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Roxane Gay
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We all have to challenge ourselves. We have to consider ideas that previously seemed impossible. We have to take risks and make ourselves uncomfortable. We need to continue talking about all of the ways racism influences our lives.
We all have to challenge ourselves. We have to consider ideas that previously seemed impossible. We have to take risks and make ourselves uncomfortable. We need to continue talking about all of the ways racism influences our lives.
[This Town Sleeps] is heavily influenced by my Ojibwe background. I’m currently looking into a few options for my next project. I plan on writing more novels in the future, including a sequel to my current novel, and possibly others set on the same reservation setting.
It was obviously very nerve-wracking, but also incredibly cathartic. My life has been very difficult in many ways, and being able to put it all down on a page somehow released me from so many of the negative experiences. The writing process was kind of an act of self-forgiveness, if not of my family as well. As a young queer person of color, I literally had no-one I could see myself in. I felt so desperately alone and scared – I really just hope that this book can provide hope for young queer people of color struggling to find themselves.
I’ve been writing since I was 11. It almost feels like I should have more books published, but I’ve known since I was in high school that I wanted to publish a book. I had a goal to be a published author by 25 and my first book came out five days before my 25th birthday. It’s almost arrogant. I never doubted that I’d publish a book, but I own that now: it was pure early 20s ego that got me through. I think you need some ego as a writer—or at least I did. So, I always knew that I’d publish a book and what has surprised me the most has been the success I’ve found. I am so eternally grateful for that.
Never in my wildest dreams. NEVER. IN MY. WILDEST. DREAMS. Thank you to everyone who has supported me on my journey to such an incredible honor. I’m sure I’ll have more to say once I’ve caught my breath and looked at all these text messages and emails but for now, THANK YOU. https://t.co/P73Aonzy5t
— Michael R. Jackson (@TheLivingMJ) May 4, 2020
Marieke Lucas Rijneveld is a non-binary Dutch writer whose bestselling debut novel The Discomfort of Evening, translated by Michele Hutchison, is nominated for the 2020 International Booker Prize.
Celebrated by critics, the novel is inspired partly by the death of Rijneveld’s brother, who died when Rijneveld was three, and offers a rare glimpse of rural and religious life in the Netherlands, where Marieke suffered bullying and abuse.
Speaking to the New York Times in April 2020 about their non-binary identity, 29-year-old Rijneveld said:
I asked myself if I wanted to be a boy, a girl, or something in between. I decided I wanted to be in between.
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Kangol2
He’s so talented!
nitejonboy
You left out Jericho Brown, a gay black poet from my hometown who won the Pulitzer Prize this year for poetry.