The Queer & Trans Nonfiction Podcast

jackiedomenus
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The QT (Queer & Trans) Nonfiction Podcast, hosted by writer Jackie Domenus, explores the best of today’s memoirs, essay collections, journalism, and more by LGBTQ+ authors. Listen in on discussions of nonfiction forms, craft, language, publication, and beyond. Some fiction and poetry QTs, as well as supportive allies, will be sprinkled in throughout! Reading and sharing true stories from queer and trans perspectives feels more important now than ever. Our words are proof of our existence, which is now, in and of itself, a form of resistance. Follow @qtnonfictionpod on Instagram for updates!

  1. 1d ago

    Episode 17: Jesse James Rose

    An equally funny and insightful conversation with writer and actor Jesse James Rose, in which we discuss topics such as: the inclusion of content warnings, the ways in which sexual violence is portrayed in media, developing a style of prose that mimics the feeling of PTSD, humor as hope, EMDR therapy, braiding together themes or topics that are not necessarily related outside the narrative, who gets to decide which kind of violence is acceptable or not, fictionalized conversations in creative nonfiction, the concept of “emotional chronology,” the non-linear nature of trauma and healing, writing “what-ifs,” creating a literary version of the inside of your brain as an author, using “internet speak” to convey the time period, loveable trans masc tropes, writing a book for our community and not for commercial success, composite characters, the intersectionality of gender-marginalized people’s experiences, different takeaways from different readers, and lots of 9/11. Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: Game of Thrones, Promising Young Woman, The Me Too Movement, Toni Morrison, Tumblr, Literally Show Me a Healthy Person by Darcie Wilder, Open Secrets Magazine/Live, Patricia Lockwood, Mollie Glick, In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado, The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, The Invite, StoryGraph, Rebecca Solnit, KB Brookins, Heart the Lover by Lily King, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, Publisher's Weekly, Publisher's Marketplace, My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh Links: Jesse's Website Intro/Outro Music by Lin Lin's Bandcamp Lin's Spotify

    Episode 17: Jesse James Rose

  2. Aug 11

    Episode 16: Lamya H

    Listen in on my conversation with Lamya H, the brilliant author of Hijab Butch Blues, as we discuss topics such as: writing as a means of placing our rage somewhere, first book timelines vs. second book timelines, the power (and complicated history) of the word “dyke,” paying homage to queer and trans writing ancestors, the intimacy of the present tense, the concept of “jinn” in Islam, feeling simultaneously invisible and hyper-visible, working through real life questions and issues on the page, empathy for our younger selves through writing, religion as an explorative tool, “perhapsing” as a means of hope, the overtly abusive nature of the US immigration system, ending a queer memoir without a “coming out” to family, and pseudonym as healthy boundary-setting. Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg, The Dyke March, Audre Lorde, Happiest Season Links: Purchase Hijab Butch Blues Lamya's Instagram Intro/Outro Music by Lin Lin's Bandcamp Lin's Spotify

    Episode 16: Lamya H

  3. Aug 4

    Episode 15 - Genre Switch: J Brooke LIVE

    On the first ever live episode of the QT Nonfiction Podcast, writer J Brooke and I chat at Philly's own Giovanni's Room bookstore about their new poetry collection, I Can Tell You the Version that Will Make You Take My Side. Topics discussed include: deciding how to section a book of poetry, arriving at a different title than the original, listening to editors, normalizing the concept of gender as more than just body parts or hormones, choosing when to write something as poetry rather than prose, last minute edits, poetic form mirroring the content, the importance of line endings, experimental work in poetry vs. experimental work in creative nonfiction, gatekeepers, art as a conversation, reaching the straight cis audience who still have much to learn, publishing with a supportive small press, living your politic, finding time and space to write, the surprising and unexpected themes readers hone in on, and being honest on the page vs. being literal. Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: Room Magazine, The Rumpus, Driftwood Press, Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Charles Bukowski, Trans Poetic Archive, Stone Coast Review, Ann Patchett, Kelz Smoot, Lena Dunham, Tin House Workshop (now McCormack Writing Center), A Year Without a Name by Cyrus Dunham Links: Purchase I Can Tell You the Version that Will Make You Take My Side J Brooke's Website Intro/Outro Music by Lin Lin's Bandcamp Lin's Spotify

  4. Jul 21

    Episode 14 - Ally: Heather McCalden

    On the first ever "Now That's What I Call an Ally!" episode of the QT Nonfiction Podcast, I chat with author and ally Heather McCalden on a myriad of topics such as: instinctual creative output, getting sick of your own work during the editing process, viewing the threads of a text as forming a “DNA strand,” using extended metaphor to describe the things we can’t otherwise explain, writing a fragmented book, striking a balance between the personal and the researched, respecting our own boundaries when writing about the personal, the internet as a photographic negative of our world, the transmission of knowledge, teaching a class called “Writing the Internet,” handwriting vs. typing, researching HIV AIDS, the role of AIDS in LGBTQ+ history, the AIDS walk as a day of resilience, queer and trans writing influences, exploring “covering” books the way we cover albums, and the concept of alchemy. Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: Sex with a Brain Injury by D/Annie Liontas, The Situation and the Story by Vivienna Gornick, How Far the Light Reaches by Sabrina Imbler, Merve Emre, write-the-internet.org, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Elizabeth Winkler, GMHC (Gay Men’s Health Crisis), Lucy Sante, Rachel Pollack, Doom Patrol, Grace Byron, Susan Sontag, Cyrus Dunham Links: Purchase The Observable Universe (US Edition) Purchase The Observable Universe (UK Edition) Intro/Outro Music by Lin Lin's Bandcamp Lin's Spotify

  5. Jul 14

    Episode 13: George Abraham & Hannah Moushabeck

    On this episode of the QT Nonfiction Podcast, we celebrate the release of Homosexual Intifada: A Queer Palestinian Anthology with editors George Abraham and Hannah Moushabeck. Our discussion spans many topics such as: the bonds within queer Palestinian community, the trust of working with friends editorially, common themes and threads organically coming up in submission drafts for an all-genre anthology, the risks of writing memoir, colonial gaslighting, Epistemicide, who gets to narrate their own bodies, honoring Arabic storytelling traditions, responding to the argument that queer and trans folks shouldn’t support Palestinians, pinkwashing, making the concept of “return” a reality, photography as proof of existence, being vulnerable as editors alongside contributors, writing for adults vs. writing for children, and Arabic literature vs. English literature. Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: Noor Hindi, Heaven Looks Like Us: Palestinian Poetry, Mejdulene Bernard Shomali, Afeef Nessouli, Micaela Laibni Raen, Randa Jarrar, Al Maqdisi, Tareq Baconi, Tariq Ra’ouf, Elias Jahshan, Noor Aldayeh, Sarona Abuaker, Sara Solara, Eman Abdelhadi, Maria Zreiq, Saleem Haddad, Lenna Jawdat, Rashid Khalidi, Mira Mattar, “The Principle of Return” by Adam HajYahia, “In Tune with Their Time” by Nasser Abourahme, “Bleeding Forms: Beyond the Intifada” by Abdaljawad Omar, Queer Phenomenology by Sara Ahmed, Palestinian Feminist Collective, Mx. Yaffa, Jordy Rosenberg. Links: Purchase Homosexual Intifada Intro/Outro Music by Lin Lin's Bandcamp Lin's Spotify

  6. Jul 7

    Episode 12 - Genre Switch: Kelz Smoot

    On this special Genre Switch episode, I chat with poet Dr. Kelsey L. Smoot about topics such as: book tours, poetic texting, incorporating poetry into academic writing, re-framing the ways we define “love,” the politics of blurbing, determining the order and flow of a collection, considering the corporeal in trans poetics, form reflecting content, conveying imperfection on the page, speaking your truth even if someone else remembers it differently, personifying the heart, the ways in which love overtakes us, experimenting with innovative poetic forms, constraints as a means of strengthening word choice, pop culture references in contemporary poetry, and the lasting impact of Sula by Toni Morrison. Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: AWP, KB Brookins, Mac Crane, Jericho Brown, Octavia Butler, Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, June Jordan, James Baldwin, Cameron Awkward Rich, Judith Butler, Jessica Abughattas, Chen Chen, Glorilla, Chaka Khan, Edward Scissorhands Links: Kelz's Website Purchase SOULMATE AS A VERB Intro/Outro Music by Lin Lin's Bandcamp Lin's Spotify

  7. Jun 30

    Episode 11: Hugh Ryan

    A fun and enlightening conversation with writer and historian, Hugh Ryan, in which we discuss: approaching personal nonfiction vs. researched historical nonfiction, examining through writing the moments and memories in our lives we constantly think about, reading against the archive when researching queer histories, crafting an intimate reader experience, disagreeing with or contradicting the self on the page as vulnerability, figuring out the meaning of a moment by re-writing it several times, the freedom of being alone in a queer crowd, articulating complicated feelings about gender, hope through young queer and trans folks, establishing stakes in creative nonfiction, building a question in the reader’s head to get them invested, structural work as an entry to a draft, the importance of writing community, and of course, 90s pop culture. Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: The Long Hallway by Richard Scott Larson, “Motorcycle Drive By” by Third Eye Blind, Edgar Gomez, The Moth, This American Life, Ru Paul’s Drag Race, Vivian Gornick, Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer, Bending Genre: Essays on Creative Nonfiction, The Racial Imaginary: Writers on Race in the Life of the Mind, The Writing Life by Annie Dillard, Bennington College Low Residency MFA Program, The American LGBTQ Museum Links: Hugh's Website Purchase My Bad Intro/Outro Music by Lin Lin's Bandcamp Lin's Spotify

  8. Jun 9

    Episode 10: Mackenzie Kwok aka Lin

    My good friend and writer Mackenzie Kwok (who also makes music under her artist name, Lin), joins the conversation in episode 10. We discuss tons of topics such as: the crossover between the disciplines of writing and music, defining “folklore” and “folk and traditional arts,” Asian hate during Covid, the allure of the American Girl Doll universe in the 90s and 2000s, fictional characters with historical context, misrepresentation, writing with the current interests of the internet in mind, meme accounts, erasure of Asian American activism and history, research approaches, AWP hot takes, the appeal of creative nonfiction that fuses trauma and humor, writing songs vs. writing essays, choosing an artist name, journaling processes, lyrics that audiences react to, and popular indie musicians. Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: When the City Stopped: Stories from New York's Essential Workers edited by Robert W. Snyder, An American Girl Anthology edited by Justine Orlovsky-Schnitzler and KC Hysmith, AFS (American Folklore Society), University Press of Mississippi, The Care and Keeping of You, Asian American Histories of the United States by Catherine Ceniza Choy, AWP, I’m Laughing Because I’m Crying by Youngmi Mayer, There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib, SOULMATE AS A VERB by Kelsey L. Smoot, Good Luck in the Real World by Adrienne Novy, NoSo, Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler Links: Purchase An American Girl Anthology Lin's Linktree Intro/Outro Music by Lin Lin's Bandcamp Lin's Spotify

    Episode 10: Mackenzie Kwok aka Lin
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The QT (Queer & Trans) Nonfiction Podcast, hosted by writer Jackie Domenus, explores the best of today’s memoirs, essay collections, journalism, and more by LGBTQ+ authors. Listen in on discussions of nonfiction forms, craft, language, publication, and beyond. Some fiction and poetry QTs, as well as supportive allies, will be sprinkled in throughout! Reading and sharing true stories from queer and trans perspectives feels more important now than ever. Our words are proof of our existence, which is now, in and of itself, a form of resistance. Follow @qtnonfictionpod on Instagram for updates!

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