Gender blender
Published 03/10/2011
by Jim Piechota
http://www.ebar.com/arts/art_article.php?sec=books&article=614Annabel by Kathleen Winter; Black Cat Press, $14.95
Montreal-based author Kathleen Winter confesses to knowing nothing about intersex children before writing her smashingly successful debut novel Annabel, a finalist for all three of Canada's major literary awards. In fact, the author was so "haunted" by the issue of gender ambiguity, she tirelessly researched the subject and ultimately adopted a comprehensive understanding of the subject's physical and psychological aspects. That scope of academic knowledge wasn't enough, however, and she turned inward for more answers. "I relied on my human ability to see into profound questions," Winter writes. "You can see this in the internalized nature of the character of Wayne. He is more internally written than the other characters are; he is less an external character and more of oneself."
