Sheila Heti Riot Grrrl Collection
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Abstract
Sheila Heti is a Canadian writer and author of the novels Ticknor and How Should a Person Be? and the story collection The Middle Stories. While Heti was still a teenager, she was asked by Random House to compile an anthology of writing by young women. The Sheila Heti Riot Grrrl Collection represents the zines, poetry and artwork that she solicited for the book, as well as the letters she received from the young women who submitted their work. It covers the years 1994-1997. Random House later decided not to publish the book.
Biographical Note
Sheila Heti is a writer who was born into a Jewish-Hungarian family in 1976 and grew up in Toronto, Canada. Heti first discovered feminism and the Riot Grrrl movement when she was around 15 or 16 through reading Sassy magazine, Naomi Wolf's The Beauty Myth, and Lynn Crosbie's The Girl Wants To. At a lecture by Wolf in Toronto, Heti spoke during the Q+A about how her own zines ("Iron Maiden"), which she had been putting up around the school, had been torn down by school authorities. She gave an envelope of the zines to Wolf after the talk. Several weeks later, Heti received a letter from Wolf's publicist at Random House, Susan Roxborough, suggesting that they meet to discuss a possible anthology of writing by young women. Heti began soliciting material from all across North America, writing to English teachers at schools and putting out the word through the zine network by exchanging her new zine ("Brillantine") for the zines she received. After about a year and a half of work, she handed in a first draft of the book. It was rejected because the material was too controversial.
Heti studied playwriting at the National Theatre School in Montreal before attending the University of Toronto to study art history and philosophy. In 2001, she created the Trampoline Hall lecture series (hosted by Misha Glouberman). Heti has published five books, including the novels Ticknor and How Should a Person Be? and the story collection The Middle Stories. Her books have been translated into German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Italian and Serbian. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, The London Review of Books, n+1, McSweeney's, Bookforum, and other places.
Arrangement
The collection is arranged into two series:
Series I: Anthology Submissions
Series II: Administrative Files
Within each series, materials are arranged alphabetically by author's last name or, when no author is available, item title. Loose materials with no discernible author or related submissions are described as miscellaneous submissions.
Scope and Content
The Sheila Heti Riot Grrrl Collection comprises correspondence and submissions relating to Heti's unpublished anthology of young women's writing, originally commissioned by Random House Canada.
Series I: Anthology Submissions contains submissions mailed to Heti for inclusion in her anthology; these submissions include zines as well as original artwork and poetry, often in addition to correspondence from the authors.
Series II: Administrative Files contains material relating to the publication of the anthology, including Heti's contract with Random House, correspondence regarding the selection of a cover image, and the letter informing participants of the anthology's cancellation. Series II also contains material relating to "Reluctant Hero," one of Heti's zines that features many of the same participants as the anthology.
Subjects
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Genres
People
Conditions Governing Access
Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright (or related rights to publicity and privacy) for materials in this collection was not transferred to New York University. Permission to use materials must be secured from the copyright holder. Please contact the Fales Library and Special Collections, fales.library@nyu.edu, 212-998-2596.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date (if known); Sheila Heti Riot Grrrl Collection; MSS 366; box number; folder number; Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University Libraries.
Provenance
The Sheila Heti Riot Grrrl Collection was donated to NYU's Fales Library and Special Collections by Sheila Heti in 2012.
About this Guide
Repository
Series I: Anthology Submissions
Scope and Content
Series I: Anthology Submissions contains submissions mailed to Heti for inclusion in her anthology; these submissions include zines as well as original artwork and poetry, often in addition to correspondence from the authors.
Acker, Lori Maleea, 1996, inclusive
Adleman, Alison, 1996, inclusive
Andrea "Residential Garbage" #2-3; "A Girl" #1-3; "Song for a Rockstar", undated
Anne "Loud As Hell" #2-6, undated
Aron, Nina "Charm School" #5, 1996, inclusive
Avery, Felicity, 1995, inclusive
Azoulay, Karen, 1995, inclusive
Barnett-Dyer, Sophie, 1995, inclusive
Bennett, Courtney, 1996, inclusive
Bikceem, Ramdasha
"Gunk" #4, 1995, inclusive
Bordeaux, Ariel
"Deep Girl" #4, 1995, inclusive
Burnstein, Anna-Lise, undated
Burt, Mary, 1995, inclusive
Capo, Venessa, 1995, inclusive
Castleman, Amanda, 1995, inclusive
Catching, Rebecca, 1995, inclusive
Cengel, Katya, 1995, inclusive
Chan, Kristy
"Wild Honey" #9-10, 1996, inclusive
Christie, Rachel E., 1995, inclusive
Courtney, Meighlin
"Esteria", 1995, inclusive
Crane, Robin
"Sweetheart" #8, 1996, inclusive
Dainow, Susannah, 1995, inclusive
Daley, Sarah Joie, 1995, inclusive
"Dame Darcy", 1995, inclusive
Dart, Rebecca, 1995, inclusive
Davis, Jaina A.
"Flatter" #5, 1995, inclusive
Dean, Hilary, 1995, inclusive
Diaz, Karla, undated
Doyle, Chantale Elena
"Misery and Vomit", undated
Druffner, Kristen, 1995, inclusive
Emmenegger, Nicole
"Beri-Beri" #1-2
"Busy Bea's Bush" #3, 1995, inclusive
Faith, Emily, 1996, inclusive
Fatila, Rita
"Ugly" #11
"Pure Tuna Fish" #1, 5
"The Sleeping Pill" #1-2, 1995, inclusive
Fierro, Julia, 1996, inclusive
Flood, Margaret Theresa, undated
Forbes, Latham, undated
Garber, Jodi, 1996, inclusive
Goodman, Sarah, 1995, inclusive
Gretchen
"Good Faerie" #12, undated
Hamilton, Sarah, 1996, inclusive
Harris, Megan, 1994, inclusive
Harvey, Roseanne, 1996, inclusive
Hebden, Lisa, undated
Heinowitz, Rebecca Cole, 1995, inclusive
Hill, Christy, 1995, inclusive
Horng, Menghsin Cindy
"Sidetracked" #1-3, 5-8
"Qiviut" #2, 1996, inclusive
Hui, Emily, 1995, inclusive
Ishiguro, Rachel, undated
Jasper Place Composite High School, 1994, inclusive
Julie
"Hell Kitty" #6, 1995, inclusive
Jurisz, Rebecca
"Vilde Chaya" Winter 1995, 1995, inclusive
Kaysha, 1995, inclusive
Kelly, Trish
"The Make Out Club" #4-5, undated
Kyra
"Died Laughing" #2, undated
Lake, Meghan
"Pout" #6-7, undated
Lambert, Andrea
"Bedtime Stories For Trivial Teens" #3-4, 1995, inclusive
Landry, Stephanie
"Modest No More" #1-2, 1995, inclusive
Larned, Emily K.
"Muffin Bones" #10, 15, 1995-1997, inclusive
Lavender, Heart, 1994-1995, inclusive
Levine, Shira ("She-Ra")
"Noisy Jewelry" #1-2, 1994, inclusive
Luellen, Michelle
"Design #816" #7-8, undated
Lynn, Heather
"Pacifier" 2 issues unnumbered
"Hands Off" #3, 1996, inclusive
Manvel, Sarah
"Edna's Edibles" #6, 1996, inclusive
Martin, Lauren
"Boredom Sucks" #7-9
"You Might As Well Live" #1, 1995, inclusive
Mehta, Nishi, 1996, inclusive
Meyer, Hazel, 1996, inclusive
Moss, Ceci
"Suburbia" #1-6, 1996, inclusive
Mulholland, Sharon
"Some Dumb Girl", 1995, inclusive
Neill, Courtney, 1996, inclusive
[O'Conerr], [Elane], undated
Penny, Marie
"Rabbit Hole"
"Pearl" #1
"Persephone" #3, 1996, inclusive
Philpot, Allison, 1995, inclusive
Poster, Zoe
"Pixxiebitch" #5, 1996, inclusive
Precosky, Krista
"What's Life?" #1-2, 1996, inclusive
"Queen Itchie"
"Everything I Touch Turns to Shit & Garbage" #1-2, 1995, inclusive
Quinlan, Erin
"Ritalin" #8, 1996, inclusive
Robbins, Katharine, 1995, inclusive
Rodd, Megan, 1996, inclusive
Rogal, Aren
"My Straight-Faced Twin" #2, 1996, inclusive
Seymour, Ellesen, undated
Shearn, Amy, 1995-1997, inclusive
Sinclair, Leslie, 1995, inclusive
Snider, Lisa, 1995, inclusive
Sorensen, Jennifer, 1995, inclusive
Stehr, Sonia Leonie, 1996, inclusive
Stone, Emily, undated
Sturino, Idella, 1994, inclusive
Terk, Hilary
"Weetzie Bat: The Zine" #1-3, 1994-1995, inclusive
Urbanski, Debbie, 1996, inclusive
Varner, Christina, 1996, inclusive
Welch, Jenny, 1995, inclusive
Witknee
"Alien" #6, 8
"Spinsterwitch" #4
"Slumber Party Games", 1996, inclusive
Wubbenhorst, Audrey
"Rampage" #2-5, 1995, inclusive
Yun, Blenda, 1996, inclusive
Series II: Administrative Files
Scope and Content
Series II: Administrative Files contains material relating to the publication of the anthology, including Heti's contract with Random House, correspondence regarding the selection of a cover image, and the letter informing participants of the anthology's cancellation. Series II also contains material relating to "Reluctant Hero," one of Heti's zines that features many of the same participants as the anthology.