Noreen Stevens facts for kids

Noreen Stevens, born in 1962, is a talented Canadian cartoonist. She is well-known for creating and illustrating the comic strip The Chosen Family. This comic strip explores the lives of a family that chooses to be together and support each other. Noreen Stevens started her work in comics in 1984. Her comic, The Chosen Family, has been featured in a collection called Dyke ...: Lesbian Cartoonists from A to Z, alongside other famous cartoonists like Alison Bechdel.

Early Life and Education

Noreen Stevens was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. She grew up in different towns in Ontario, including Mississauga and Strathroy. In 1985, she graduated from the University of Manitoba. She earned a special degree in interior design, which is about planning and designing indoor spaces.

Noreen Stevens' Career

After finishing university, Noreen Stevens realized she wanted to spend her time drawing and creating comics.

Starting Out in Comics

She began working on a comic strip called Local Access Only. This comic was published in the University of Manitoba's student newspaper from 1986 to 1987. In 1987, the Manitoba Arts Council gave Stevens $5,000. This money helped her create her famous comic strip, The Chosen Family. In the same year, she started sending her comics every two weeks to newspapers and magazines. These publications were for people in the LGBTQ+ community in Canada, the US, the UK, and Australia. Some of these included Xtra!, Herizons, and The Washington Blade.

Art and Activism

In 1991, Stevens teamed up with a photographer named Sheila Spence. They formed an artist group called Average Good Looks. Their goal was to put up billboards across Winnipeg. These billboards showed pictures of people from the queer community. The aim was to help people understand and accept different kinds of families and relationships in the early 1990s.

Collaborations and Collections

Noreen Stevens also worked with other writers. In 1992, she illustrated all the pictures for Ellen Orleans' book of essays called Can't Keep a Straight Face. An essay collection is a book with many short writings on different topics. In 1993, Stevens' work was included in a book called Mothers! by Roz Warren. In 1995, her comics were featured in another collection. This book, titled Men are From Detroit, Women are From Paris, showcased comics from 20 different women cartoonists. She worked with Ellen Orleans again in 1996 for her second essay collection, Still Can't Keep a Straight Face.

From 1997 to 1998, The Chosen Family appeared several times in the Canadian comic strip series OH.... Stevens' comics also appeared in many other magazines and collections. These included Ms., Gay Comix, and various feminist and LGBTQ+ books. Noreen Stevens stopped creating The Chosen Family in 2004. By then, she had produced almost 400 parts of the comic strip.

Personal Life

From 1993 to 1995, Noreen Stevens owned and managed a coffee shop called Winona's Coffee and Ice. This was the first coffee shop in Winnipeg specifically for gay and lesbian people.

In 2003, Stevens and her partner, Jill Town, made history in Manitoba. They became the first same-sex couple in the province to adopt two children together. Their children, Dillon and Savannah Stevens, had been cared for by them since they were babies. Their adoption story was even shown on a TV show called Adoption Stories in 2009. In 2006, Noreen Stevens and Jill Town got married.