J Mase III

Last updated

J Mase III is a Black trans, queer American poet and educator. His book The Black Trans Prayer Book won a Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction. [1] [2] [3] He also founded awQward, the first talent agency for trans and queer people of color. [4]

Contents

Personal life

Although Mase previously lived in Philadelphia, he currently resides in Seattle. [5]

He was raised in a dual-faith household, his mother being Baptist and his father being Muslim. [5]

Career

Mase has educated LGBTQIA+ and racial justice issues in K-12 schools, universities, faith communities, and restricted care facilities in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. [5] He served as the Advisory Board Chair of the Marsha P. Johnson Institute. [6]

As a slam poet, Mase has performed with Chuck D and the Indigo Girls. His work has been featured on MSNBC, NBC OUT, Atlanta Black Star, Upworthy, The New York Times , Buzzfeed, the Root, and Huffington Post. His poetry covers "patriarchy, white supremacy, justice, and injustices." [7]

In 2014, he founded awQward, the first talent agency for trans and queer people of color. [4]

Mase currently serves as the head writer for the theatrical production Black Bois. [5]

Publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emanuel Xavier</span> American poet

Emanuel Xavier, is an American poet, spoken word artist, author, editor, 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 and the Nuyorican movement to become a successful poet, writer and advocate for gay youth programs and Latino gay literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha</span> Canadian-American writer

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is an Canadian-American poet, writer, educator and social activist. Their writing and performance art focuses on documenting the stories of queer and trans people of color, abuse survivors, mixed-race people and diasporic South Asians and Sri Lankans. A central concern of their work is the interconnection of systems of colonialism, abuse and violence. They are also a writer and organizer within the disability justice movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michelle Tea</span> American writer

Michelle Tea is an American author, poet, and literary arts organizer whose autobiographical works explore queer culture, feminism, race, class, sex work, and other topics. She is originally from Chelsea, Massachusetts and has identified with the San Francisco, California literary and arts community for many years. She currently lives in Los Angeles. Her books, mostly memoirs, are known for their exposition of the queercore community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pamela Sneed</span> American poet and artist

Pamela Sneed is an American poet, performance artist, actress, activist, and teacher. Her book, Funeral Diva, is a memoir in poetry and prose about growing up during the AIDS crisis, and the winner of the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for lesbian poetry.

Transgender studies, also called trans studies or trans* studies, is an interdisciplinary field of academic research dedicated to the study of gender identity, gender expression, and gender embodiment, as well as to the study of various issues of relevance to transgender and gender variant populations. Interdisciplinary subfields of transgender studies include applied transgender studies, transgender history, transgender literature, transgender media studies, transgender anthropology and archaeology, transgender psychology, and transgender health. The research theories within transgender studies focus on cultural presentations, political movements, social organizations and the lived experience of various forms of gender nonconformity. The discipline emerged in the early 1990s in close connection to queer theory. Non-transgender-identified peoples are often also included under the "trans" umbrella for transgender studies, such as intersex people, crossdressers, drag artists, third gender individuals, and genderqueer people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yosimar Reyes</span> Mexican artist

Yosimar Reyes is a Mexican-born poet and activist. He is a queer undocumented immigrant who was born in Guerrero, Mexico, and raised in East San Jose, California. Reyes has been described as "a voice that shines light on the issues affecting queer immigrants in the U.S. and throughout the world."

Kay Ulanday Barrett is a published poet, performer, educator, food writer, cultural strategist, and transgender, gender non-conforming, and disability advocate based in New York and New Jersey, whose work has been showcased nationally and internationally. Their second book, More Than Organs received a 2021 Stonewall Honor Book Award by the American Library Association and is a 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Literature Finalist. They are a 2020 James Baldwin Fellowship recipient, three-time Pushcart Prize Nominee, and two-time Best of the Net Nominee. Barrett's writing and performance centers on the experience of queer, transgender, people of color, mixed race people, Asian, and Filipino/a/x community. The focus of their artistic work navigates multiple systems of oppression in the context of the U.S.

Hieu Minh Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American poet based in Minneapolis. A graduate of the Warren Wilson College MFA Program, his writing has appeared in PBS NewsHour, POETRY magazine, BuzzFeed, Poetry London, Best American Poetry, The New York Times, Muzzle Magazine, The Paris-American, the Indiana Review, and more. He identifies as queer.

Ryka Aoki is an American author of novels, poetry, and essays. She teaches English at Santa Monica College and gender studies at Antioch University.

Billy-Ray Belcourt is a poet, scholar, and author from the Driftpile Cree Nation.

The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a gay-themed book of poetry by a male writer.

The Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a lesbian-themed book of poetry by a female writer. At the first two Lambda Literary Awards in 1989 and 1990, a single award for LGBT Poetry, irrespective of gender, was presented. Beginning with the 3rd Lambda Literary Awards in 1991, the poetry award was split into two separate awards for Lesbian Poetry and Gay Poetry, which have been presented continuously since then except at the 20th Lambda Literary Awards in 2008, when a merged LGBTQ poetry award was again presented for that year only.

Vikram Kolmannskog is an Indian-Norwegian writer, psychotherapist, and jurist.

Eli Clare is an American writer, activist, educator, and speaker. His work focuses on queer, transgender, and disability issues. Clare was one of the first scholars to popularize the bodymind concept.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KB Brookins</span> American author and poet (born 1995)

KB Brookins is a Black American author, poet, and essayist. Brookins is a 2023 Creative Writing fellow with the National Endowment for the Arts and the author of 2022 poetry chapbook How To Identify Yourself with a Wound and the 2023 poetry collection Freedom House.

The Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction, established in 2018, is an annual literary award presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to honor Jeanne Córdova. The award is granted to "lesbian/queer-identified women and trans/gender non-conforming nonfiction authors ... committed to nonfiction work that captures the depth and complexity of lesbian/queer life, culture, and/or history." Winners must have "published at least one book and show promise in continuing to produce groundbreaking and challenging work." Winners receive a $2,500 cash prize.

Topside Press was an independent publisher of trans and feminist literature based in Brooklyn, New York that operated from 2011 to 2017. The press published fiction, memoirs, short story collections, poetry, and non-fiction by trans authors, for trans readers, and about trans characters. It is often credited as an important contributor to the "trans literary renaissance."

Candice Iloh is a queer, first-generation Nigerian-American writer, poet, educator and dancer. Their debut novel, Every Body Looking, was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature and Michael L. Printz Award honor book.

Bushra Rehman is a Pakistani Muslim-American novelist best known for her Lambda Literary Award-nominated novel Roses, in the Mouth of a Lion and short story Corona.

References

  1. Essen, Leah Rachel von (2021-06-02). "Announcing the Winners of the 2021 Lambda Literary Awards". BOOK RIOT. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  2. "2021 Winners". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  3. Qiao, Vicky (2020-06-02). "Indigenous anthology Love After The End wins Lambda Literary Award". CBC Books. Retrieved 2022-01-11.
  4. 1 2 Stoltenberg, John (2015-09-02). "Magic Time! 'an awQward noise'". DC Metro Theater Arts. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "About Mase". J MASE III. 2018-04-05. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  6. Giardina, Henry (7 December 2021). "J Mase III Won't Let Dave Chappelle Have the Last Word". INTO. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
  7. "J Mase III on being fired, grief, and much more". Peterson Toscano. 2019-04-11. Retrieved 2022-01-14.