For a long time, I shied away from using the word “queer.” In fact I wondered why anyone would want to use it. Wasn’t that traditionally a form of hate speech? But eventually I found the term to be an empowering one. Continue reading
queer
Combating the Heartbreak of Erasure
Part of my commitment to courage in writing fiction is my desire to give voice to the marginalized: people with mental illness, people of minority sexualities, people who are neurodivergent. Almost all my characters, even those more superficially on the “inside” of society, find themselves in situations where they feel cast adrift, either geographical or emotional outsiders. Many are expats. Most cling to an equilibrium that’s fragile at best. Continue reading
Jumping From Cliffs and Surviving: On Courage in Fiction
I played it safe for many years in my writing. Kept the deepest and most important parts of my work and my self under wraps. Some of that was due to youth, some of it was due to fear.
But then I reached a point where I couldn’t anymore. My struggles with mental illness, my navigation of my own complicated queer sexuality: all weighed on my mind and my heart in ways I didn’t realize until I started writing about them. Continue reading
Jenn Crowell 