Press Release February, 2018

How To Get A Girl Pregnant

A new web series in development

By Karleen Pendleton Jiménez and Barb Taylor

How to Get a Girl Pregnant is a wonderfully candid and humorous memoir by Karleen Pendleton Jiménez published by Tightrope Books in 2011. The book is Karleen’s confession of desire, humility, and a search for perfection.

And now made possible with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation and LIFT (Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto) a selection from the memoir is being made into a pilot web series by author Karleen and award-winning animator Barb Taylor. This collaboration reunites the two artists who worked together previously on the successful short film Tomboy.

Karleen has wanted to have a baby for as long as she can remember. But one crucial element was missing in the life of the butch Chicana lesbian — the sperm. We follow Karleen’s challenges, adventures, successes, failures, humiliations, and triumphs while attempting to fulfill her dream of becoming a mother. Though at times lighthearted, such as when Karleen considers all of the potential options for fertilization — some anonymous, some not — it is a weighty topic, and one that will change her life forever.

The book was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award and chosen for the 2013 Over The Rainbow List by the American Library Association.

A trailer for the web series will be available by mid-March. Plans are underway for further funding to finish the series by Fall 2018.

About Co-Director and Scriptwriter:  Karleen Pendleton Jiménez
Karleen recently completed the short film Butch Coyolxauhqui (2016) looking at queer body image, fatphobia, and reclamation.  Karleen has written three books: Are You a Boy or a Girl? (2000), How to Get a Girl Pregnant (2011) and Tomboys and Other Gender Heroes (2016). The first two were finalists for the Lambda Literary Award. She is the screenwriter for the award-winning animation short Tomboy.  Her short stories and personal essays have been published in numerous anthologies and magazines, including “Downtown” in Queers Were Here: Heroes and Icons of Queer Canada (2016), “Letter to My Queer Family,” in Women Writing Letters (2015), “‘Tell Them You’re a Mexican,’ and Other Motherly Advice” in Mother of Invention (2013), “A Beautiful Creature” in Persistence: Still Butch and Femme (2011), “Little White Children: Notes From a Chicana Dyke Dad” in Who’s Your Daddy? And Other Writings on Queer Parenting (2009). She is currently teaching at Trent University.

About Co-Director and Animator: Barb Taylor
Animator Barb Taylor has created a number of award winning short films and innovative digital stories. Her film Tomboy which explores bullying and gender expression was the recipient of the CBC Canadian Reflection Award, Inside Out Up and Coming Artist Award and Audience Award Reeling Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, Chicago among others. Barb is currently completing a hand painted animated short Bobbi & Sheelagh, a portrait of a young woman who overcomes her fears when she meets a mythological creature. In early 2016 Barb was artist in residence at Clones Art Studio in Ireland to research the character Queen Maeve. Previous work includes the short animated film Peaceosaurus created in conjunction with the York University Children as Peacemakers program. Barb is the recipient of the Corus Innovation Award for the creation of a tween online radio station and a Webby Honoree for her work on the CBC Massey Lectures’ website based on Lawrence Hill’s book Blood the Stuff of Life. She has extensive experience in broadcasting as manager of national radio websites for both Corus Entertainment and CBC.
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For more info, to set up interviews, get GAT:

Ingrid Hamilton – ingrid@gat.ca – 416-731-3034

Jen Gorman – jen@gat.ca – 647-390-0884