The Life and Times of Butch Dykes
The Life and Times of Butch Dykes is a series of fanzines that chronicles the biographies of masculine lesbians of note by Montreal micro publisher B&D Press. They are written and illustrated by Eloisa Aquino.
B&D Press describes the publication as "zines about the lives and times of amazing women who could be considered icons against heteronormativity, in their very personal and unique ways... They were and are brave people who tried to be authentic and faithful to what they perceived as their true identity."
The Life and Times of Butch Dykes won the Expozine award for Best Zine in 2009.
Issues
- Chavela Vargas - Volume 1, Issue 1
The biography of the Mexican singer is full of drama and surprising twists. Her bravery, sexual discovery, and musical accomplishments are told in a straight-forward short narrative accompanied by ink black-and-white drawings.
- JD Samson - Volume 1, Issue 2
This zine cover the biography of activist and musician JD Samson, of bands Le Tigre and MEN.
- Gladys Bentley - Volume 1 - Issue 3
Covering the progressive times of the Harlem Renaissance, in the 1920s, this issue is devoted to black blues singer and pianist Gladys Bentley, who broke new grounds performing dressed as a man and living as an openly gay person.
- Gertrude Stein - Volume 2 - Issue 1
Gertrude Stein is known not only as an avant-garde writer but also as a focus of Modernism, having attracted all the important figures of the artistic movement to the Paris house that she shared with her lifelong partner, Alice B. Toklas.
- Claude Cahun - Volume 2 - Issue 2
A photographer ahead of her time who is recently being "rediscovered" by a new audience, Claude Cahun was also a political activist, performer, and writer. Her enigmatic work questions issues of identity, gender, and sexuality.
