The Queer & Trans Nonfiction Podcast

On this episode of the QT Nonfiction Podcast, I'm in conversation with author and artist Komail Aijazuddin on a variety of topics such as: recording an audiobook, a narrator’s consistent tone, balancing childhood experiences with adult reflection on the page, specificity leading to universality, characterizing real people by their relation to us, writing about sexuality as a Pakastani without centering trauma or victimhood, legal aspects of publishing memoir overriding commitment to veracity, honesty as black magic, the nuances of “the queer experience” especially beyond whiteness, America’s devotion to division, writing about fasting in the style of Bridget Jones’s Diary, choosing a book title, body dysmorphia, the body as political when it comes to people of color, the way people are treated as a result of beauty standards, the declarative nature of writing vs. visual arts, the overwhelming whiteness of the publishing world, the differences in marketing a book in different countries, and more.
Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: James Frey, Gore Vidal, Roy Cohn, Helen Fielding, Douglas Adams, Boyslut by Zachary Zane, Heavy by Kiese Laymon, Hunger by Roxane Gay, San Francisco MOMA, David Sedaris, Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, Bill Bryson, KJ Charles, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai
Links:
Komail's Website
Komail's Instagram
Intro/Outro Music by Lin
Lin's Bandcamp
Lin's Spotify

On episode 18 of the QT Nonfiction Podcast, I chat with Denne Michele Norris about a wide range of topics such as: leading a major literary outlet/nonprofit, what kind of work Electric Lit is looking to publish, the need for more trans people of color’s voices in the literary/publishing world, organizing an anthology into thematic sections, naturally choosing the final essay of an anthology, trans literature which “looks forward,” the bravery of working in a new art form, representation of trans people of color in pop culture, “heart-forward” work, changing the understanding of binaries within the trans experience, the ways in which books can change people’s perspectives even when it wasn’t necessarily the author or editor’s goal, the directness of nonfiction, considering how nonfiction functions in the world as the writer, writing the romance and tenderness of love, the differences in writing process when approaching fiction vs. nonfiction, and choosing genres or art forms that make you feel free rather than restricted.
Writers/Books/Things to Check Out mentioned in this episode: Electric Literature, Halimah Marcus, Ploughshares, Salon, Horse Girls: Recovering, Aspiring, and Devoted Riders Redefine the Iconic Bond, Akwaeke Emezi, Tanaïs, Meredith Talusan, Gabrielle Bellot, Zeyn Joukhadar, Kaia Ball, Jonah Wu, A.L. Major, Homosexual Intifada edited by George Abraham and Hannah Moushabeck, Edgar Gomez, Autumn Fourkiller, Kaia Ball, Best American Essays, Addie Tsai, Caro de Robertis, Peppermint, Ru Paul’s Drag Race, Zaya Wade, Pose, Paris is Burning, To Wong Foo: Thanks for Everything, So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color, When the Harvest Comes, Joseph Osmundson, Michelle Kwan, McCormack Writing Center, Alexander Chee
Links:
Denne's Website
Purchase Both/And
Intro/Outro Music by Lin
Lin's Bandcamp
Lin's Spotify

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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