Susan Dirende

About

For me, it begins and ends with laughter. Humor relaxes boundaries, opens minds, and generally adds a dimension of joy. I am particularly interested in the power of comedic work by women and the transformative possibilities of female fools and tricksters. This is why I started the Broad Humor Film Festival in 2006, and why my writing takes on the foibles of the human race from a decidedly female perspective.Some of the first work I created professionally was as a clown in the circus and I have remained an artist who likes to turn things upside down. For three years I ran a late night cabaret in Seattle as the comic persona Claire de Lune (see video), and have written everything from newspaper advice columns to feature films, all of them comedic. In 2006 I founded the Broad Humor Film Festival for movie comedies by women, now in its 12th year. Last year I had my first fiction book published, a scifi/fantasy farce that just won the Special Citation for Excellence from the Philip K. Dick Awards.