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Shawna Kenney (born August 4, 1969) is an American author and journalist.

Kenney was born in Auburn, New York. She authored the memoir I Was a Teenage Dominatrix (Last Gasp) at the age of 29. The book developed an underground cult following, receiving a Firecracker Alternative Book Award in 2000, with translations published in Italy and the UK. Kenney's personal essays appear in several anthologies, most notably Without a Net: The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class (Seal Press, edited by Michelle Tea) and Pills, Thrills, Chills and Heartache: Adventures in the First Person (edited by Michelle Tea and Clint Catalyst), in which she wrote about surviving an abusive relationship.

Kenney has covered music and popular culture for numerous magazines including Juxtapoz, Herbivore, SG, AP, Transworld Skateboarding, Heckler Snow & Skate, Slap, Metal Hammer and Mix Mag UK, among others. She is a regular contributor to Roger Gastman and Shepard Fairey's publication Swindle Magazine, with her work spotlighting feminist and countercultural artists.

Kenney promoted punk shows at the Safari Club in Washington, DC throughout the late 80s, while writing and publishing DC-area fanzine No Scene Zine. She graduated from the American University in 1995. After moving to Los Angeles, she founded Puppet Terror (featured in Spin Magazine, May 2001) with authors Pleasant Gehman, Iris Berry, and Clint Catalyst. She also hosted literary events, including a monthly spoken word series entitled the Unhappy Hour, which was founded by punk poet/actress Lydia Lunch[1]

While primarily a nonfiction writer, Kenney has also written and published fiction. Her voice appears in filmmaker Steve Balderson's project, Phone Sex. Kenney occasionally performs as half of spoken word duo Heavy Metal Girlfriend with her husband, guitarist Richard Dolinger. Kenney and Dolinger's wedding ceremony was performed by Los Angeles poet S.A. Griffin.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Shawna Kenney", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0