The Queer & Trans Nonfiction Podcast

Episode 9: Edgar Gomez

Multi-memoirist Edgar Gomez is our special guest for episode 9 of the QT Nonfiction Pod! Listen in as we discuss topics such as: Substack, the importance of a good title, writing for the self instead of an audience, queerness as a privilege, getting from one published memoir to a second, sounding confident in a book proposal, self-promotion as a skill, the joy of meeting your readers, balancing childhood perspective with adult realizations, establishing major characters and planting seeds for larger themes in the earliest pages, non-linear structure as a natural storytelling form, writing about the Pulse Nightclub massacre, what needs to change in the publishing industry, and our favorite Ru girls.
Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: Soft Skull Press, J. Lo’s Versace dress, Melissa Broder, America’s Next Top Model, The Nonbinarian Bookstore, Ru Paul’s Drag Race
Links:
Edgar's Website
Purchase Alligator Tears
Intro/Outro Music by Lin
Lin's Bandcamp
Lin's Spotify

Episode 8: Aubrey Hirsch

On episode 8 of the QT Nonfiction Podcast, Aubrey Hirsch and I discuss a wide range of topics such as: the accessibility of information in graphic nonfiction, colors and images in the attention economy, whittling down research to the absolute most important points, the helpful confines of short form, service journalism, infusing humor into graphic nonfiction on heavy topics as a means of acknowledging the absurdity, anger as a necessary tool for revolution, cover art that accurately represents a book, working with a great small press, getting informational works into the hands of folks who need to learn, deciding when and when not to include comics, bi-erasure, the freedom in publishing whatever you want and keeping a personal archive on Substack, and more.
Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: Roxane Gay’s "The Audacity," The Rumpus, Split Lip Press, Kristine Langley Mahler, The People’s Project curated by Saeed Jones and Maggie Smith, Alexander Chee, Joy Harjo, Kiese Laymon, Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture edited by Roxane Gay, Shay Mirk’s “Crucial Comix,” Thi Bui, Eleri Harris, Yifan Luo, Sanika Phawde, Hyesu Lee, Alex Norris.
Links:
Purchase Graphic Rage
Aubrey's Newsletter
Aubrey's Instagram
Intro/Outro Music by Lin
Lin's Bandcamp
Lin's Spotify

Episode 7: Carvell Wallace

A thoughtful discussion with author Carvell Wallace on topics such as: love and beauty as a means of healing from trauma, finding and collecting bits of life to share with others, form reflecting content, distinguishing the difference between child and adult narration, essay as exploration or asking "what's missing?", the ongoing tragedies of masculinity, run-on sentences, 2nd person point of view, writing about survival, expanding readers' understanding of queerness, challenging traditional ideals of intimacy on the page, using writing as an investigative tool to detangle ourselves from oppressive systems, and much more.
Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: Lani Ka'ahumanu, Jayda Shuavarnnasri, Vaim by Jon Fosse, Good Morning, Destroyer of Men's Souls by Nina Renata Aron, Family Guy, Weird Spotify Playlists subreddit, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, Women Without Men by Shahrnush Parsipur, Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson, and Pure Ghost Radio, a podcast by Carvell.
Links:
Carvell's Website
Purchase Another Word for Love
Intro/Outro Music by Lin
Lin's Bandcamp
Lin's Spotify

Episode 6: Zoë Bossiere

On this episode of the QT Nonfiction Podcast, Zoë Bossiere and I discuss topics such as: the formula for a successful flash nonfiction piece, editing an anthology of contemporary creative nonfiction, beginning a memoir with a photo, writing a setting that is alive and immersive, home video as helpful archive, generational differences in queer longing, determining the right time to share drafts with family members, depicting the self at different ages in different genders, the urgency of the childhood perspective, coming out constantly via publishing a book, writing the middle first and going back to write the beginning and ending, and navigating gender norms as a parent.
Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: Brevity, Riverteeth’s Beautiful Things, The Art of the Personal Essay by Phillip Lopate, The Best American Essays of the Century by Joyce Carol Oates, Touchstone Anthology of Contemporary Creative Nonfiction, Erica Trabold, Wayne State University Press, KB Brookins, The Florida Project, Mac Crane.
Links:
Zoë's Website
Purchase Cactus Country: A Boyhood Memoir
Intro/Outro Music by Lin
Lin's Bandcamp
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Episode 5: D/Annie Liontas

Listen in as D/Annie Liontas and I discuss navigating transition on the page, writing while “on fire,” work belonging to the reader once it’s published, striking the perfect balance of research and the personal, establishing language for brain injury, 2nd person POV, writing as resistance to erasure, turning people from your real life (living or dead) into “characters,” describing symptoms of a disability for others to understand, insomnia, crafting a collaborative essay, redaction as care, understanding that there are different ways to experience time, and lots more.
Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: T Kira Madden’s essay “Against Catharsis,” Toni Morrison, Susan Sontag, Citizen by Claudia Rankine, Paul Lisicky, Kendra Winchester, Marchell Taylor, Dr. Kim Gorgens, Couple’s Therapy, Profile on Orna Guralnik in The New Yorker, Suzanne Keen ,Virginia Woolf, “Most Anticipated Queer Books” list on Electric Lit, Sara Novic, Melissa Faliveno.
Links:
D/Annie's Website
Purchase Sex with a Brain Injury
Intro/Outro Music by Lin
Lin's Bandcamp
Lin's Spotify

Episode 4 - Genre Switch: Mac Crane

On the first ever Genre Switch episode of the QT Nonfiction pod, Mac Crane and I discuss their novel A Sharp Endless Need, as well as experimenting with form as a way to access deeper truths, interpersonal stakes in CNF, autofiction, non-traditional book structure, writing the friends-to-more-than-friends queer pipeline, the inherent eroticism of sports, shame vs. guilt, sex scenes, the motivations of secondary characters, the popularity of Heated Rivalry, Delco accents, and early 2000s emo and pop punk.
 
Writers/Books/Things to Watch mentioned in this episode: Hanif Abdurraqib (and his column "Notes on Hoops" in The Paris Review), Marina Mabrey at Unrivaled Philadelphia, Heated Rivalry (obviously), Task, Mare of Easttown, Long Bright River, Catcher in the Rye, Perverts (forthcoming July 2026).
 
Links:
Mac's Website
Purchase A Sharp Endless Need
Intro/Outro Music by Lin
Lin's Bandcamp
Lin's Spotify

Episode 3: Jean Grae

On episode 3 of the QT Nonfiction Pod, Jean Grae and I discuss unmasking the self while writing a memoir, creative output as “the next logical step,” audiobooks, genuine narrative voice, place as more than just setting, writing about feeling eternally displaced, exploring abstract ideas through smaller, concrete things, repetition, the capitalism of it all, older generations finding language for queerness and gender, gently leading readers toward understanding gender affirming care, who’s “allowed” to write memoir, and quantum physics?
 
Links:
Jean’s Website
Purchase In My Remaining Years
In My Remaining Years Audiobook
Intro/Outro Music by Lin
Lin's Bandcamp
Lin's Spotify

Episode 2: Richard Scott Larson

On episode 2 of the QT Nonfiction Pod, Richard Scott Larson and I discuss his memoir, The Long Hallway, as well as topics like braiding parallel narratives, attempting to write a novel and realizing it needs to be CNF, blending memoir and cultural critique of a single film for the entire length of a book, horror as a reenactment of the repressed, writing queer isolation and voyeurism, craft vs. content in memoir reception, extended metaphor, understanding representation in retrospect, writing an "interior" memoir, and more.
Writers/Books/Things to Check Out or Watch mentioned in this episode: Halloween (the film), Carol Clover, It Came From the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror, University of Wisconsin Press' "Living Out" Series, werewolf stories, Overcompensating, Friday the 13th.
Links:
Richard's Website
Purchase The Long Hallway: A Memoir
Intro/Outro Music by Lin
Lin's Bandcamp
Lin's Spotify

Episode 1: KB Brookins

The inaugural episode of the QT Nonfiction Pod, featuring a conversation with author KB Brookins during which we discuss KB's journey as a writer, their inspirations, using footnotes, representation, telling our own stories instead of letting others tell them for us, putting top surgery contemplation on the page, weaving poetry into memoir, telling the truth in CNF even when it paints us in a not-so-great light, and more.
Writers/Books/Things to Read mentioned in this episode: Kiese Laymon, Hanif Abdurraqib, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Assata: An Autobiography, Angela Davis, Wild by Cheryl Strayed, Melissa Febos, Teen Vogue Op Eds, HuffPost Op Eds, Matt Ortile.
Links:
KB's Website
Purchase Pretty: A Memoir
Follow KB on Instagram & TikTok @earthtokb
Intro/Outro Music by Lin
Lin's Bandcamp
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Intro Episode

An introduction from host and author, Jackie Domenus, explaining the who, the what, and the why behind the QT Nonfiction Podcast.
Intro/Outro Music by Lin
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