Books by and for independent women

Lit at Ladyfest Ten: Interview with Suraya Sidhu Singh

With only three weeks to go, our next Lit at Ladyfest Ten interview is with Suraya Sidhu Singh, editor of Filament magazine, who will be running a workshop about the History of Women’s Erotica with Zak Jane Keir.

Tell us about yourself and your work?

My name is Suraya Sidhu Singh. I’m a 32-year-old New Zealander who has lived in London for eight years. I edit and publish the quarterly women’s magazine Filament, which is sold worldwide. We publish fiction, fact-driven articles and erotic photography, all designed for women.

What can we expect from your event at Ladyfest Ten?

Zak Jane Keir and I are hoping to answer the question, ‘Why can’t I go to a newsagent and buy a porn mag for women?’ We’ll be debunking myths by drawing on academic research about women and using our experiences of the publishing industry to demonstrate how things really work, and handing around fascinating examples of women’s erotica stretching back to the early 1970s.

One of the main aims of Lit at Ladyfest Ten is to promote and celebrate writing by women. What advice would you give to women finding it tough to carve out their own niche?

Don’t try to carve out your own niche too soon! Seek to understand what publishers are looking for and figure out how to emulate that successfully. Through doing that, you will find your way to your own voice while learning what works and what doesn’t, and you’ll have all the available tools to draw on.

What has your experience been as a woman working in your industry?

Women are simply not taken seriously by the magazine publishing and distribution industry. The virgin/whore dichotomy is alive and well, and there seems to be a real belief that all women are the same. I would not have believed that the world were still so old-fashioned had I not experienced it at first hand.

How important is sex, sexuality and gender to you and your writing?

Sex, sexuality and gender underpins what Filament is about and why it exists, but I want to live in a world where women have more realistic options in terms how they live their lives and how they see themselves. Debating the finer points of sex and gender won’t get us there on its own.

For our audience who might not be able to make it to Ladyfest Ten, what authors and projects are you into at the moment that they can investigate instead?

Get yourself a copy of an independently produced women-designed visual erotica magazine, for example, Filament (UK) , Candy Rain (US) , Jungsheft (Germany) and the queer women’s magazine Slit (Australia), and see how women are representing their sexuality for themselves.

A big thank you to Suraya for answering our questions. The workshop takes place on Saturday 13th November at Holloway Resource Centre and you can book tickets for that and other great Lit at Ladyfest Ten events now!

Post by Alex Herod