First Spring Grass Fire

(Paperback)

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Description

Rae Spoon has six albums and a Polaris Prize nomination, and they have been published in the anthology Persistence. Now the transgender artist presents a coming-of-age story about growing up queer in a strict Pentecostal family. At first the narrator faithfully attends church with their family. Upon discovering the music that becomes their means of escape, things begin to change. Their father's schizophrenia causes their parents' marriage to unravel, leading them to take comfort in their siblings and in the awareness that they are not the person their parents think they are.

Reviews

Rae Spoon is definitely more than a songwriter to swoon for; I predict that First Spring Grass Fire will be a curative for all the heartbroken kids in small towns trying to fight for their right to be who they are. This collection of tender-hearted coming-of-age stories is an impressive literary gem. --Zoe Whittall, author of Holding Still for as Long as Possible

First Spring Grass Fire will be meaningful to anyone who has struggled to fit in -- and who hasn't By telling these stories -- of being different, queer, raised in a rigid belief system you didn't choose, trying to be yourself within circumstances you can't control -- Rae Spoon illustrates the triumph in reclaiming and controlling your own identity. This moving collection is a story of what we do to find a place, physical or intangible, that we can call home.--National Post

A heartbreaking, fictionalized, short-story memoir. --Ms. Magazine

Transgender indie musician Rae Spoon has six albums under the belt, but this raw and beautifully lyrical new memoir-meets-novel about growing up queer in a strict Pentecostal famly with a schizophrenic father is the best contribution yet. --The Advocate

Author Bio

Rae Spoon: Rae Spoon is a transgender musician/writer/workshop facilitator from Calgary, Canada. Rae has been nominated for a Polaris Prize, toured internationally, and released six solo albums. They were recently published in the Arsenal Pulp Press anthology Persistence and composed the instrumental score for the National Film Board film Dead Man.