Ferron: The Book
It dawned on me early if I feel abandoned or victimized that was my perception. I had the power to change my point of view. It sounds easy but I’ve been writing about it for 50 years. Ferron
Ferron was submitted to Caitlin Press August 16th. The release date is March 16th, 2027. It’s a biography but I call it a bio/memoir. Ferron and I spent 80 or 90 hours in taped conversations about her life and her lyrics. I also talked to more than 25 of Ferron’s professional and personal associates. In the end I was as much a collaborator and choreographer as an author. I became a medium through which Ferron could speak about her art and her life’s experiences. The book is a unique blend of voices, lyrics and images, but also it is a fabulous story about a fascinating woman/singer/songwriter and philosopher queen.
For those of us who know Ferron, Emily Saliers from the Indigo Girls said it best, “Ferron is a singular kind of guru” in that she sang a whole generation of feminists through a knot in their lives. Ferron was part of the soundtrack that gave deeply thinking and deeply hurting women a space to heal and gather strength to move on and build a new kind of society. The 70s to 90s were heady times and Ferron was there. She made it simple “life don’t clickety-clack down a straight-line track. It comes together and it comes apart.” (Ain’t Life a Brook) And she made it profound “I don’t know what it’s like for you but here’s what it’s like for me. I wanted to turn beautiful and serve Eternity and never follow money or love with greasy hands or move the earth and waters just to make it fit my plans.” (Girl on a Road)
For those who don’t know Ferron, her work was unlike other lesbian/feminist artists of the day. It was critically acclaimed by the New York Times, Boston Globe, Rolling Stone and many other mainstream media as well as alternative media. She earned comparisons to Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell. The Boston Globe said Bob Dylan (yes, the fellow who earned a Nobel prize for literature) would be called the Ferron of the 60s. Yet despite her greatness, her name is often unknown and her story has remained untold.
At its heart, Ferron is a moving story of survival and self-creation, tracing Ferron’s experiences of childhood abuse and neglect, and her determination to become an authentic and honourable human being through the healing power of poetry and song. In telling her own story, she became a cultural hero for a generation.
We are working on ways to spread the word. The best way to ensure the book is widely distributed is for interested people to contact their local bookstore and enquire about the book, order one, if possible, or request that the bookstore bring it in. Ferron can also be preordered through Caitlin Press.