Kimberly Dark, award-winning writer and storyteller who uses humor to help audiences discuss challenging topics

Arisa White, poet, Cave Canem fellow, community event organizer, and professor of Creative Writing at Colby College

David-Matthew Barnes, educator, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, and poet who writes under the pennames Declan Mayfair, Dylan Madrid, and Wren Valentino

Dylan Edwards, award-winning queer and trans cartoonist, keeper of Studio NDR

Nona Caspers, short-story writer and professor of creative writing at San Francisco State University

Lucy Jane Bledsoe, world traveler, explorer, hiker, and award-winning novelist

Terry Baum, playwright, performer, Lesbian activist, and world traveler

Vernon Keeve III reads from “My Mother Introduced Me to My Spirit,” based on ghost stories his mother told him as a child

Vernon Keeve III, high school English teacher in Oakland, CA, and director of the Association of Black & Brown Writers

Jeff Mann, author, poet, and teacher of creative writing at Virginia Tech

Ajuan Mance, visual artist and Professor of English at Mills College in Oakland, California

Daniel Curzon, playwright, educator, author of “Something You Do in the Dark” and many other groundbreaking works 

Trebor Healey reads from his poetic works

Trebor Healey, social activist, award-winning author and poet

Hans Hirschi is a Swiss-born, American-educated author and activist who now lives in Sweden

Europa Grace, experiential/experimental poet and Yoga instructor

Tara Madison Avery, cartoonist, illustrator, and publisher at Stacked Deck Press

As a bonus episode, here are several of the Queer Words Podcast authors discussing their approaches to writing and sharing some inner thoughts with other queer writers. Included are: Meg Elison, Andrew Demcak, Ajuan Mance, Natasha Dennerstein, Rick May, Jewelle Gomez, Gar McVey-Russell, Europa Grace, Trebor Healey, Rob Rosen, and Nona Caspers.

Andrew Demcak, librarian, poet, and author of the YA series “The Elusive Spark.”

Rob Rosen, multi-award-winning and best-selling author/editor/anthologist. His short stories have appeared in more than 200 anthologies. He is the editor of Best Gay Erotica

Meg Elison, speculative fiction writer and feminist essayist whose writings often incorporate the themes of female empowerment, body positivity, and gender flexibility

Jewelle Gomez discusses her body of work and reads from “The Gilda Stories.”

Jewelle Gomez, poet, playwright, and author of “The Gilda Stories,” the original Lesbian Vampire book. In the Bonus material, she discusses her body of works and reads from “The Gilda Stories.”

[Transcript]

Gar McVey-Russell was a co-founder of ActUp-East Bay. He hosts a blog called The Garspot.

Gar McVey-Russell [Transcript]

Richard May is co-host of the Perfectly Queer Readings series and a short-story author. His most recent book is “Inhuman Beings,” a collection of erotic stories based on myths, monsters, and science-fiction.

Rick May [Transcript]

Natasha Dennerstein discusses her upcoming novel “Abomination.”

Natasha Dennerstein is an Australian-born trans poet living in the San Francisco Bay area and is an Editorial Assistant at Nomadic Press. In a former life she functioned as a psychiatric nurse.

Natasha Dennerstein [Transcript]