In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with Sarah F. Pearlman about “Where There Are Mountains” her new novella that’s a perfect escape while hunkering down during the current pandemic. The novella brings to life the early Neolithic life about seven thousand years ago. This was a time of great migrations as numerous tribes left the cold and hunger of their northern homeland to travel a path south as they struggled past tribes that lived near the mountain passes of Mount Olympus. The novella focuses on the Matrilineal tribes that worshiped a female divinity. These tribes were peaceful, wanting only a place where there was food and warmth but others on the path were warrior people. These tribes came to conquer and enslave bringing their male gods and creating the beginning of patriarchal conquests. “Where There Are Mountains” is narrated by three women. The first woman tells her adventures traveling the path south through the mountain passes of what would become Greece. The second is her daughter who is captured by a war tribe. The third is a woman from a female-centered tribe perhaps the precursors of Amazons living in woodlands near the mountain passes. “Where There Are Mountains” is a story of captivity, resilience and escape. It was a time of violence but also love. Love of a mother for her daughter. Love between women of different tribes. We talked to Pearlman about her inspiration for writing “Where There Are Mountains” and her spin on our LGBTQ issues.
Sarah F. Pearlman is a teacher, writer, occasional poet and lesbian-feminist activist, nationally recognized for her pioneering role in establishing a lesbian psychology. She was an editor and author of articles in Lesbian Psychologies: Exploration and Challenges, the first anthology exclusively on lesbianism and psychology that focused on identity, relationship and community issues that was published in 1987 by University of Illinois Press. Sarah completed her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Antioch New England Graduate School at age fifty-six and was employed at the University of Hartford. She is the author of “Mother-Talk: Conversations with Mothers of Lesbian Daughters and “FTM Transgender Children” (2012) and “The Lesbian Erotic: Bad Girl Persona and Other Poems” (2013). Pearlman has traveled extensively throughout Greece and Turkey which was the inspiration of “Where There Are Mountains” where she sought out goddess temple complexes, sacred caves and Neolithic villages confirming a world that existed long before our era of patriarchal domination. “Where There Are Mountains” is available on Amazon. (Artwork by Greg Spalenko)
For More Info: sarahpearlman.com
I really enjoyed the interview. Sarah's research and imagination are enlightening and entertaining and enticing.
ReplyDeleteGreat interview. Covers a lot of ground. I read and loved the book: appreciate Sarah's story of how it came to be written.
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