Shawn Syms

Last updated

Shawn Syms (born 1970) is a Canadian writer and activist on LGBT issues and other aspects of progressive politics based in Toronto, Ontario.

From 1988 until 1992, he was one of the editors and publishers of Rites , a Canadian monthly magazine of queer history, politics and culture. Syms’s work for Rites included political and cultural analysis that was referenced in such books as The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader [1] and Global Sports Sponsorship, [2] and reprinted in the respected [3] left-of-centre LGBT weekly Gay Community News . During that time, Syms was also active in the political organization AIDS Action NOW!, which fought for access to treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS.

In 1997 and 1998, he was publisher, [4] for Pink Triangle Press, of Canadian Male, a short-lived gay men's sexual magazine characterized by very diverse contents and high production values. Syms co-wrote the sexual-advice column "Carnal Queeries" in Toronto's Xtra! for several years. Syms was a copy editor at Fuse Magazine for over a decade and served on its board of directors for 13 years in the 1990s and early 2000s. He blogged on political affairs for This Magazine from 2007 to 2008. From 2007 to 2010, he wrote a regular column on sexuality, sex work, drug use and harm reduction for xtra.ca called "Free Agent."

As a journalist, Syms has specialized in covering medical conditions transmitted through drug use and sexual practices, including hepatitis, herpes, HPV and HIV/AIDS. His 2009 extensive examination of the legal and biocultural implications of criminalizing HIV transmission was described by criminalization expert Edwin J. Bernard as a "piece de resistance" [5] and was one of the few pieces by a non-lawyer included by the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network’s resource kit for lawyers involved in cases related to HIV and the criminal law. In 2008, Syms was an invited speaker on the topic at the Health and Human Rights Conference at Queen's University. [6]

Other advocacy journalism by Syms regarding gay transgender men has been lauded by writer and sex-worker advocate Sasha Von Bon Bon, [7] and translated into French. [8] His coverage of the forced sterilization of a Chilean HIV-positive woman has been cited in the Harvard Human Rights Journal. [9]

Syms’s fiction writing was nominated [10] for the 2009 Journey Prize, and was twice [11] short-listed [12] for the short-fiction competition associated with the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival. His essays have twice been published in books by Arsenal Pulp Press. Also a widely published book critic, his writing has appeared in thirty periodicals and journals.

In 2013, he edited and published Friend. Follow. Text., an anthology of short stories about interactions through social media. [13]

His debut short story collection, Nothing Looks Familiar, was published by Arsenal Pulp in September 2014. [14]

Related Research Articles

John Preston was an American author of gay erotica and an editor of gay nonfiction anthologies.

<i>The Body Politic</i> Early LGBT magazine in Canada (1971 to 1987)

The Body Politic was a Canadian monthly magazine, which was published from 1971 to 1987. It was one of Canada's first significant gay publications, and played a prominent role in the development of the LGBT community in Canada.

Rites was a Canadian magazine, published for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities in Canada from 1984 to 1992.

Aren X. Tulchinsky, formerly known as Karen X. Tulchinsky, is a Canadian novelist, short story writer, anthologist and screenwriter from Vancouver, British Columbia.

Brett Josef Grubisic is a Canadian author, editor, and sessional Lecturer of English at the University of British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gay pulp fiction</span>

Gay pulp fiction, or gay pulps, refers to printed works, primarily fiction, that include references to male homosexuality, specifically male gay sex, and that are cheaply produced, typically in paperback books made of wood pulp paper; lesbian pulp fiction is similar work about women. Michael Bronski, the editor of an anthology of gay pulp writing, notes in his introduction, "Gay pulp is not an exact term, and it is used somewhat loosely to refer to a variety of books that had very different origins and markets". People often use the term to refer to the "classic" gay pulps that were produced before about 1970, but it may also be used to refer to the gay erotica or pornography in paperback book or digest magazine form produced since that date.

Shaun Proulx is a Canadian media entrepreneur, speaker, author, publisher, interviewer and radio personality, who currently hosts the weekly The Shaun Proulx Show on SiriusXM's Canada Talks. In late September 2013, during a live interview with the CBC Radio's Matt Galloway, Proulx publicly disclosed that he was diagnosed HIV+ in 2005. He has contributed to The Globe and Mail and to Toronto's LGBT newspaper Xtra!, and was the afternoon radio host on 103.9 PROUD FM (CIRR-FM).

George K. Ilsley is a Canadian writer. He has published a collection of short stories, Random Acts of Hatred, which focuses on the lives of gay and bisexual men from childhood to early adulthood, and a novel, ManBug. His new memoir is The Home Stretch: A Father, a Son, and All the Things They Never Talk About.

Arsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, focusing primarily on underrepresented genres such as underground literature, LGBT literature, multiracial literature, graphic novels, visual arts, progressive and activist non-fiction and works in translation, and is noted for founding the annual Three-Day Novel Contest.

Billeh Nickerson is a Canadian writer, editor, performer, producer and arts advocate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivan Coyote</span> Canadian spoken word performer and writer

Ivan E. Coyote is a Canadian spoken word performer, writer, and LGBT advocate. Coyote has won many accolades for their collections of short stories, novels, and films. They also visit schools to tell stories and give writing workshops. The CBC has called Coyote a "gender-bending author who loves telling stories and performing in front of a live audience." Coyote is non-binary and uses singular they pronouns. Many of Coyote's stories are about gender, identity, and social justice. Coyote currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Although same-sex sexual activity was illegal in Canada up to 1969, gay and lesbian themes appear in Canadian literature throughout the 20th century. Canada is now regarded as one of the most advanced countries in legal recognition of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights.

Mette Bach is a Danish-Canadian author, teacher, screenwriter, and director. She was born in Denmark and grew up in North Delta. Bach attended Simon Fraser University where she received a Bachelor of Arts in English. She has an MFA from the University of British Columbia's Creative Writing Program.

Richard Labonté was a Canadian writer and editor, best known as the editor or co-editor of numerous anthologies of LGBT literature.

Plenitude is a Canadian literary magazine. Launched in 2012 by editor Andrea Routley as a platform for new work by LGBTQ writers, it originally published biannually in electronic format for distribution on e-readers and tablets; in early 2014, the magazine announced that it was also launching a conventional print run. As of 2015, however, the magazine no longer publishes paid issues in either format, but instead publishes all new content directly to its website.

Stubblejumper Press was a Canadian book publishing company, active in the 1970s and 1980s. Founded by Douglas Wilson in 1977 and originally based in Saskatchewan, the company was devoted to publishing works of LGBT literature.

Jameson Currier is an American novelist, short story writer, poet, critic, journalist, editor, and publisher.

Thomas Waugh is a Canadian critic, lecturer, author, actor, and activist, best known for his extensive work on documentary film and eroticism in the history of LGBT cinema and art. A professor emeritus at Concordia University, he taught 41 years in the film studies program of the School of Cinema and held a research chair in documentary film and sexual representation. He was also the director of the Concordia HIV/AIDS Project, 1993-2017, a program providing a platform for research and conversations involving HIV/AIDS in the Montréal area.

Viviane K. Namaste is a Canadian feminist professor at Concordia University in Montreal. Her research focuses on sexual health, HIV/AIDS prevention, and sex work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daniel Gawthrop (writer)</span> Canadian writer and editor (born 1963)

Daniel Gawthrop is a Canadian writer and editor. He is the author of five books, most recently The Trial of Pope Benedict and The Rice Queen Diaries. As a journalist he was the original publisher and editor of Xtra! West in Vancouver, and has also contributed to publications including the Vancouver Sun, The Economist, The Georgia Straight, Quill & Quire, Canadian Forum and The Tyee. He now works as a communications representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

References

  1. ↑ Abelove H, Barale MA, Halperin DM, eds., The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Routledge, 1993, page 43.
  2. ↑ Amis JM, Cornwell, BT, eds., Global Sports Sponsorship. Berg, 2005, page 282.
  3. ↑ Hoffman A, "An Army of Ex Lovers"
  4. ↑ Cudmore, D. "The Little Gay Paper That Grew" Archived 2012-03-27 at the Wayback Machine Ryerson Review of Journalism, Summer 1996.
  5. ↑ Bernard EJ. "Canada: Xtra publishes its anti-criminalisation piece-de-resistance".
  6. ↑ HHRC2008. " HHRC 2008 Speakers"
  7. ↑ Bon Bon S von. "Parts and Recreation"
  8. ↑ Syms, S. "Des hommes trans qui aiment des hommes gay qui aiment des hommes trans"
  9. ↑ Nair P. "Litigating against the Forced Sterilization of HIV-Positive Women: Recent Developments in Chile and Namibia", volume 23, page 228.
  10. ↑ Miller, M. "Interview with Shawn Syms"
  11. ↑ Saints and Sinners Literary Festival website. "Fiction and Playwriting Contest Finalists" Archived 2010-04-08 at archive.today
  12. ↑ Saints and Sinners Literary Festival website. "And the Winner Is" Archived 2011-07-26 at archive.today
  13. ↑ "Friend. Follow. Text.". Here and Now (CBLA-FM), October 22, 2013.
  14. ↑ Plenitude , Issue 4 (Spring 2014).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.