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Emanuel Xavier (born May 3, 1970),[1] is an American poet, spoken word artist, author, editor, screenwriter, and LGBTQ activist born and raised in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. Associated with the East Village, Manhattan arts scene in New York City, he emerged from the ball culture scene to become one of the first openly gay poets from the Nuyorican movement as a successful writer and advocate for gay youth programs and Latino gay literature.[2]
Born Emanuel Xavier Granja in Brooklyn, New York to an Ecuadorian mother, Xavier's father abandoned them after finding out she was pregnant.[3] He was raised by his mother and her live-in boyfriend, who was separated from his wife but remained married throughout the years. He was never told anything about his real father. As a child, Xavier was the victim of child sexual abuse by a relative.[4] He grew up in Bushwick in the 1970s, at a time when it was mostly an immigrant community made up of Puerto Ricans, blacks and some Italians. He was bused during a time to a mostly white elementary school in Queens where he experienced racism. At age 16, he came out to his mother and her live-in boyfriend and was kicked out for being gay. He survived the streets as an underage male prostitute[4] at the Christopher Street West Side Highway piers and became involved with the House of Xtravaganza and the 1980s ball scene. It was during this time that he befriended many notable members of the trans world and ball community, many of whom were featured in the documentary Paris Is Burning. After returning home under strict new rules, he graduated Grover Cleveland High School (Queens) and then attended St. John's University for several years, dropping out after receiving his associate's degree in communications. He moved to the West Village and became a drug dealer at New York City gay nightclubs.[5] Xavier later worked at A Different Light (bookstore). He has said that he viewed poetry as an "outlet to unleash pain and anger".[6]
Professional career
In the mid-90s, he helped introduce spoken word poetry to the LGBTQ+ community by staging successful monthly events, "Realness & Rhythms", in the basement of A Different Light (bookstore) in NYC.
He self-published the poetry chapbook, Pier Queen in 1997.[7] "In the same era (as Tongues Untied by Marlon Riggs), we got Emanuel Xavier's exceptional Pier Queen, a book of poetry by a queer Latinx author that overlaps thematically and in tone."[8]
Painted Leaf Press, a now defunct independent publishing company, published Xavier's semi-autobiographical novel Christ Like in 1999. Despite a limited press run, the novel was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award in the Small Press category.[10] It was later reprinted in 2009 by Rebel Satori Press as a revised ten-year-anniversary edition.
After 9/11, Xavier helped create Words to Comfort, a poetry benefit held at the New School.[11] His poem "September Song" was included as part of the initial National September 11 Memorial & Museum website and later appeared in his 2002 poetry collection Americano.[12]
In 2002, Xavier hosted the 14th annual Lambda Literary Awards ceremony at the Tribeca Rooftop on DesBrosses Street in Tribeca.[13] He was quoted as saying "The gay agenda is not necessarily part of the hip-hop movement. The only Simmons that may ever feature me is Richard, not Russell."[14] This led to his invitation to feature twice on Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry. He also hosted In The Life with Laverne Cox.[citation needed] He appeared in the Wolfgang Busch documentary How Do I Look and co-starred in the feature film The Ski Trip.[15]
Xavier edited the anthology Bullets & Butterflies: Queer Spoken Word Poetry in 2005, earning him a second Lambda Literary Award nomination in the Anthologies category.[16] A few years later, in 2008, he edited the anthology Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry.
El Museo del Barrio staged a choreographed dance presentation based on his spoken word album Legendary in 2010.
If Jesus Were Gay was the third full length poetry collection by Emanuel Xavier first published in 2010. The publication of this book was controversial because of a traditional Jesus on the cover and graphic gay sex inside.[17]
He published his poetry collection Nefarious in 2013.
Xavier was selected as a featured speaker for TEDx Bushwick on March 21, 2015.[18] He also filmed for a documentary from Spain which included poets from around the world (Iceland, Jordan, Palestine). An excerpt of the documentary was released as the short film Americano. He also helped organize the first After Sunset: Poetry Walk at The High Line with The Academy of American Poets. In 2016, he published Radiance. Later, in 2024, the title poem from this book would be selected as a poem-of-the-week by The Best American Poetry blog site.
In 2023, he hosted The 35th Annual Publishing Triangle Awards and announced a new book, Love(ly) Child, for Fall 2023. That same year, one of his poems, "Old Pro" was published in Poetry (magazine) for the first time. The book would earn him his third Lambda Literary Award nomination for Gay Poetry. In 2024, he once again hosted the 36th Annual Publishing Triangle Awards at The New School.
He has also performed a rendition of his poem "Americano" with Grammy Awards nominated Latin jazz musician, Bobby Sanabria.
Emanuel Xavier appeared as part of the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival in October 2024. He announced on social media that he has completed a screenplay based on his 1999 novel, "Christ Like."
Activism
As a former homeless teen, he has staged benefits for groups such as Sylvia Rivera's Place and Ali Forney Center. He has also been associated with ACT UP's Latino Caucus, Latino Commission on AIDS, Men of All Colors Together/New York (MACT/NY), Marriage Equality New York (MENY), amongst other activist organizations.
PEN America invited him to read his poem "Americano" at the Writer's Resist rally on the steps of The New York Public Library in protest of the Trump administration in 2017. The same year, a week long exhibit was staged to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his poetry collection Pier Queen.[22]
In 2018, he was invited to share his poetry at The United Nations as part of The International Symposium on Cultural Diplomacy. He shared a new poem about gun control,[23] and after criticism, he was uninvited back as a speaker.
Assault and aftermath
In October 2005, Xavier was brutally gay-bashed by a group of about 20 young men in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. After the attack, Xavier was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, a type of brain tumor, and had surgery; the tumor was benign, but resulted in a period of partial facial paralysis. He recovered from the paralysis; however, he became deaf in his right ear[3] In 2015, he announced on his personal website that the acoustic neuroma had returned. By year's end, he underwent successful radiosurgery.
Awards and honors
In 2010, The Equality Forum named him an LGBTQ History Month Icon.[24]
The American Library Association selected Xavier's poetry collections If Jesus Were Gay and Nefarious for its Over The Rainbow Books lists for 2011[25] and 2015[26] respectively.
Four of his books have been finalists for International Latino Book Awards— Radiance, Selected Poems of Emanuel Xavier, Love(ly) Child, and the anthology Me No Habla With Acento: Contemporary Latino Poetry. Three of his books have also been finalists for Lambda Literary Awards— the novel Christ Like, the anthology Bullets & Butterflies: queer spoken word poetry, and the poetry collection Love(ly) Child.[27]
He is the recipient of a Gay City Impact Award and the Marsha A. Gomez Cultural Heritage Award.[28]
Americano, Rebel Satori Press, 2022 (twentieth anniversary reissue of the original 2002 edition)
Selected Poems of Emanuel Xavier, Rebel Satori Press, 2021 (The Juan Felipe Herrera Best Poetry Book Award - One Author – English- International Latino Book Awards- Bronze Medal)
If Jesus Were Gay, Rebel Satori Press, 2020 (tenth anniversary reissue of the original 2010 edition)
Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry, Floricanto Press, 2008, edited by Emanuel Xavier
Bullets & Butterflies: queer spoken word poetry, suspect thoughts press, 2005, edited by Emanuel Xavier (Shortlist- Lambda Literary Award- Anthology)
Me No Habla With Acento, El Museo del Barrio & Rebel Satori Press, 2011, edited by Emanuel Xavier (International Latino Book Awards- Best Poetry Book – English- Second Place)
Anthologies featuring work
Queer & Catholic, edited by Trebor Healey & Amie M. Evans, Haworth Press, 2008 (features the poems "Just Like Jesus" and "Bastard" from If Jesus Were Gay & other poems)[30]
Ambientes: New Queer Latino Writing, edited by Lázaro Lima and Felice Picano, University of Wisconsin Press, 2011 (features "Dear Rodney" from If Jesus Were Gay & other poems)
collective BRIGHTNESS: LGBTIQ Poets on Faith, Religion & Spirituality, edited by Kevin Simmonds, Sibling Rivalry Press, 2011 (features the poem "The Omega Has Been Postponed" from If Jesus Were Gay & other poems)[30]
Born This Way: Real Stories of Growing Up Gay, edited by Paul Vitagliano, Quirk Books, 2012 (features an essay)
For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Still Not Enough, edited by Keith Boykin, Magnus Books, 2012 (features the essay "Mariconcito")
Studs, edited by Richard Labonte, Cleis Press, 2014 (selected finalists and wrote introduction)
Untangling the Knot: Queer Voices on Marriage, Relationships & Identity, edited by Carter Sickels, Ooligan Press, 2015 (essay)
If You Can Hear This: Poems in Protest of an American Inauguration, edited by Bryan Borland, Sibling Rivalry Press, 2017 (features a reprint of the poem "Americano")
Nepantla: An Anthology Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color, edited by Christopher Soto, Nightboat Press, 2018 (features a reprint of the poem "Step Father")
Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology, edited by Rigoberto Gonzalez, Library of America, 2024 (features a reprint of the poem "Madre America")
Just YA: Short Poems, Essays, & Fiction for Grades 7-12, edited by Sarah J. Donovan, Oklahoma State University Libraries, 2024 (features reprints for high school students)
Poets for Harris: A Poetry Anthology, edited by James Morehead, Viewless Wings Press, 2024 (features the poem "For Kamala, in the Shadow of Peace")
Misc.
A Tale of Two Cities: Disco Era Bushwick, Bizarre Publishing, 2014, Meryl Meisler (features the poems "El Hair Espray" and "Legendary")
Purgatory & Paradise: Sassy '70s- Suburbia & The City, Bizarre Publishing, 2015, Meryl Meisler (features the poem "Paradise")
Paradise Lost: Bushwick Era Disco, Bizarre Publishing, 2021, Meryl Meisler (features the poems "Bushwick Bohemia" and "Legendary")
Discography
Legendary The Spoken Word Poetry of Emanuel Xavier, ELKAT Productions, 2010
Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literature. The awards were instituted in 1989.
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↑ Morales-Díaz, Enrique. "Identity of the 'Diasporican' Homosexual in the Literary Periphery." In José L. Torres-Padilla and Carmen Haydée Rivera, eds. Writing Off the Hyphen: New Perspectives on the Literature of the Puerto Rican Diaspora. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2008. 295-312. ISBN978-0-295-98824-5
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