Anna Livia (born Anna Livia Julian Brawn; 13 November 1955 – 5 August 2007) was a
lesbian feminist
Lesbian feminism is a cultural movement and critical perspective that encourages women to focus their efforts, attentions, relationships, and activities towards their fellow women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logica ...
author and linguist, well known for her fiction and non-fiction regarding sexuality. From 1999 until shortly before the time of her death she was a member of staff at
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
Personal life and education
Anna Livia was born on 13 November 1955, in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
. She was born to Patrick St. John, a writer and film maker, and Dympna Brawn, a poet, and had two brothers and a sister. She was named after
Julian of Norwich
Julian of Norwich (1343 – after 1416), also known as Juliana of Norwich, Dame Julian or Mother Julian, was an English mystic and anchoress of the Middle Ages. Her writings, now known as ''Revelations of Divine Love'', are the earlies ...
and
Anna Livia Plurabelle
''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction which combines a bo ...
, the character from
James Joyce's novel ''
Finnegans Wake
''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It is well known for its experimental style and reputation as one of the most difficult works of fiction in the Western canon. It has been called "a work of fiction whi ...
''.
The family moved to
Luanshya
Luanshya is a town in Zambia, in the Copperbelt Province near Ndola. It has a population of 117,579 (2008 census).
Luanshya was founded in the early part of the 20th century after two prospector/explorer, William Collier shot and killed a Roan A ...
,
Zambia
Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...
in 1960, and then to
Swaziland
Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...
where she attended the
Waterford Kamhlaba
Waterford Kamhlaba United World College of Southern Africa (WKUWCSA), one of 18 international schools and colleges in the UWC educational movement, is located in Mbabane, Eswatini..
Waterford was the first school in southern Africa open to ch ...
boarding school in
Mbabane
Mbabane (; ss, ÉMbábáne, ) is a city in Eswatini (previously called Swaziland), and is one of the two capitals (along with Lobamba), serving as the executive capital.
With an estimated population of 94,874 (2010), it is located on the Mbaba ...
.
In 1970, they moved to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. Livia attended the
Rosa Bassett School
Rosa Bassett School was a grammar school for girls in South London. Established in 1906 in Stockwell as the Stockwell County Secondary School, in 1913 it moved to Welham Road on the boundary between Streatham and Tooting. It was renamed the C ...
in
South London
South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...
for her primary and secondary education.
Livia graduated from the
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
in 1979 with a
Bachelors of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
in French with a
minor
Minor may refer to:
* Minor (law), a person under the age of certain legal activities.
** A person who has not reached the age of majority
* Academic minor, a secondary field of study in undergraduate education
Music theory
*Minor chord
** Barb ...
in Italian. She also received a post-graduate certificate in education from UCL in 1981.
In 1999, she had twins with her then-partner Jeannie Witkin; they eventually split up but continued to co-parent their children. At the time of her death, Livia's partner was Patti Roberts.
Career and writing
In the 1980s, she taught French and English at the
University of Avignon
Avignon University ( French: ''Avignon Université''; formerly known as ''Université d’Avignon et des Pays de Vaucluse'') is a public university located in Avignon, France.
Avignon University is situated on two campuses: the Hannah Arendt Cam ...
. She was a co-director of the
Feminist Press
The Feminist Press (officially The Feminist Press at CUNY) is an American independent nonprofit literary publisher that promotes freedom of expression and social justice. It publishes writing by people who share an activist spirit and a belief in ...
in London from 1982–1989. From 1983–1990, she was an editor for
Onlywomen Press
Onlywomen Press (briefly known as The Women's Press) was a feminist press based in London. It was the only feminist press to be founded by out lesbians, Lilian Mohin, Sheila Shulman, and Deborah Hart. It commenced publishing in 1974 and was on ...
as well as their periodical, ''Gossip'', from 1984–1988. From 1994–2002, she edited for the ''Lesbian Review of Books''.
In 1995, she received her doctorate in French linguistics from the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
.
She taught at the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...
from 1995 to 1998.
She began teaching at UC Berkeley in 1999, which she continued to do until her death. She published her revised PhD thesis, ''Pronoun Envy'' (2000), in which she "developed a feminist analysis of the use of pronouns,"
in English and French writing. From 2001–2002, she taught as a visiting lecturer at
Mills College
Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...
.
''Relatively Norma'' (1982)
Livia's first novel is about Minnie, a lesbian from London, who travels to Australia to visit with and
come out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
to her family. They barely react to her pronouncement of lesbianism, seemingly too busy with their own lives and identities. In her book ''Contemporary Lesbian Writing: Dreams, Desire, Difference'', Paulina Palmer argues that Livia's novel "questions the significance of
lesbianism
A lesbian is a homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with fema ...
as the key to personal identity,"
[As quoted in ] and "humorously exposes the excuses heterosexuals employ to avoid confronting and discussing the subject of lesbianism."
Sally Munt, in her exploration of lesbian novels between 1979 and 1989, generally views the novel positively, but states that it is filled with "counter-cultural specificities of early 1980s London feminism,"
that border on the "self-referential claustrophobia which can sentence a text to obscurity outside its own sycophantic subculture."
All of the male characters names are John, as a reference to
clients of prostitutes. In an interview for ''
The Leveller
''The Leveller'' was a British political magazine, collectively produced in London from 1976 to 1982 by a shifting coalition of radicals, socialists, marxists, feminists, and others of the British left and progressive movements. It was publishe ...
'', Livia explains that "As a lesbian-feminist, I write in a lesbian-feminist context...The male characters are all called John...that's saying I think all men are Johns, which is true.... If other women want to read it, they'll have to imagine themselves into the lesbian feminist framework."
Awards
Three of Livia's books were nominated for
Lambda Literary Awards for Lesbian Fiction. ''Incidents Involving Mirth'' was nominated in 1990, ''Minimax'' in 1991, and ''Bruised Fruit'' in 1999.
She won a Vermont Booksellers Association Special Merit Award for translation.
Selected works
Fiction
Novels
* ''Relatively Norma'' (1982) London:
Onlywomen Press
Onlywomen Press (briefly known as The Women's Press) was a feminist press based in London. It was the only feminist press to be founded by out lesbians, Lilian Mohin, Sheila Shulman, and Deborah Hart. It commenced publishing in 1974 and was on ...
.
* ''Accommodation Offered'' (1985) London:
Women's Press
The Women's Press was a feminist publishing company established in London in 1977. Throughout the late 1970s and the 1980s, the Women's Press was a highly visible presence, publishing feminist literature.
Founding
In 1977, Stephanie Dowrick cofo ...
, 1985.
* ''Bulldozer Rising'' (1988) Onlywomen (publisher).
* ''From a Hole in Heaven's Floor'' (1990) Sault Ste. Marie, ON, Canada : Tyro Pub.,
* ''Minimax'' (1991) Portland, Or. : Eighth Mountain Press.
* ''Bruised Fruit'' (1999) Jackson, Tennessee, U.S.A. Firebrand Books.
Collections
* ''Incidents Involving Warmth: A Collection of Lesbian Feminist Love Stories'' (1986) London : Only Women Press.
* ''The Pied Piper : lesbian feminist fiction'', with Lillian Mohin. Publisher: London : Onlywomen, 1989.
* ''Saccharin Cyanide'' (1990) Onlywomen.
* ''Incidents Involving Mirth: Short Stories'' (1990). Publisher: Portland, Or. : Eighth Mountain Press, 1990.
Non-fiction
Edited works
*
Books
*
*
Articles and essays
*
*
*
*
*
*
Translations
* ''A Perilous Advantage: The Best of Natalie Clifford Barney'' Chicago, IL: New Victoria Publishers Inc., 1992. .
* ''The Angel and the Perverts'' (by
Lucie Delarue-Mardrus
Lucie Delarue-Mardrus (3 November 1874 in Honfleur – 26 April 1945 ) was a French journalist, poet, novelist, sculptor, historian and designer. She was a prolific writer, who produced more than 70 books in her lifetime.
In France, she is ...
) (Original French edition published in 1930)-(1995) New York: New York University Press.
Further reading
* Galst, Liz. "Searching for vampires in the netherworld: novelist Anna Livia has a penchant for supernatural lesbians." ''
The Advocate'', 3 Dec. 1991, p. 100.
*
References
External links
Anna Livia Papersat the
San Francisco Public Library
The San Francisco Public Library is the public library system of the city and county of San Francisco. The Main Library is located at Civic Center, at 100 Larkin Street. The library system has won several awards, such as ''Library Journals L ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Livia, Anna
1955 births
2007 deaths
Alumni of University College London
American feminist writers
Lesbian feminists
American lesbian writers
Irish LGBT writers
Postmodern feminists
Academic staff of the University of Avignon
University of California, Berkeley alumni
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty
Waterford Kamhlaba alumni
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people
21st-century American women