past and present regarding the relationship she shares with her parents specifically her father Additionally this graphic memoir helps show the hardships individuals face when coming out 19 Fun Home has received more widespread mainstream attention than Bechdel s earlier work with reviews in Entertainment Weekly People and several features in The New York Times 20 Fun Home spent two weeks on The New York Times Bestseller List for Hardcover Nonfiction 21 22 Fun Home was hailed as one of the best books of 2006 by numerous sources including The New York Times 23 amazon com 24 25 The Times of London 26 Publishers Weekly 27 salon com 28 New York magazine 29 and Entertainment Weekly 29 Time magazine named Alison Bechdel s Fun Home number one of its 10 Best Books of the Year Lev Grossman and Richard LeCayo described Fun Home as the unlikeliest literary success of 2006 and called it a stunning memoir about a girl growing up in a small town with her cryptic perfectionist dad and slowly realizing that a she is gay and b he is too Bechdel s breathtakingly smart commentary duets with eloquent line drawings Forget genre and sexual orientation this is a masterpiece about two people who live in the same house but different worlds and their mysterious debts to each other 30 Fun Home was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award in the memoir autobiography category 31 32 It also won the 2007 Eisner Award for Best Reality Based Work 33 Fun Home was also nominated for the Best Graphic Album award and Bechdel was nominated for Best Writer Artist 34 In 2014 the Republican led South Carolina House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee considered cutting the College of Charleston s funding by 52 000 the cost of the summer reading program for selecting Fun Home for a reading program 35 36 37 Fun Home premiered as a musical Off Broadway at The Public Theater on September 30 2013 and opened officially on October 22 2013 The score was by Jeanine Tesori and the book and lyrics were written by Lisa Kron 38 39 Kron and Tesori made history as the first all woman team to win a Tony Award for best score 40 Originally scheduled to run through November 3 2013 the run was extended multiple times and the musical closed on January 12 2014 The Public Theater production was directed by Sam Gold Sets and costumes were by David Zinn lighting by Ben Stanton sound by Kai Harada projections by Jim Findlay and Jeff Sugg and choreography by Danny Mefford 41 The musical played at Broadway s Circle in the Square Theatre with previews from March 27 2015 and an official opening on April 19 2015 running to September 10 2016 Sam Gold who directed the Public Theater production also directed the show on Broadway leading the Off Broadway production team The Off Broadway cast reprised their roles on Broadway except for the actors playing John Christian and Medium Alison The Broadway musical won five Tony Awards including Best Musical Best Performance by an Actor in Leading Role in a Musical Best Original Score Music and or Lyrics Written for the Theatre Best Book of a Musical and Best Direction of a Musical 42 On January 3 2020 it was announced that Jake Gyllenhaal and his Nine Stories Productions banner secured the rights to adapt the musical version of Fun Home into a film Sam Gold who directed the Broadway production is set to helm the film in which Gyllenhaal will star as Bruce Bechdel 43 Are You My Mother Edit Main article Are You My Mother memoir Bechdel suspended work on Dykes to Watch Out For in 2008 so that she could work on her second graphic memoir Are You My Mother A Comic Drama which was released in May 2012 44 It focuses on her relationship with her mother Bechdel described its themes as the self subjectivity desire the nature of reality that sort of thing 45 which is a paraphrase of a quote from Virginia Woolf s To the Lighthouse The story s dramatic action is multi layered and divides into a number of narrative strands Bechdel s phone conversations with her mother in the present Bechdel s memories of interactions with her mother throughout her life beginning in childhood Bechdel s therapy sessions whose primary content is composed of analysis of her relationship with her mother Bechdel s richly imagined and diligently researched historical portrayals of psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott and author Virginia Woolf spliced together with Bechdel s own therapeutic journey with text from the psychoanalytic writings of Alice Miller along with the story of Bechdel s own reading through and relating to the works of Sigmund Freud An excerpt of the book entitled Mirror was included in the Best American Comics 2013 edited by Jeff Smith This episode riffs heavily on psychoanalytic themes quoted explicitly from the work of psychoanalysts Alice Miller and Donald Winnicott The Secret to Superhuman Strength Edit Bechdel published another memoir The Secret to Superhuman Strength in 2021 Personal life EditBechdel came out as a lesbian at age 19 46 Her sexuality and gender non conformity are a large part of the core message of her work and has said that the secret subversive goal of my work is to show that women not just lesbians are regular human beings 47 In February 2004 Bechdel married Amy Rubin her girlfriend since 1992 in a civil ceremony in San Francisco However all same sex marriage licenses given by the city at that time were subsequently voided by the California Supreme Court Bechdel and Rubin separated in 2006 48 She subsequently lived with her partner Holly Rae Taylor a painter 6 for seven and a half years before their marriage in July 2015 49 She lives in Bolton Vermont in a house she bought in 1996 adding her own studio to work in 6 50 Selected works EditThe Essential Dykes to Watch Out For Houghton Mifflin 2008 ISBN 978 0618968800 Fun Home A Family Tragicomic Houghton Mifflin 2006 ISBN 0 618 47794 2 Are You My Mother A Comic Drama Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2012 ISBN 0 618 98250 7 The Secret to Superhuman Strength Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2021 ISBN 978 0224101905 Awards EditTime Magazine listed Fun Home as one of its 10 Best Books of the Year for 2006 Eisner Award for Best Reality Based Work in 2007 51 Stonewall Book Awards Israel Fishman Non Fiction Award in 2007 52 Guggenheim Fellowship 2012 51 Inkpot Award 2012 53 The Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement from Publishing Triangle in 2012 The International Forum for Psychoanalytic Education Distinguished Educator Award in 2013 A MacArthur Fellowship in 2014 3 Lambda Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Literature in 2014 54 The Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media in 2015 55 Harvey Awards 2019 Hall of Fame inductee The award was presented to Bechdel by Chip Kidd during the Harvey Awards at New York Comic Con 56 For her outstanding contributions to the comic art form Comics Alliance listed Bechdel as one of twelve women cartoonists deserving of lifetime achievement recognition 57 See also Edit Novels portalFemale comics creators ComicsReferences Edit Alison Bechdel Audio Name Pronunciation TeachingBooks net Retrieved August 11 2014 mp3 Michael Paulson Patrick Healy June 8 2015 Tony Awards Fun Home Wins Best Musical and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time Best Play The New York Times Retrieved June 8 2015 a b Lee Felicia R September 17 2014 MacArthur Awards Go to 21 Diverse Fellows The New York Times Helen Bechdel Obituary Bellefonte Pennsylvania Wetzler Funeral Home Inc May 14 2013 Archived from the original on December 20 2013 Retrieved January 13 2017 a b c Tyrkus Michael J Bronski Michael eds 1997 Gay amp Lesbian Biography Alison Bechdel Detroit St James Press ISBN 978 1 55862 237 1 Literature Resource Center Web March 8 2016 a b c Judith Thurman April 16 2012 Drawn from Life The New Yorker Retrieved December 3 2018 a b c Collection Alison Bechdel papers Smith College Finding Aids Retrieved May 15 2020 The Indelible Alison Bechdel Confessions Comix and Miscellaneous Dykes to Watch Out For Firebrand Books 1998 ISBN 978 1 56341 097 0 a b Bechdel Alison Frivolous Aimless Queries Dykes to Watch Out For Retrieved February 22 2012 Dictionary Dykes to Watch Out For November 30 2006 Robertson Mike October 22 2013 College to Host Award Winning Cartoonist and Author Alison Bechdel The College Today Retrieved January 10 2023 Alison Bechdel Richard and Mary L Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry The University of Chicago Retrieved May 15 2020 Hallenbeck Brent March 28 2016 Alison Bechdel named Vermont Cartoonist Laureate Burlington Free Press Retrieved April 4 2018 Bechdel Alison Fun Home The Musical Seven Days Retrieved December 3 2018 Bechdel Alison November 23 2016 Dykes to Watch Out For Piece de Resistance Seven Days Retrieved December 3 2018 Bechdel Alison March 14 2017 New Dykes to Watch Out For Tackles the Ides of Trump Seven Days Retrieved December 3 2018 Bechdel Alison July 5 2017 Dykes to Watch Out For Ponders How to Unify a Divided Country Seven Days Retrieved December 3 2018 Alison Bechdel Seven Days Retrieved January 10 2023 Killacky John R Alison Bechdel graphic alchemist The Gay amp Lesbian Review Worldwide 19 5 2012 44 Literature Resource Center Web March 8 2016 Wilsey Sean June 18 2006 The Things They Buried The New York Times July 9 2006 Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers The New York Times July 9 2006 Retrieved December 18 2006 July 16 2006 Hardcover Nonfiction Best Sellers The New York Times July 16 2006 Retrieved December 18 2006 100 Notable Books of the Year The New York Times Sunday Book Review December 3 2006 Retrieved December 12 2006 Best Books of 2006 Editors Top 50 Amazon Retrieved June 19 2014 Best of 2006 Top 10 Editors Picks Memoirs Amazon Retrieved June 19 2014 Gatti Tom December 16 2006 The 10 best books of 2006 number 10 Fun Home The Times London Retrieved December 18 2006 The First Annual PW Comics Week Critic s Poll Publishers Weekly Online Publishers Weekly December 19 2006 Archived from the original on January 23 2007 Retrieved December 19 2006 Laura Miller Hillary Frey December 12 2006 Best debuts of 2006 salon com Archived from the original on May 12 2008 Retrieved December 12 2006 a b Christopher Bonanos Logan Hill Jim Holt et al December 18 2006 The Year in Books New York Archived from the original on December 13 2006 Retrieved December 12 2006 Grossman Lev Richard Lacayo December 17 2006 10 Best Books Time Archived from the original on January 9 2007 Retrieved December 18 2006 Getlin Josh January 21 2007 Book Critics Circle nominees declared Los Angeles Times Retrieved June 19 2014 NBCC Awards Finalists National Book Critics Circle Archived from the original on October 2 2006 Retrieved January 22 2007 The 2007 Eisner Awards Winners List San Diego Comic Con Archived from the original on June 26 2010 Retrieved July 31 2007 The 2007 Eisner Awards 2007 Master Nominations List San Diego Comic Con Archived from the original on August 8 2007 Retrieved July 31 2007 Seanna Adcox February 19 2014 SC lawmakers vote to punish colleges book choices San Francisco Chronicle Associated Press Archived from the original on February 26 2014 Retrieved February 21 2014 Borden Jeremy February 20 2014 Palmetto Sunrise College of Charleston dollars cut for promotion of lesbians The Post and Courier Charleston SC Archived from the original on February 21 2014 Retrieved February 21 2014 Tracy Mumford September 1 2015 College students object to reading bestselling pornographic memoir Minnesota Public Radio News Retrieved January 13 2017 The Verdict Critics Review Jeanine Tesori Lisa Kron Musical Fun Home at the Public Theater Playbill October 23 2013 Retrieved January 13 2017 Ben Btantley January 12 2014 Fun Home a New Musical at the Public Theater The New York Times Retrieved January 13 2017 Purcell Carey June 7 2015 Fun Home Duo Make History as First All Female Writing Team to Win the Tony Playbill Retrieved January 13 2017 Fun Home IBDB The official source for Broadway Information October 12 2014 Archived from the original on October 12 2014 Retrieved November 27 2019 Pedersen Erik June 8 2015 Tony Award Winners 2015 Full List Fun Home Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night Time Lead The Way Deadline Hollywood Retrieved April 15 2017 Jake Gyllenhaal to Produce amp Star in Movie Musical Adaptation of Fun Home Broadway com Bechdel s ARE YOU MY MOTHER gets 100K first printing The Beat The News Blog of Comics Culture January 4 2012 Retrieved January 14 2012 Garner Dwight July 20 2007 Stray Questions for Alison Bechdel ArtsBeat blog The New York Times Retrieved August 14 2007 Samer Roxane February 23 2010 A Conversation with Alison Bechdel Genderacrossborders wordpress com Retrieved November 22 2017 Joost Wesley May 15 2000 Sing Lesbian Cat Fly Lesbian Seagull An Interview With Alison Bechdel PDF The Guardsman p 10 Archived from the original PDF on November 17 2015 Retrieved September 21 2015 pg 11 missing Burkeman Oliver October 16 2006 A life stripped bare free registration required The Guardian Retrieved January 22 2007 Tim Teeman April 29 2015 Lesbian Desire a Father s Suicide and 12 Tony Noms Alison Bechdel on Fun Home Thedailybeast com Sollberger Eva director May 6 2021 Stuck in Vermont Alison Bechdel Shares The Secret to Superhuman Strength Seven Days Event occurs at 10 31 Retrieved May 6 2021 a b Kennedy Martha H 2018 Drawn to purpose American women illustrators and cartoonists Hayden Carla Diane 1952 Jackson Mississippi Library of Congress pp 182 183 ISBN 978 1 4968 1592 7 OCLC 993601764 ALA Stonewall Book Awards www ala org Retrieved March 8 2016 Inkpot Award Comic Con International San Diego December 6 2012 Winners of the 26th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Announced Lambda Literary June 3 2014 Retrieved March 8 2016 Erikson Institute Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media Austen Riggs Center Retrieved April 4 2018 Gustines George Gene September 25 2019 Harvey Awards Hall of Fame to Induct New Members The New York Times Retrieved November 27 2019 12 Women in Comics Who Deserve Lifetime Achievement Recognition Comicsalliance com Archived from the original on August 1 2016 Retrieved January 13 2017 Further reading EditChute Hillary L 2010 Graphic Women Life Narrative and Contemporary Comics 1st ed New York N Y Columbia University Press ISBN 978 0 231 15062 0 OCLC 496610090 Dube Ilene September 24 2018 Alison Bechdel s Mission to Make Lesbian Culture Visible Through Comics Hyperallergic External links EditAlison Bechdel at Wikipedia s sister projects Media from Commons Quotations from Wikiquote Data from Wikidata Official website Alison Bechdel from Toons Mag Alison Bechdel at Curlie Alison Bechdel papers at the Sophia Smith Collection Smith College Special Collections Seven Days newspaper Interview on Vermont PBS Profile Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Alison Bechdel amp oldid 1136473196, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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