The Women of DC

Tired of the Joker and Batman? Let’s take a look at the women of DC comics from the library and our digital comics collection in Hoopla!

Harleen by Stephan Spkecj focuses on Dr. Harleen Quinzel before she became Harley Quinn. A true origin story it shows us how she was manipulated by the Joker in Arkahm Asylum while working there. Though it does have the Joker throughout the story, ultimately the story is about her and really sets it apart from every other version of the Joker and Harley Quinn I have seen. Best part is it doesn’t require any previous knowledge to enjoy. Do be aware this is part of DC’s more adult label: DC Black.

Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey is not required reading to enjoy the movie of a similar title but is a great way to jump into Birds of Prey the ultimate DC superhero team (okay maybe not, but its DC’s biggest women only team, which, lets be frank, is hard to come by). Follow these awesome women as they fight evil, perhaps not necessarily as superheroes, but not super villains either.

Iditarod 2020: This Mush Is True

Since 1973, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, has united mushers, dogs, and spectators for a 938 mile run from Anchorage to Nome, Alaska. This can take anywhere from 8 days to over 15! I’ve heard of the Iditarod, but it wasn’t until my husband started following Blair Braverman on Twitter a few years back that I really started getting into it. I read her book and started looking into other female mushers like Aly Zirkle and the Berington twins, Anna and Kristy. And the dogs – they have this amazing way of making you feel so happy and alive and grateful. They are pure energy and joy!

Photo credit: Braver Mountain Mushing

Below are a few books in our collection by female mushers!

Feminist Slam

Some of my favorite slam poetry fixes come from Button Poetry, founded in 2011 by Sam Cook and Sierra DeMulder, who were shortly joined by Rachele Cermak and Heidi Lear. They launched the first Button website and blog.

Sierra DeMulder was the first to pull me in with her poem “Today Means Amen,” from her poetry book with the same title.

Bringing Women’s Stories to Life

For Women’s History Month this year, I’d like to highlight the way fiction can take a real person’s life and help fill in the gaps about what we historically know, using imagination in order to bring that person’s story back. In particular, since the historical register generally focuses on men, women’s full lives were often elided or ignored in the historical record, and thus in history class and history books. Here, then, is a small sampling of novels by women writers bringing back to full, bright life women from history.

Jubilee by Margaret Walker
Grounded in decades of research, Walker tells the story of her great-grandmother Vyry, the child of a white plantation owner and an enslaved woman on his plantation. Through Vyry’s experiences the reader sees life in pre-Civil War Georgia, wartime deprivation, and the promise and hard reality of Reconstruction.

Lady Librarians of Seattle

2016 marks the 125th anniversary of The Seattle Public Library. After it was adopted as a department of the city in 1890, the Library opened its first reading room in Pioneer Square on April 8, 1891. To honor this milestone, we will be posting a series of articles here about the Library’s history and life in the 1890s. We also encourage our patrons to share their favorite memories of SPL on social media using the hashtag #SPL125. Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. – editor

How have you been celebrating Women’s History Month? Before March draws to a close, we wanted to take a moment to highlight a few of the amazing women who played an important role in the library’s history.