Miah Jeffra is author of The Fabulous Ekphrastic Fantastic! (Sibling Rivalry 2020), The Violence Almanac (Black Lawrence 2021), the chapbook The First Church of What’s Happening (Nomadic 2017), and co-editor, with Arisa White and Monique Mero, of the anthology Home is Where You Queer Your Heart (Foglifter 2021). Awards include the New Millennium Prize, the Sidney Lanier Fiction Prize, The Atticus Review Creative Nonfiction Prize, the Alice Judson Hayes Fellowship, Lambda Literary Fellowship, and 2019 finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Outstanding Anthology. Most recent work can be seen in StoryQuarterly, Prairie Schooner, The North American Review, The Pinch, The Greensboro Review, DIAGRAM, jubilat and Barrelhouse. Miah is a founding editor of Whiting Award-winning queer literary collaborative, Foglifter Press, and teaches writing and antiracist studies at Santa Clara University.

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Nicoz Balboa is an Italian visual artist, using his life events as inspiration for works ranging from painting, drawing, tattoo, to pyrography, graphic journal and sketchbook. He reveals his hopes, failures and successes in candid and, at times, excoriating work that is frequently both tragic and humorous. The themes of provocation and sexuality repeatedly surface in Nicoz’s work, as his oeuvre is firmly rooted in the tradition of transfeminist discourse.

website https://www.nicozbalboastudio.com/

substack: https://nicozbalboa.substack.com/

patreon: https://www.patreon.com/graphicjournalclub

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Marissa Stein is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of Washington (LMHC), an AASECT Certified Sex Therapist (CST), and a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC). They are a non-binary, neuroqueer, kinky, and queer, Pagan, practitioner of magic, who lives with chronic pain and disability. Given these lived experiences, they have felt the impact of intersectional marginalization. As a white person, they do their best to be aware of their privilege and biases as part of dominant euro-centric descendant culture. Marissa endeavors to do their best to do anti-oppression work that is trauma aware as they believe every person deserves to enjoy their life free from shame and oppression. They strive for cultural humility, and to be an accomplice in the continued fight against white supremacy wherever they can.

https://www.taravenerysextherapy.com/

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Alice O'Callaghan is a transgender community activist and CEO for the queer production company Zenith City Horror. She is a "20 under 40" award winner for her queer community and artistic leadership which spans over a decade in the Twin Ports. She is a modern day House Mother, providing advocacy and safe spaces for vulnerable queer youth and artists in the Twin Ports area. She prioritizes her fight against discrimination and exploitation of trans artists in the entertainment industry.

Zenith City Horror: https://www.zch.gay/
Miss Cupcake: https://www.instagram.com/ms.cupcake.drag/

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Instagram: GenderStories
Hosted by Alex Iantaffi
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Aydian Dowling is the co-founder and CEO at TRACE. With the support of just 1 person, a trans or nonbinary youth’s risk of suicide goes down by 40%. This is why Aydian co-founded TRACE, the app created to foster a brighter and more gender-affirming future for transgender and non-binary individuals. He has been a transgender activist and influencer for more than 12 years and has been featured on the Ellen Degeneres Show as well as on the cover of Men’s Health. As the founder of Point of Pride, a global nonprofit that has generated over $2.5M in aid for the trans community, he is committed to equity and access to medical and wellness care for the most vulnerable members of the transgender and nonbinary community.

Point of Pride: https://www.pointofpride.org/

TRACE: https://www.thetrace.app/

Follow Aydian on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alionsfear

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Born in a small pentecostal coal-mining town in the Appalachian Mountains, October Ryan struggled to express her true self from a very early age. When her femininity was met with hate, anger, & abuse, she retreated into a series of approval-seeking fake personas. The pentecostal pastor-in-training, the meek academic bookworm, the rebellious grad school party boy, the small town psychology professor... none of her false identities gave October any sense of peace. When she moved to the diverse haven of LA, she finally came out as a proud transgender woman. While healing her traumas & beginning her transition, she wrote & published her first novel, The Beginning Of October, heavily inspired by the pain in her post & her hopes for the future, and has recently released a new murder mystery novel, The Book of Monahan. October has also co-written and released her debut album, Homecoming, co-written and produced by American Idol runner-up and chart-topping artist Blake Lewis. For more on October, check out octoberryan.com.

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PJ Desrochers is a visual artist who explores their nonbinary humanness through art. PJ creates images, builds sculptural installations and immersive experiences of their
gender and a life well-lived. Their media originates with photographic self portraits printed on transparency film. PJ then builds creations by layering the transparent images and connecting them quite often using fingerprinted scotch tape and fishing line to found objects. These Photographic Assemblages can often be found installed within the natural beauty of central Vermont where they photograph and film these beloved creations to become gallery accessible and presented for your viewing pleasure.

Project website: https://www.11toseeandbeseen11.com/

Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/toseeandbeseen/to-see-and-be-seen-nonbinary-tarot

PJ Derochers website: http://www.pjdesrochersart.com/

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K. Allison Hammer is assistant professor and coordinator of women, gender, and sexuality studies at Southern Illinois University.

Masculinity in Transition traces the roots of “toxic masculinity,” showing that while toxic strains of masculinity are mainly associated with straight, white men, trans and queer masculinities often reiterate similar patterns of behavior. Arguing that these malignant forms of masculinity can be displaced, K. Allison Hammer’s bold rethinking lays bare the underlying fragility of normative masculinity.

Link to more information about the book or to order:

https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/masculinity-in-transition

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Instagram: GenderStories
Hosted by Alex Iantaffi
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