Autumn Books Preview: Girls Resist by Kaelyn Rich

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Girls resist is the guide book we all needed as teenagers – and perhaps still need in our lives. Released by Quirk Books Girls Resist is a guide for every activist girl out there. It would be the perfect gift for any girl, deftly explaining terms like privilege and the glass ceiling and micro aggressions at the beginning of each chapter and also giving a clear idea on how to combat those through activism at the close. It is a book that doesn’t talk down to the reader instead treats them as an equal and takes their hand to try and help build a better world together. It’s also an extremely entertaining read, with contributions from the author including her own experiences and her activism tips. It’s accompanied by some lovely illustrations that really set the tone for the book, making it an object that you would want to have around your house as well as read. No other publisher operating right now seems to understand the delight of beautiful packaging quite like Quirk books. And long may they last. So says Girls Resist and so say I. 

 

We Love Lucy – An appreciation of the Timeless leading lady

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TIMELESS — “Darlington” Episode 202 — Pictured: Abigail Spencer as Lucy Preston — (Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

For Co-editor Grainne Coyne Timeless protagonist, Lucy Preston, has been one of the best feminist characters to hit our screens in years. In the wake of the series cancellation announcement we decided to sing our praises for the wonder that is Lucy. 

We’ve discussed how fantastic this show is in past issues of Cinders, but season two of Timeless somehow managed to surpass season one, which was not easy, given  they only had ten episodes.  Timeless is a show of total  perfection for so many reasons. It’s received 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, it has nuanced looks at parts of history that are often ignored, and raises stories of  feminism, LGBTQ stories and racism to the forefront. It is really up there with one of the best fun and moving fantasy, drama shows at the moment. So much so, I am totally dumbfounded that it  hasn’t been renewed for season three. 

There are so many things I could discuss about what I loved about this season, but there is one person who stands out to me consistently, and that is Lucy Preston. Lucy is literally having the worst time during season two. 

(Spoilers ahead for those who have not caught up). Not only has she learnt that her parents are both high up in the chain in an evil organization known as Rittenhouse, but  as a result of this, it makes her “Rittenhouse royalty”.  

From this she has lost her sister as a result of time travel, lost her mother because she chose not to become a part of Rittenhouse and lost her once close relationship to Wyatt, because Rittenhouse decided to bring his wife, Jessica back from the dead, and he decided it would be a great idea to have her move in the bunker with them all.  

So she really doesn’t start off season two great. Despite all of this, she still carries a strength and resolve to do the right thing, even if she hurts herself as a result.

So, you refuse to confess to being something you’re not. That’s brave, and I’m proud to be in your company

This was evident in season one where despite being constant life threatening situations, she isn’t afraid to stand up for what’s right,  and stand up to villains be it Rittenhouse, and even tries on many occasions to get through to their then “enemy”,  Flynn. But in season two there is a lot more vulnerability and pain from Lucy that we witness from the get go. Lucy is hurting(understandably so) and I am so glad that we got to see that this season in a realistic manner.  I love that Lucy is a historian, who uses her smarts when it comes to meeting these amazing historical icons, but  she always manages to connect to them on a personal level. From Irene Curie, Grace Humiston to even a young Denise Christopher, they all eventually open up to Lucy and she to them, and helping each other as a result. Lucy puts herself on the line for others, but all too often, doesn’t seem to do it for herself. This is evident, when we see her on her own in the bunker that we realise this is a woman who has been through a lot and is still going through a lot. 

Perhaps she isn’t handling it the right way but that’s what makes her more human to me, more real. 

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My favourite episodes  are definitely the Salem Witch Trials and Suffragette Movement episodes.  For what sticks out to me in these the most, is how Lucy again stands and defends women(a constant theme throughout their time travelling adventures). In the Salem episode, despite having an opportunity to escape, Lucy chooses to stay with the women who are accused of being witches.

“You don’t have to defend your reputation to me. You’re not like the other women, and that makes people uncomfortable. So, they mock you and they tell you you’re stupid. But you refuse to change, and then that makes people mad. So, they attack you, call you evil. I know that none of that is true. So, you talk to birds, or you like dolls. So, you refuse to confess to being something you’re not. That’s brave, and I’m proud to be in your company.”

Every day that you get to do your job, another woman out there is making sacrifices, so that  you can keep doing it. If you’re not gonna help, then just get the hell out of the way

That speech beautifully delivered by the amazing Abigail Spencer, who plays Lucy, moves me to tears every time.  

And again Abigail delivers a powerful performance as Lucy in the suffragette episode. While it is probably not completely historically accurate, its sentiment is very clear. The suffrage movement is clearly important to Lucy as it is to many women. So when it is put at risk, because of again “Rittenhouse” who at this point is just a really, evil, misogynistic organisation.  Lucy is willing to fight for women’s right to vote and women’s rights in general. There are many moments that hit me to the core in this episode, but my favourite had to be when Lucy  lectures  Grace about the importance of the suffrage and the importance of well, feminism.

It’s a speech that is not only necessary in that moment, but given everything that is happening in the world definitely can be applied to today.

“…you really have no idea what all of this is about, do you? You think because you are smart enough or tough enough to make it into the boys’ club that everybody else should be able to do that too, is that it? So you’re under no obligation to help other women. You think that Alice wanted to be beaten by police, sent to prison, force-fed. She would have spent the next fifty years living the same hell over and over again, so women like you could ride her coattails.  Every day that you get to do your job, another woman out there is making sacrifices, so that  you can keep doing it. If you’re not gonna help, then just get the hell out of the way.”

It’s wonderful to see a female heroine like Lucy expressing traits of empathy, love, understanding and, femininity.

From there, Lucy chooses to take it upon herself to make the important speech directed at President Woodrow Wilson knowing full well, her life would be at risk if she chooses to do so. Fortunately Grace was so horrified by the women being beaten at the march, that she took it upon herself to do speech directed at President Wilson. I reckon though Lucy’s passion and fury helped too. 

While there are so many shows that are putting female characters to the forefront, Lucy stands out to me not just for her clear feminist objectives, her affirmative beliefs and her big passion for history, but mostly for her determination to constantly do the right thing and is probably why I love her as much as I do. 

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While with most sci-fi shows, when it comes to depicting a “strong female lead”, they seem to follow a narrative that a woman is deemed often to be only “strong”, if she appears tough, Timeless is different. While there is nothing wrong with that in some senses, in this era of post Wonder Woman, it’s wonderful to see a female heroine like Lucy expressing traits of empathy, love, understanding and, femininity. She also unapologetically stands up for herself emotionally throughout, which I think is very important for young women to see and realise that their emotional needs to be valued by themselves and others too.  I only hope somehow get more of Timeless, so we can explore this from Lucy’s prospective and for Lucy to realise just how amazing and capable she really is.

Follow Grainne at @grainnenewsie on Twitter

Hear me Roar! Or, how I learned to deal with my anger at the world

This week we released a new issue of Cinders Magazine, our tenth publication if you can believe it! And in it I had some very strong opinions about today’s society and how I deal with my anger at it.

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‘I am woman hear me roar’ is an anthem, both literally and metaphorically. It originally comes from the song ‘I am woman’ by singer-songwriter Helen Reddy, released in 1971. Since then it has become the calling card of the feminist movement. And given the events of the last year; the revelations, the horrible crimes that have come to light; the general attitude of the world towards women and their bodies: I’d say we need it now more than ever.

THE GLASS ceiling, #Me Too, gender quotas, sexual assault, microagressions. All of these issues affect different women in different ways. All of them make me want to roar at the sky on a daily basis. And among the world’s women, I’m one of the lucky ones. Those of us who were born cis-gendered, heterosexual and white need to accept and acknowledge that among women as a whole, we haxve privilege, and a lot of it. And this doesn’t mean that terrible things can’t happen to us, or that when they do, the trauma of those actions are diminished. But it does mean that we get given a start that is a couple of rungs up the ladder from other women.

We have to work a little less hard to get to the top. And that’s important to be mindful of when we are looking at our lives. Privilege is just that – a gift. It’s not something that other people want to take away from you – it’s something that they wish that they could share in. So it’s our job to constantly ask questions and learn from other women about their truth, about how we can help make a better world for each other. And then we can go on roaring for ourselves and for each other.

I don’t know about you, dear reader, but I have a lot of things that I want to be roaring about, all of the time. Every time I read a story about a girl who has been attacked; when I see hard working women abused for their jobs online; when I see the lengths some women have to go to be taken seriously in the workplace. And that’s just the macro scale. The big things that make my blood boil. There’s the small scale stuff too. The fact that if I pass a bunch of drunken men on a night out, they will make a comment. The fact that I get nervous every time I see a man walking near me when I’m walking back to my car at night.

The fact that if a sexist joke is told in my presence, people think it’s okay because they have prefaced it by saying ‘Now I’m not a sexist but .. .’ The fact that when I mention that I run a feminist pop culture magazine there are so many people that say: ‘Feminism? Isn’t that a bit extreme?’ Or ‘Are you just jumping on the bandwagon?’ Or ‘Oh, well I wouldn’t know anything about that, I don’t think I’d be interested in it.’ Sigh. I get angry and frustrated by the world around me all of the time. It boils up into a white hot ball, burns up inside and ends up hurting precisely one person: me.

Creativity is the best thing I’ve ever found for dealing with my own anger with the world.

Because those of you out there who are introverts know: inside anger doesn’t do us any good. And unfortunately for us, we’re not great at expressing outside anger all that well. I’ve tried all of the big things. I’ve tried breaking things. I’ve tried meditating at things. I’ve tried to ignore things. None of it works. None of it makes the white boiling ball go away. The only thing that I’ve ever found to be in any way effective is not breaking things, but making them instead. Creativity is the best thing I’ve ever found for dealing with my own anger with the world. I write a poem about my anger. I play my piano as hard as I can, hitting all of the keys too forcefully. I draw a picture with heavy black lines to emphasise what I’m feeling course through me.

I write a story about a girl who is stronger than the world around her. I make a short film about the pressures and anxieties that I deal with. I create a feminist pop culture magazine. In short, I roar. I roar with music and with art and with writing. I roar in a way that my brain will allow me to, in a way that I never regret, feel guilty or embarrassed about. I think it’s because making things doesn’t mean you have to stop being angry. You have to stay angry. The anger is in the thing I’ve created. And if it’s something permanent, then my anger is permanent too. And that’s the biggest relief there is. Because I’m able to put my anger into something constructive, into something new, I can walk away from it. I’ve thrown the big white boiling ball out of me and into something new. And it might not be great, it might not even be good. But it’s no longer in me, and that’s the important thing. I plan on staying angry, and I’ll keep on roaring for as long as I keep on creating. Because I am woman, and they will hear me roar.

Photograph of the author by Martin McDonnell.

Rocking the World – An Interview with Siobhán Parkinson

First published in Cinders Volume Two, Issue Two

Women of Irish history don’t usually get a large amount of pages in school history books. Rocking the System is a book that wants to change that. Written by Siobhán Parkinson, Rocking the System from Little Island Books, opens a window into the histories of 20 Irish trailblazers. Méabh McDonnell spoke to Siobhán about the empowering figures that made up the book. 

When we look back on 2017 and 2018, I don’t know everything we’ll remember about the year, but I know that it will stick out in my mind as a year of revolution. Of women making noise, standing up for one another and calling for an end to unjust systems. One hundred years after some -but not all- of us were granted the right to vote, it seems right that the revolution should carry on in a new way, in a different way. We have shouted, screamed and made new noise.

And we are not done. Part of that revolutionary spirit has boiled over into many different areas including publishing, both for children and young adults. We’ve seen this through the upsurge of stories about rebellious women throughout history. We are telling women’s stories of the past and they are affecting us today, inspiring us to reach higher and keep on telling our own stories to the world.

Siobhán Parkinson and Grainne Clear of Little Island Books were inspired by this idea and wanted to create a book, highlighting some of the trailblazing women of Irish history. “We went to the book fair in Bologna and we saw that lots of different countries were doing this and we thought, ‘wounldn’t it be great to do this for Ireland?’ because we have some amazing women in Ireland and many of them wouldn’t be known outside of Ireland’. We also were thinking about the centenary of votes for women coming up and we wanted to do something for that,” said Siobhán.

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Putting together a who’s who of significant Irish women was always going to be a challenge, how to narrow down what is a long list of remarkable people. This was something that Siobhán and the team who were researching the women had to face early on, “Some of them were activists, some of them were actively involved in the votes for women campaign, particularly Hanna Sheehy Skeffington and then of course, Countess Markievicz who actually stood for election in that first election where women were allowed to vote,  won a seat in Westminster, (which she didn’t take) and then went on to be Minister for Labour in the Dáil.

“So you couldn’t leave those people out, first because they were important to the suffrage movement along with being very big names.”

There is no doubt that female activists have changed the political landscape in Ireland in the last 100 years, but the wonderful thing about Rocking the System, is that it’s a book that reflects all the wonderful roles women have contributed to Ireland. This is something Siobhan is particularly proud of.

I think these women had to fight to become their own woman, to overcome all of the pressures and prohibitions that were on women.

“But we didn’t want it to be just political activists, so we also wanted to feature people who had made a difference, made history, people who had changed the landscape. They could be people like Eileen Gray, who was a wonderful designer. After her, design changed. She was inventing wonderful things, she was a woman who changed the way things were done. We wanted people who had done things that had mattered whether it was in the political sphere, the social sphere or in the artistic sphere,”she said.

“Every single one of these women, whether they would think of themselves as feminists or not, they were all their own woman. That’s the message that I want to give. When young girls read this book, I want them to think, ‘They’re their own woman, I want to be my own woman.’

“It doesn’t matter what your area is, you can be your own person, and make your mark. Now, today it’s true girls do have many more opportunities to become their own women, there are much more subtle and hidden pressures on women now than there were. I think these women had to fight to become their own woman, to overcome all of the pressures and prohibitions that were on women, in spite of these obstacles they were able to become their own person. They couldn’t vote, they couldn’t go to university. If you go back as far as Anna Parnell, she came from a very privileged, upperclass background, but she was out fighting for tenant farmers rights like her brother Charles, but she had much more constraints on her than he had. It was much more difficult for her to do what she did. Yet she achieved so much and afterwards she was sidelined. Most people haven’t even heard of Anna Parnell,” Siobhán pointed out.

Women of history have had incredible lives in order to overcome this terrible misogyny. In researching their lives new details come to light that make these ideas even more incredible. That’s the great joy of historical research. Siobhán learned this with Anne Devlin.

“The one that surprised me the most was Anne Devlin. This woman was always  associated with Robert Emmet and the Rising. She was ‘his housekeeper’. That was all we knew about her. But  when you read the story of Anne Devlin, she was a poor woman who came from a humble background. She was tortured because of her association with Emmet, she was half-hanged, and she was sent to jail along with her whole family. Her youngest brother who was only seven was arrested and sent to jail. He died as a result of his stay in jail. So that, to me was an absolute revelation. She was known because of a recent film made about her but she passed me by. But when the research was done and I looked into her she was a complete revelation to me.”

She might seem unusual feminist, a woman who wrote a love poem, but when you read into who she was and what she did you see that she was unconventional, but by god was she her own woman!

“Dervla Murphy who is a travel writer was another unusual inclusion. You don’t usually think of a travel writer as being an amazing feminist achievement but actually, she was such a brave, fearless, woman. In fact I think it may have been from Dervla that we got the word fearless for the title! I mean, going off to India on her bicycle at the age of thirty five, was just amazing. She, to me, is a woman who is her own woman.”

“She just went off and did her own thing, and that’s so admirable. I remember my mother reading her books and it stuck in my head. So when it came time to choose some of the women to include, I said, why not pick Dervla Murphy? Someone who flew in the face of convention.”

Rocking the System shines a light on women from a multitude of different backgrounds, with an incredible breath of stories that inspire them. Some of these are less well known, such as Dervla Murphy, and others are downright dramatic, such as Eibhlin Dubh Ní Chonnaill, who wrote  Caoineadh Airt Uí Laoghaire, a famous love poem. After being widowed, she fell in love with Art Ó Laoghaire and married him for love.

This wasn’t something her family approved of, but she did it anyway. A few years later Art Ó Laoghaire was killed and she rode off to find his dead body. “Apparently, she was so grief stricken that she knelt down and sucked his blood!” said Siobhán. “It would have been as a kind of ritual to give her strength maybe. But she then wrote this wonderful love poem about him. It’s just so brilliant and moving and romantic, I feel like she was an important figure in the book.”

A happy fact is that young women in Ireland are themselves trailblazing new exciting opportunities and building their own unique paths to success. One of the challenges involved in putting together Rocking the System was deciding whether to include younger Irish women or not.

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“A lot of the women that  we have been focusing on are from the 20th century, we have about five women before the 20th century, which touches on different points in Irish history. We made the decision to stop at the 20th century. There are some younger women who we would love to have put in as well, from Saoirse Ronan to Joanne O’Riordan, who are incredible young women. But we made the decision that we wanted to be able to include someone’s whole career, from childhood to adulthood through to retirement. That’s a story in itself. The youngest person in it is Sonia O’Sullivan, who is not old by any means! But she has finished her running career. It was a hard decision to take.”

The democratic process is hard won, and that’s important to remember, it’s only when you realise how hard won it is, you realise how precious it is.

In recognising these women who fearlessly changed history, we can take stock of just how far we’ve come as women in Ireland. 100 years on from the first Irish women to get the vote, I asked Siobhán what that landmark date and legacy meant to her, “Well, it was really only the beginning because it wasn’t universal suffrage by any means but what it means is women got the vote as a result of enormous pressure from women and women who sacrificed themselves, women like Hanna Sheehy Skeffington who was in and out of jail and on hunger strikes and Countess Markievicz as well. They really did put their  lives on the line and they put their health on the line and they really had to agitate the system. It shows the vote for women was won at a cost, it was really fought for and we have to remember that, how hard won it was. The democratic process is hard won, and that’s important to remember it’s only when you realise how hard won it is, you realise how precious it is,” said Siobhán. She continued, “Women and girls should regard their vote as a precious thing. Every time I vote I feel like I’m exercising an important right. For me it is a very precious thing, the vote.”

We’re sure the women of Rocking the System would agree.

Illustration by Bren Luke

Diamond in the Rough – An interview with Aine Cahill

Rising star of the Irish music industry Áine Cahill is about to hit it big. Her new single, Blood Diamonds, is blowing up the airwaves and her tour has seen her perform with the likes of Kodaline and  JP Cooper. Having been named on multiple ‘ones to watch’ and ‘best newcomer’ lists, Aine Cahill is definitely someone to keep two eyes on in 2018. Méabh McDonnell spoke to her about her music, writing, and hopes for the future

There aren’t many people who would go up on stage and declare ‘I’m the biggest bitch in the world’ but Áine Cahill is not your average person. Of course she’s telling the story of the  girl in her single, ‘Blood Diamonds’ when she says it, but still, it takes guts.

Originally from Cavan, Áine wasn’t someone who considered music as a profession when she was young. ‘When I was younger I was really into sport, I was like a tomboy, and then when I was about 15 or 16, I was sitting in the kitchen, just listening to music and it was a performance that Lady Gaga did on the radio. She was just accompanied by piano, and I listened to it and said, “ I want to play the piano,” and then it just went on from there. I just started to focus on music, when I was 18 I started writing songs, and that was where I began.’

Having never gone for music lessons, you might have thought music was something daunting for Áine but she just jumped right in. ‘I didn’t even study music in school, it’s weird, I just found it, or it found me, I suppose you could say.’

‘I taught myself how to play piano from YouTube and singing, well that just came out of no where, I suppose it came from doing covers of my favorite songs. All of the Lady Gaga songs, I used to cover them, and sing them everywhere, that’s kind of where I learned to sing.’

From humble beginnings, Áine pursued music and kept going when she figured out this was her dream, ‘At the beginning when I first started I was really nervous, really nervous, but I just had to get out there and do it.  It comes with the territory, I suppose, you have to get out there and do it, if you want to perform.’

I didn’t even study music in school, it’s weird, I just found it, or it found me, I suppose you could say.

The last two years have seen all of that hard work pay off with Áne catapulting into the Irish and UK music scene, even getting BBC coverage at Glastonbury. ‘It’s crazy, I suppose the big turning point was when I played Glastonbury, that was a shift in my whole career. It just put me in front of a lot of people. To be honest I had no idea it would be like that when it was happening. Because you do so many things and get nothing from it, but this really blew up, it was crazy. We were just doing a normal set in a small tent at Glastonbury and the BBC just kind of stumbled across the tent and asked us to do Black Dahlia.’

Having done big name festivals such as Glastonbury and Electric Picnic and huge stadiums like the 3 Arena, Áine has experienced a multitude of venues, we wondered if she had a favorite among them? ‘I don’t know, because every gig is different. If I had to choose, I think I’d say the 3 Arena, because it’s so big and you get to perform to so many people, but then you have places like The Grand Social and that was where I played my first sold-out headline show, to 200 and that’s so intimate that you get to really connect with everyone. So it’s two different types of gigs really. I love all of them.’

Áine’s gigs are full of striking, powerful atmosphere, which is reflected in the quality of her music. Áine takes her inspiration from other female artists who use storytelling in their atmospheric lyriccs, ‘My biggest inspiration are Lady Gaga, Lana de Rey and Marina and the Diamonds, I think if I ever stumbled across team in real life I’d die!’

This inspiration is clear in Áine’s music which tells her own unique stories. . She tells the stories of unusual women. From Black Dahlia, which tells the story of a Hollywood murder in the 50s to Blood Diamonds, where she assumes the personality of a cold-hearted woman, ‘the biggest bitch in the world’. The lyrics stick in your mind. ‘When I first started writing all of my songs were like that [story based]. When I started developing my songwriting on my own I just realized that all of my songs were built around the story. Storytelling is a big part of my writing. I want people to listen to it and be able to picture themselves in the situation. To see it in their heads.’

Blood Diamonds is full of meaty lyrics, with powerful images. Áine talked about the inspiration behind this song, ‘Blood Diamonds is about just that, blood diamonds, that people are in Africa, risking their lives to get these diamonds over to people over here. That’s what it was based on, something that I see as one of the greediest industries in the world. And I wrote the song about that, it’s about greed and people with the mindset that material things are more important than people, so I’m just playing the role of a bitch, I’m not a bitch though!’

When I started developing my songwriting on my own I just realized that all of my songs were built around the story.

In the latest release of Blood Diamonds, Áine collaborated with Courage, who remastered the song and gave it, in Aine’s words, ‘A new lease of life, it’s still my song, but he brought something new to it. It was completely different experience and was really cool for me.’

Áine’s storytelling lyrics are so refreshing when compared to most hits and new music that is released week on week, and tells another love story. There’s something wonderfully different about that. She has a unique perspective, telling interesting, intricate tales. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever written a love song,’ said Aine. ‘I’m going to be doing a lot of writing over the next few weeks and then I’m hoping to put an album together in the new year, fingers crossed.’

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The Irish music industry is booming at the moment and seems to be in a really good place right now. ‘Ireland is full of huge, huge talent, and even talent that hasn’t been discovered yet, haven’t been put on the radio yet. It’s really cool to be in such a thriving environment at the moment. There’s so much music and talent coming out now, it’s mad, we’re such a small country and yet we have so much to offer.’

It would be great to get more of a spotlight on female artists.

However, even for an industry that’s doing so well, we would always like to see some groups get more recognition, ‘I think it would be really cool to see more female artists, to hear more female artists on the radio, and get more press. It would be great to get more of a spotlight on female artists. There are a lot of male artists in Ireland that are huge and well done to them. But it would be nice to see some more female artists getting out there as much as the male ones,’ said Áine.

Music is a hard road to go down, but one that is filled with so many passionate and talented people. ‘If I was giving advice to people I’d say my golden rule would be having a good manager that you can trust and someone who is going to send you in the right direction is a really good thing to have but I think first and foremost you should write your own songs. It’s really important to write your own material.’

Áine’s music is going from strength to strength right now, and if things continue in this way then Aine is sure to go along with her heroes and inspire many girls to write interesting, lyrical songs of their own.

Follow Áine Cahill on Facebook or Twitter to find out where you can see her live.

Images photographed by Alex Douglas at The Roundhouse, London.

Faerie Queen – An Interview with Holly Black

Over the last ten years, bestselling author Holly Black has rightly earned the title of ‘Faerie Queen’. She weaves a Faerie world that is dangerous and bloodthirsty, far from being a dream come true, these worlds are more like your darkest nightmares brought to life. Méabh McDonnell spoke to Holly about her experience writing her new novel The Cruel Prince and her writing life.

 

A veteran of urban fantasy, Holly Black has delighted readers with her previous ventures into a dark and twisted Faerie world overlapping modern day America.  Her stories are gritty, compelling, and surprisingly realistic for stories about faeries.  Her previous ventures into this Faerie world, have unearthed a collection of brave and strong characters, in Tithe, Valiant, Ironside and The Darkest Part of the Forest.

I started with the idea of this girl being raised by the her parents murderer

The Cruel Prince is a fresh journey into this, cruel world of Faerie. It tells the story of Jude Duarte, kidnapped into Faerie as a child with her twin Taryn, and sister Vivi. If that wasn’t bad enough, they were kidnapped and raised by their parent’s murderer, redcap general Madoc. Jude grows up in their faerie world of Elfhame, and is forced to make this place her home. It isn’t a particularly welcoming place for a human girl to grow up. Even less welcoming because of her enemies in the court, none worse than prince of the realm, Cardan. Prince Cardan takes vicious delight in tormenting Jude, making her life hell. Despite all of this, Jude is determined to make a life for herself within the Faerie kingdom. And she is willing to do almost anything to make it a reality…

Speaking to Holly Black, we found out what she enjoyed about revisiting her world of fairy.

Continue reading Faerie Queen – An Interview with Holly Black

Dream Child: An interview with Irish Musician Sive

Sive is an Irish singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist , with a voice that sounds like the Irish sea. Her music is full of depth and haunting lyrics. Cinders was lucky enough to sit down with Sive and chat about her latest album, The Roaring Girl, the Irish music industry and what she hopes to see in the future.

1.Your music has a really ethereal sound, what would you say is your main inspiration?

I’d say my musical inspiration comes mostly from a combination of folk, jazz and world music. In the last few years I’ve been addicted to a number of African artists like Rokia Troare, Fatoumata Diawera and Ayub Ogada as well as contemporary Irish artists who bring their own flavour to Irish traditional music, like Kila and Colm Mac Con Iomaire. I’m a big lover of jazz as well, particularly the more piano-based stuff. And from a songwriting point of view, I love people who really craft their lyrics, like Joni Mitchell and Jesca Hoop. So I guess it makes sense that those influences might come together to create something slightly ethereal!

Continue reading Dream Child: An interview with Irish Musician Sive

Happy International Women’s Day! Cinders Reading List

Happy international women’s day to all of the friends, mothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins, co-workers, inspirations and activists out there! You all inspire us daily and make us take pride in who we are and make us choose who we want to be.

This year our thanks go out to all of the brave women who have told their stories and truths in the hope that we can be part of a better future. Both in the workplace and outside of it.

Here in Cinders we love brave confident women and we look up to them every day. Here’s hoping that we can grow up to be like them.

If you’re looking for some fantastic International Women’s Day reading then look no further, here’s our definitive list:

If you like non-fiction and badass women:

Rocking the System by Siobhan Parkinson

If you like scientific Victorian feminism:

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Gross

If you like sci-fi dystopias:

Spare and Found Parts by Sarah Maria Griffin

If you like realistic stories:

Almost Love by Louise O’Neill

If you like relatable stories with musicals in the end:

Like other Girls by Claire Hennessy

If you like fairytales:

Tangleweed and Brine by Deirdre Sullivan and Illustrated by Karen Vaughan

Make sure to check out the CBI #BOLDGIRLS hashtag for more brilliant reading recommendations!

New issue of Cinders Magazine out now!

Cinders magazine volume two issue two is out now! This issue is all about empowerment.

From fearless Irish women to #MeToo and body positivity, to remembering great’s like Ursula K. Le Guin, this issue is all about women supporting women. Don’t forget to check out our in-depth interviews with writers Stefanie Preissner, Siobhán Parkinson and Theodora Goss!

Click here to read the bumper new issue Cinders Magazine Volume Two Issue Two

Contributors to Cinders empowerment issue were: Méabh McDonnell Grainne Coyne, Teresa Mulhern, Jasmine Harris, and Aisling O’Halloran.

This issue is insightful and has many home truths to tell, from how to live in the age of #MeToo to understanding the lives of historical women, to thinking about writing.

You won’t be able to stop yourself from diving right in!

Winning the vote: 100 years of women’s suffrage

Today is the 100 the anniversary of women gaining the right to vote in Ireland and the UK.

It was a day that marked a victory in a significant campaign that had been raging for decades before it and represented paving the way towards a future that they would have a more equal hand in deciding.

They paved the path towards a society where all women would one day have the right to vote and make decisions in the running of their countries.

For the likes of Hanna Sheehy Skeffington, Emmeline Pankhurst and Constance Markievicz the Representation of the People Act, 1918 represented the culmination of a fight they had sacrificed for and a world they had rebelled against.

However it’s important to remember that the vote for women that was legalised in 1918 came with large restrictions. Only women over thirty who were landowners or possessed a university education had the right to vote. This meant that only 40 per cent of women were actually entitled to the vote. In Ireland women over 21 didn’t win the right to vote until 1922.

All citizens of the Irish Free State (Saorstát Eireann) without distinction of sex, who have reached the age of twenty-one years and who comply with the provisions of the prevailing electoral laws, shall have the right to vote for members of Dáil Eireann, and to take part in the Referendum and Initiative.

Over the 100 years that have passed  and we have gained the full right to vote, to decide in referendums, to vote for our president and to vote for our political leaders. We have gained the power of choice.

And on days like today it is important to remember that to women 100 years ago that choice was a something that needed fighting for. Something that had to be decided for them. Something they had to hope came true.

So next time an election or a referendum arrives, make sure you use that right.

Vote.

 

Illustration by Méabh McDonnell