Rae Spoon: Recovering Albertan, recovering Christian and newly published author
October 2, 2012. 4:48 pm • Section: Entertainment
Posted by: Eric Volmers
http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2012/10/02/rae-spoon-recovering-albertan-recovering-christian-and-newly-published-author/ (http://blogs.calgaryherald.com/2012/10/02/rae-spoon-recovering-albertan-recovering-christian-and-newly-published-author/)
It is unmistakably Rae Spoon's face on the cover of their new book, First Spring Grass Fire.
The plot, divided into short stories that trace the often surreal travails of a queer kid growing up in suburban Calgary, seems nearly inseparable from Spoon's own history.
[...]
"I think most fiction is based on people's lives," says Spoon cryptically, before breaking into a laugh. "I don't know. That's the big joke, right? When you are making a decision whether to market something as fiction or non-fiction it's about how public you want to make your life — or do you want to be able to change it. For me, based on the content, it's easier to have more license to change things around. When you have a memoir you are more responsible to the people in your life."
"But," they add. "It's fairly close."
Spoon, a transgender indie electronica singer-songwriter who prefers the use of "they" as a pronoun, grew up in Calgary in a family that attended a large Pentecostal church. Being queer was not a particularly comfortable reality given the surroundings — whether it be at home, church, or Calgary schools. This setup is mined for heartfelt drama in the book.