| Lyn Chevli | |
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| Born | Marilyn Keith (1931-12-24)December 24, 1931 Milford, Connecticut |
| Died | October 8, 2016(2016-10-08) (aged 84) Laguna Beach, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist, Writer, Editor, Publisher |
| Pseudonym(s) |
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Notable works |
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Lyn Chevli (December 24, 1931 – October 8, 2016), also credited asLyn Chevely andChin Lyvely, was an American cartoonist who participated in theunderground comix movement. WithJoyce Farmer, she created thefeminist comic-book anthology seriesTits & Clits Comix (1972–1987) andAbortion Eve (1973), an educational comic book about women's newly-guaranteedreproductive rights.
Lyn Chevli was born inMilford, Connecticut, on December 24, 1931, as Marilyn Keith.[1] She graduated fromSkidmore College in New York[2] and exhibited at theInternational Festival of Arts and Sawdust Festival as a silversmith and then sculptor.[2] She married Narendrakumar Aditram Chevli, with whom she lived briefly inMumbai.[1] After moving to the U.S. she had two daughters, Neela (born 1957) and Shanta (born 1959).[1] She and her children moved to California with her mother in 1961.[1]
She ranFahrenheit 451 Books with her husband Dennis Madison inDana Point, and then fromLaguna Beach from 1968. The store specialized in new age literature.[1] Chevli was the designated owner of the store because she already had a reseller license in California.[3]
Fahrenheit 451 carried the newunderground comix, which impressed Chevli with their anarchic spirit, but she was concerned with their male-centered content. She sold the book store in 1972.[1] That year, Chevli andJoyce Farmer founded Nanny Goat Productions in order to publish their own feminist comics.[4] They published the first issue ofTits & Clits Comix (Tits & Clits Comix α) in July 1972, precedingWimmen's Comix by a few weeks. Its first printing of 20,000 copies sold out by the next year.
In June 1973, following theRoe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on abortion, Chevli and Farmer publishedAbortion Eve, an educational comic begun the year before about women's reproductive rights.[5] Drawing upon their experiences as birth control and pregnancy counselors[1] at Laguna'sFree Clinic,[5] the single-issue comic book presented the stories of five women – all of them named variations onEve, each in differing circumstances – going through the process of obtaining abortions.[6][7]
Because the series' title limited its exposure, the second issue appeared in 1973 under the titlePandoras Box Comix [sic]. Around this time, sellers of underground comix faced prosecution for selling obscene material. The new owners of Fahrenheit 451 were arrested in December 1973 for selling underground comix, though the charges were later dropped with help from theAmerican Civil Liberties Union.[8] Nevertheless, Chevli and Farmer stopped publishing underground comix until 1976 due to the fear of being arrested or prosecuted.[9]
The series returned to its original title in 1976, with the publication ofTits & Clits Comix #2. Chevli stopped contributing drawings and stories toTits & Clits after the third issue, but continued as co-editor through its sixth issue.[1] In 1980, Chevli sold her share of Nanny Goat Productions to Joyce Farmer.
Chevli turned to prose in 1981 when she published an erotic book for women titledAlida under the pseudonym Edna McBrayne. She wrote pieces for a number of publications, including local gay magazineThe Blade. She wrote two unpublished memoirs, one about her time in underground comix and another about her life in the 1950s, when she married and moved to India.
Chevli died in Laguna Beach on October 8, 2016, of age-related causes.[1]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)| International | |
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