Hoe Poetry Saved My Life - A Hustler's Memoir

From the award-winning author of Sub Rosa comes a raw, moving, and provocative memoir about sex work, queer identity, and the transformative power of literature and art. How Poetry Saved My Life A Hustler's Memoir by Amber Dawn "In most large cities," writes Amber Dawn, "there are an estimated 10,000 people (mainly women) working as prostitution-based sex workers and yet we rarely hear from them." In her new memoir How Poetry Saved My Life, Amber Dawn offers a frank, unflinching, and multifaceted portrait of her experiences hustling on the streets of Vancouver. Alternating between tender poetry and searing prose, she re-traces her path from survival street work to her present-day life as a writer, filmmaker, activist, artist, and educator. How Poetry Saved My Life is a story of struggle, isolation, violence, missing women, and fear; as well, it's a story of strength, solidarity, alliances, transformation and the particular "ghetto feminism" forged between sex workers. Queer, feminist, and sex-positive, How Poetry Saved My Life is a moving and revolutionary book that will challenge readers to confront assumptions about sex work and sexuality. To request review copies, exclusive excerpts, and interviews, please contact: CANADA: Cynara Geissler, Publicist and Marketing Manager cynara@arsenalpulp.com | 604.687.4233 USA: Jennifer Abel Kovitz, US Publicist jennifer@45th-parallel.com | 206.227.9991

Available May 2013 ISBN: 9781551525006 $15.95 US/CDN | 176pp Arsenal Pulp Press AMBER DAWN is a writer, filmmaker, and performance artist. She is the author of Lambda Award-winning novel Sub Rosa and multiple short films including the documentary, Girl on Girl. She has toured three times with the Sex Workers' Art Show and is the former Director of Programming for the Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF). Amber Dawn was 2012 winner of the Writers' Trust of Canada Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBT writers and the 2012 Eli Coppola Memorial Chapbook Prize from RADAR Productions.