Maine Lit Fest Event - Day 6
Trans narratives are blossoming in the literary landscape; at the same time, a barrage of anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ legislation is sweeping the country. This online panel will explore the power of trans authors’ writing and reading for queer audiences and the importance of finding power, hope, and joy in their words.
Featured authors include Charlie Jane Anders (sci-fi author of Victories Greater Than Death and All the Birds in the Sky and winner of Hugo, Nebula, and Lambda awards), Isaac Fitzsimons (YA author of The Passing Playbook), and Leigh Ellis (Telling Room alum, Maine Literary Award winner, and author of Bach in the Barn). Maine Lit Fest fellow Rylan Hynes will facilitate, and Maya Williams of MaineTransNet will be on hand to field questions and share Maine-based resources.
This event is free.
Books will be sold by A Room of One’s Own.
Charlie Jane Anders is the author of Victories Greater Than Death, the first book in a new young-adult trilogy, with the sequel, Dreams Bigger Than Heartbreak, coming April 2022. She's also the author of the short story collection Even Greater Mistakes, and Never Say You Can't Survive (August 2021), a book about how to use creative writing to get through hard times. Her other books include The City in the Middle of the Night and All the Birds in the Sky. She's won the Hugo, Nebula, Sturgeon, Lambda Literary, Crawford and Locus Awards. Her fiction and journalism have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Slate, McSweeney's, Mother Jones, the Boston Review, Tor.com, Tin House, Teen Vogue, Conjunctions, Wired Magazine, and other places. Her TED Talk, "Go Ahead, Dream About the Future" got 700,000 views in its first week. With Annalee Newitz, she co-hosts the podcast Our Opinions Are Correct.
Isaac Fitzsimons (Fits-EYE-mons) writes so that every reader can see themselves reflected in literature. His debut novel, The Passing Playbook, received numerous accolades including being named a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard selection, a Summer/Fall 2021 Indies Introduce title, a Kirkus Best Young Adult Book of 2021, and a 2022 Lambda Literary Award Finalist.
Isaac has previously dabbled in performing sketch comedy and learning how to play three songs on the banjo. His dream vacation would be to travel around Europe via sleeper train and see every top-tier soccer team play a home game. He currently lives outside Washington, DC.
Leigh Ellis is an eighteen year-old from Raymond, Maine and author of the young adult magical realism novel, Bach in the Barn. Leigh grew up writing at the Telling Room, and their work has been featured in Telling Room anthologies See Beyond and Shadowboxing. Though no longer a student, they hope to stay involved with the Telling Room and similar organizations in the future. Leigh is attending Columbia University with a major in creative writing and is passionate about queer representation and advocacy. Their goal is to continue sharing the stories they needed to hear growing up, as well as helping others to do the same. Leigh is also in the process of compiling a zine of queer writing called Frisson, based on the scientific term for “getting the chills.” When not writing, Leigh can often be found collaging, taking pictures of street art, and making Spotify playlists.
Rylan Hynes grew up in South Portland and studied creative writing, visual art, and theatre at College of the Atlantic as an undergraduate. Rylan is currently the Communications Manager at The Telling Room in Portland, Maine, and has worked with independent bookstores and literary nonprofits across the country, including Maine's own Nonesuch Books and award-winning poetry press Alice James Books. In 2020, the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance and Maine Community Foundation awarded Rylan with a Martin Dibner Fellowship to attend the Harvest Writers Retreat. When they aren't busy writing short stories, novels, and essays, Rylan enjoys spending time with their spouse and their hedgehog.
Maya Williams (ey/they/she) is a Black Mixed Race queer nonbinary person, suicide survivor, and poet residing in Portland, Maine. They currently serve as MaineTransNet’s Sexual Assault Program Coordinator, where they develop peer support groups for trans survivors and educational material on trauma informed trans competency for advocates. They also serve as co-host of the video series Dying/Laughing, which analyzes the representation of suicide and mental health in TV and film. Maya has published poetry in glitterMOB, Occulum, The Portland Press Herald, Littoral Books, FreezeRay, and more. Ey has received residencies from organizations such as Sundress Academy for the Arts (SAFTA), Voices of Our Nation Arts (VONA) Foundation, The For Us by Us Fund’s Words of Fire Retreat, and Hewnoaks Artist Colony. She is a Maine Writers and Publishers Association (MWPA) Chapbook finalist, a Best of the Net Nominee, and a winner of PortFringe’s Patron’s Choice Award for her spoken word performance “When Speaking to an Extraterrestrial.” You can see Maya as one of the three selected artists of color to represent Maine in The Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America series, hosting open mics Tuesdays for Port Veritas, and facilitating writing workshops for Quill Books & Beverage Sundays. Follow them at their website, mayawilliamspoet.com.