Notes and contributors
What I really wanted to do was introduce you. Hi, world. “Contanimation: however, tether, and some” is a collaborative piece curated by TC Tolbert. It integrates material from the following transgender, two-spirit, and genderqueer artists, mentors, friends:
Samuel Ace: initial paragraph from his artist statement at Conrad Wilde Gallery on The Landscapes and ice cream cone image. Samuel has published widely in periodicals and journals, including Ploughshares, Eoagh, Nimrod, The Prose Poem, an International Journal, and the Kenyon Review. He is a poet, photographer and educator, the author of three collections of poetry: Normal Sex (Firebrand Books), Home in three days. Don’t wash., a multimedia project of poetry, video and photography (Hard Press), and most recently Stealth, co-authored with Maureen Seaton (Chax Press). He is a recipient of a New York Foundation for the Arts grant, two-time finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in Poetry, winner of the Astraea Lesbian Writer’s Fund Prize in Poetry, The Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Fiction and the Firecracker Alternative Book Award in Poetry. http://www.conradwildegallery.com/samuelAce.html
Genesis Breyer P-Orridge: visual art slide show. http://www.genesisbreyerporridge.com
Tre Natro: “Rest in Power.” Tre is a Two-Spirit rappero from the ‘border’ lands of Arizonaztlan. He is an MC by nature and uses Hip Hop and spoken word as a means to inspire the heart and mind to STAY AWAKE! He is a masculine female-born gender resister down to bang on the colonial system by existing true to his creation.
j/j hastain: image with text. j/j lives in Colorado, USA with hir beloved. j/j is the author of numerous full-length, cross-genre works such as: asymptotic lover // thermodynamic vents (BlazeVox Books), our bodies as beauty inducers (Rebel Satori Press), we in my Trans (JMS Books LLC), autobiography of my gender (Moria), ulterior eden (Otoliths), prurient anarchic omnibus (Spuyten Duyvil) as well as many chapbooks and artist’s books. A new chapbook collaboration with poet-artist Marthe Reed, is forthcoming from Dusie 7. j/j’s writing has appeared in numerous journals including MiPoesias, Fact-Simile, Sextures, Trickhouse, Vlak, Unlikely Stories, The Offending Adam, Eccolinguistics, Poems-For-All and Kelsey. j/j is an elective affinities participant, a member of Dusie kollektiv and a regular contributor to Sous Les Paves. j/j’s manuscript Let was a finalist in the 2010 Kelsey Street and Ahsahta book competitions. In 2011 j/j’s book we in my Trans was nominated for the Stonewall Book Award. In the near future j/j has full-length, cross-genre collections coming out with various exciting presses. www.jjhastain.com
D’lo: video performance of “Amma.” D’Lo is a queer Tamil Sri L.A.nkan-American, political theatre artist/writer, director, comedian and music producer. http://dlocokid.com
Tim Peterson (Trace): “futurism is easy” visual poem. Trace is a trans-identified poet, critic, and editor. The author of Since I Moved In (Chax Press), and Violet Speech (2nd Avenue Poetry), Peterson also edits EOAGH: A Journal of the Arts (which published a special issue Queering Language dedicated to trans poet and mentor kari edwards in 2007). Peterson’s poetry and criticism have been published in Colorado Review, EBR, Five Fingers Review, Harvard Review, Leonardo Electronic Almanac, The Poetry Project Newsletter, Transgender Tapestry, and in the recent book kari edwards NO GENDER: Reflections on the Life and Work of kari edwards (Belladonna/Limus Press). A Ph.D. student at CUNY Graduate Center, Peterson curates the TENDENCIES: Poetics & Practice talks series dedicated to queer writing and the manifesto. More information at http://tendenciespoetics.com
Our Lady J: “Picture of a Man” song and video. Our Lady J is known for her visionary gospel styling, powerhouse pianist skills and unforgettable live shows. Along with the Train-To-Kill Gospel Choir, she has been delivering a new testament of post-religious gospel music to sold-out crowds throughout the world since 2006. www.ourladyj.com
Nathalie Stephens (Nathanaël): italicized section beginning “a place name is an occurrence of retreat” from The Sorrow and the Fast of It. Nathanaël's books include We Press Ourselves Plainly (2010), The Sorrow And The Fast Of It (2007), Paper City (2003), Je Nathanaël (2003/2006), L'Injure (2004) and …s’arrête? Je (2007), for which she was awarded the Prix Alain-Grandbois by the Académie des Lettres du Québec. Carnet de désaccords (2009) was a finalist for the Prix Spirale-Éva-le-Grand. Other work exists in Basque, Slovene, and Spanish with book-length translations in Bulgarian and Portuguese (Brazil). There is an essay of correspondence (2009) : Absence Where As (Claude Cahun and the Unopened Book), first published (2007) as L'absence au lieu. Also, a collection of talks, At Alberta (2008). Nathanaël’s work, previously published under the name Nathalie Stephens, is repertoried in Constelación de poetas francófonas de cinco continentes (Diez siglos) (2011).A recipient of a Chalmers Arts Fellowship (2002) and a residential bursary from the British Centre for Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia (UK, 2003), Nathanaël was Distinguished Visitor at the University of Alberta in 2008. She has guest lectured in universities in Europe, the United States, Québec and Canada. Besides translating some of her own work, Nathanaël has translated Catherine Mavrikakis, Gail Scott, John Keene, Édouard Glissant. She lives in Chicago and teaches at the School of the Art Institute. http://polysemique.blogspot.com
TC Tolbert: curator and text not already designated as composed by someone else. TC is a genderqueer, feminist poet and facilitator committed to social justice. S/he believes in working across communities – building bridges wherever possible. TC earned his MFA in Poetry from The University of Arizona in 2005 and is the Assistant Director of Casa Libre en la Solana, a literary nonprofit in Tucson, Arizona. S/he is the founder and director of Made for Flight, a youth empowerment project that utilizes creative writing and kite building to commemorate transgender people who have been murdered in the previous year. TC is co-editor of the forthcoming Anthology of Trans and Genderqueer Poetry (EOAGH Books), the first anthology of its kind. www.transanthology.com His work won the Arizona Statewide Poetry Competition in 2010. TC’s chapbook, territories of folding, was recently published by Kore Press and his collection, Gephyromania, is forthcoming from Ahsahta Press. His poems can be found in Volt, The Pinch, Drunken Boat, Shampoo, A Trunk of Delirium, jubilat, and EOAGH. www.tctolbert.com
