Afleveringen
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Today, Iâm thrilled to be joined by the incredible Angie Cruz, the award-winning author of How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water, Dominicana, and other stunning works that explore family, migration, and resilience.
Angieâs writing is deeply rooted in the power of storytelling as a means of survival, connection, and care. In this episode, we talk about feminism as a communal practiceâhow we lift each other up, create spaces of belonging, and redefine success beyond individual achievement. Weâll also explore the importance of family, both the one weâre born into and the one we build, and why taking care of each otherâthrough literature, through activism, through everyday kindnessâis an act of radical love.
Join us for a heartfelt and thought-provoking conversation about what it means to show up for one another, in writing and in life.
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Jamesâs story is about refusing to be diminished, about listening to the quiet, persistent voice that says: This is who I am. Today, weâll talk about what it means to truly know yourself, the obstacles to embracing that knowledge, and the liberation that comes with honoring it.
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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Listen to this juicy conversation I had with Xochitl Gonzalez, who â Iâm thrilled to announce â will be our judge for this yearâs Uplift Voices Contest for Fiction by Jaded Ibis Press.
Xochitl Gonzalez is the New York Times bestselling author of Anita de Monte Laughs Last, a Reese's Book Club Pick longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, and the award-winning Olga Dies Dreaming, named a Best of 2022 by The New York Times, TIME, Kirkus, Washington Post, and NPR. Gonzalez is a staff writer for The Atlantic and was recognized as a 2023 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary. A native Brooklynite and proud public school graduate, Gonzalez holds a BA from Brown University and an MFA from the Iowa Writersâ Workshop.
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In Sensorium: Notes for My People by TanaĂŻs is deeply connected to the philosophical ideas of scent, love, and memory, particularly through a feminist, decolonial, and sensory lens. The book is a blend of memoir, history, and olfactory storytelling, using scent as a medium to explore identity, ancestral memory, and personal and collective histories of trauma, love, and belonging. It is, in her own words, a call for liberation.
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Vera Blossom writes fast and witty prose that traverse so many aspects of a young, queer life, including the pivotal role of friendships. The essays in How to Fuck Like a Girl cover so many topics, from hookups to witchcraft, petty crime, capitalism, divorce, and survival. The humor and the wit are matched only by the melancholy and intelligence, and importantly, what it put me back in touch with from among all the vivid scenes of my own younger life, was how friendships are like family, serving as a foundation for support, understanding, and resilience within the queer community.
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A few years back when I met the woman who is now my fiancĂ©, I learned that she was a phenomenal tango dancer among other phenomenal things, and I became intrigued. She introduced me to tango, but also special variation on it â queer tango, which has a whole global community and culture of its own.
It serves as a powerful metaphor for understanding power dynamics within relationships and society as a whole. Unlike traditional tango, which often adheres to rigid roles of leader and follower, queer tango allows for fluidity, inviting dancers to step into both roles. This challenges conventional power structures and creates a space where connection is based on mutual respect, communication, and adaptability rather than dominance and submission. By exploring both leading and following, dancers gain a profound understanding of the balance required to create harmony, whether on the dance floor or in personal and professional relationships. It becomes evident that true connection arises not from imposing one's will, but from listening, responding, and co-creating a shared experience.
Today I talk with two professional queer tango dancers, a duo known as Las Sacadas, and it's a conversation I know you'll love. I'm excited to share it.
[Photos by Nicole Roberts (@nicolerobertsart)]
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Today, I'm honored to sit down with Nana-Ama Danquah, acclaimed author of Willow Weep for Me: A Black Womanâs Journey Through Depression. Her groundbreaking memoir reshaped conversations about mental health and identity. When I read it, her work reminded me that beginnings often emerge from the ashes of endings, and the journey to renewal is both painful and liberating.
Today, on the first day of a shining new year that will never again be repeated, she shares her wisdom on transformation, resilience, and what it truly means to start anew.
Join us for an inspiring conversation about healing, self-discovery, and the power of rewriting your story.
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Today, I'm conversing with Torrey Peters, acclaimed author of Detransition, Baby, a groundbreaking novel that explores the complexities of gender, relationships, and identity in modern life. Torreyâs work has sparked vital conversations about what it means to live authentically and unapologetically in a world that often resists nuance.
Through her work, Torrey challenges traditional narratives and creates space for all of us to question, reimagine, and celebrate the infinite ways we can inhabit our identities.
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In Touching the Art, Matilda Bernstein's experiences of alienation and rejection are not only personal but are tied to larger systemic issues like gentrification, capitalism, and patriarchal violence. She critiques how these systems exacerbate queer trauma by displacing, silencing, and erasing marginalized individuals. She grapples with both the legacy of past generations and the ongoing pressures she's living in the present. Despite the pervasive trauma, Touching the Art also holds space for moments of queer joy, creativity, and survival. The story emphasizes the transformative potential of chosen families, radical art, and acts of defiance against oppressive norms.
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Michelle Tea, with her explorations of modern magic, offers practical tools to bridge these realms. Her work doesnât position magic as mere fantasy; instead, it reframes it as a deeply personal, accessible way to interact with the worldâs energy. She suggests rituals, affirmations, and awareness of symbolic patterns as ways to harness the forces that shape our lives. In this way, her writing acts as a toolkit for creating meaning, empowerment, and connection.
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Dasha Kelly Hamilton is a writer, performance artist, curator and facilitator. Ultimately, sheâs a creative change agent, leveraging the creative process toward human and social wellness.
Dasha has written for national, regional and local magazines; produced three books of poetry; recorded four spoken word albums; published two novels and an award-winning collection of micro stories; been included in several anthologies; and performed in the last season of HBOâs Def Poetry Jam. Her nonprofit, Still Waters Collective, initiated literary arts programming for 20 years, creating platforms for thousands of voices to be honored and heard. She has taught at colleges, conferences and classrooms and curated fellowships for emerging leaders.
An Arts Envoy for the U.S. Embassy, Dasha has facilitated community building initiatives in Botswana, Toronto, Mauritius and Beirut. She is a former Artist of the Year and Poet Laureate for the City of Milwaukee and the 2020-2022 Poet Laureate for the State of Wisconsin. Dasha is a national Rubinger Fellow and a National Laureate Fellow with the American Academy of Poets. Touring nationally, her stage production, Makinâ Cake, uniquely engages communities in a forward dialogue on race, class and equity.
Dashaâs anthology of poetry by incarcerated writers, A Line Meant, is forthcoming from Jaded Ibis Press.
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My guest today is Margaret Vandenburg, one of the sharpest minds and most vivid writers I've come across, the author of the new novel, Craze with Jaded Ibis Press.
Margaret wrote quote "that androgyny is a metaphor for, among other things, transcendence of the binary oppositions, something Iâve thought a lot about in my research about both Modernism and Postmodernism."
She reads to me from Virginia Woolf in our conversation, which I loved, and it made me think of one of my favorite novels of all time, Orlando.
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My guest is Iudita Harlan, an artist, writer, and therapist who facilitates a practice known as Voice Dialogue as well as other therapeutic modalities. Born in Romania to Holocaust survivor parents, trained in the United States, Iudita brings her unique perspective, deep understanding of the human condition, and her compassionate presence to all her clients.
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"I'm never trying to represent the idea that truth doesn't exist in my storytelling. I'm trying to represent the idea that truth is constructed. Memory is also constructed. It doesn't exist locked in amber somewhere. You have to make choices about the constellation and configuration... it's all a curation." - Lidia Yuknavitch
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âOur existence as queer people, as folks from different marginalized backgrounds, our existence is politicized, our rights are politicized. No matter what we're writing about, just by virtue of putting those words out into the universe and carving a space for ourselves, that's a way for us to put ourselves into these larger conversations.â -Greg Mania
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.queeringreality.com -
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.queeringreality.com -
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.queeringreality.com -
Myriam Gurba is an award-winning, critically acclaimed author and advocate, and a strong feminist voice that I greatly admire.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.queeringreality.com
