Ayun Halliday papers, 1990-2025

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Summary

Creator:
Halliday, Ayun
Abstract:
Ayun Halliday (pronounced "Ann") is a white American writer and actress. Her works center primarily on the areas of motherhood, travel, and women's social issues. The Ayun Halliday Papers contain correspondence and writings by Halliday, including books, plays, artwork and the zine East Village Inky. The collection also includes correspondence and ephemera related to her publications, as well as items associated with workshops and speaking engagements given by Halliday about underground press publications, female travel, autobiographical writing and other topics. The collection also contains hundreds of zines and works Halliday collected from others artists obtained primarily through trade with other creators. These publications span a wide range of subjects intended for both adults and children including feminism, motherhood, child rearing, New York City, zines, art, music, travel, food and cooking, body image and consciousness, sexual education, and more. Acquired as part of the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.
Extent:
14 Linear Feet (20 boxes)
Language:
Materials in English.
Research Center:
Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture
Collection ID:
RL.11289

Background

Scope and content:

The Ayun Halliday Papers are arranged into the following nine series: Correspondence, Grants and Awards, Workshops and speaking engagements, Writings: Books, Writings: Plays, Writings: Zines, Writings: Other Publications, Mail Art Publications (by others), and Zines and Publications by Others.

The first seven of these series comprise Halliday's personal writings and works including books, plays, artwork, and the zine East Village Inky. The collection also includes correspondence and ephemera related to her publications, as well as items associated with workshops and speaking engagements given by Halliday about underground press publications, female travel, autobiographical writing, and other topics.

The final two series represent hundreds of zines and works Halliday collected from others artists obtained primarily through trade with other creators. In a 2025 accession, Halliday describes these as a "buncha zines by female and female-identified publisher-creators." These publications span a wide range of subjects intended for both adults and children including feminism, motherhood, child rearing, New York City, zines, art, music, travel, food and cooking, body image and consciousness, sexual education, and more.

Biographical / historical:

Ayun Halliday is a white American writer and actress born in Indianapolis, Indiana. She studied at the Park Tudor School and received her degree in Theater Performance from Northwestern University. She is an avid traveler who began writing plays for her experimental theater group in Chicago, the Neo-Futurists, in 1988. It was there that she met her husband, Greg Kotis, a playwright who wrote the Broadway musical Urinetown.

Halliday writes and illustrates the zine East Village Inky, a publication that she named after her home in New York City's East Village and her first daughter India (nicknamed "Inky"). The zine started out as autobiographical, and her family appears in many of the issues. The success of this zine led to a contract with Bust magazine writing for the Mother Superior Column on parenting in 2007. Since its inception in 1998, East Village Inky has evolved to include content on a wide variety of topics including contemporary events and popular culture, fashion, art, and other topics capturing Halliday's interest.

Halliday's other published writing includes plays, a travel memoir, a zine guide for New York City, a young adult graphic novel, a children's book, a collection of short stories, and a cookbook.

Acquisition information:
The Ayun Halliday papers were received by the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book Manuscript Library as a gift from Ayun Halliday in 2016-2025.
Processing information:

Processed and described by Valerie Szwaya, 2016.

Accession 2022-0011 added by Meghan Lyon, 2022. Accession 2025-0098 added by Leah Tams, September 2025. Accession 2025-0156 added by Meghan Lyon, 2026.

Accessions described in this collection guide: 2016-0026, 2022-0011, 2025-0098, 2025-0156.

Arrangement:

The first three series (Correspondence, Grants and Awards and Workshops and Speaking Engagements) are arranged chronologically by year. All subsequent series including writings and works by both Halliday and others are arranged alphabetically by title. Later accessions are boxed separately but intellectually interfiled in this inventory.

Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Contents

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Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

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Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Ayun Halliday Papers, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University.

Permalink:
https://idn.duke.edu/ark:/87924/m16d08