Queer Voices: Poetry, Prose, and Pride

by John Medeiros (Editor), Andrea Jenkins (Editor), Lisa Marie Brimmer (Editor)

Since its beginnings in 1993, the Queer Voices reading series has featured both emerging and established Minnesota-based writers of the LGBTQIA+ community. With a track record of more than twenty years, the series has become a national model and one of Minnesota's most important literary institutions. It is reputed to be the longest-running curated queer reading series in the country.
In this volume, series curators John Medeiros and Andrea Jenkins and facilitator Lisa Marie Brimmer present the finest poetry, fiction, and nonfiction pieces by the presenters. Their work, generated and performed in a powerful space of understanding, explores the material of life without internal or external censorship. Living, loving, working, learning, playing, reflecting, knowing, inventing, and being —these magnificent queer voices affirm the importance of civil literacy and the power of vulnerability.
Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew, Cole Bauer, Ryan Berg, Stephani Maari Booker, Lisa Marie Brimmer, Kimberly J. Brown, Nate Cannon, Anthony Ceballos, Stephanie Chrismon, James Cihlar, Venus de Mars, Jay Owen Eisenberg, Kelly Frankenberg, Ben French, Julie Gard, Christina Glendenning, Rachel Gold, Molly Beth Griffin, CM Harris, Andrea Jenkins, Kristin Johnson, Bronson Lemer, Raymond Luczak, Catherine Lundoff, Josina Manu Maltzman, John Medeiros, Nasreen Mohamed, Michael Kiesow Moore, Ahmad Qais Munhazim, Gary Eldon Peter, Junauda Petrus, Trina Porte, William Reichard, katie robinson, Dua Saleh, Lucas Scheelk, Erin Sharkey, Christine Stark, Vanessa Taylor, Bradford Tice, Ann Tweedy, Morgan Grayce Willow, S. Yarberry, Ariel Zitny

Genres: Poetry, LGBT, Memoir, Queer, Essays, Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2019

About the author

John Medeiros is a poet and writer living in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is the author of the poetry collection "couplets for a shrinking world," and his work has appeared in several journals and anthologies, including Sport Literate, Water~Stone Review; Gulf Coast; Talking Stick; Willow Springs; other words: a writer’s reader; Gents, Badboys and Barbarians: New Gay Male Poetry; Evergreen Chronicles; Second Run; Hot Metal Press; Big Toe Review; Swell and Christopher Street. He is the recipient of two Minnesota State Arts Board grants; a Jerome Foundation Grant for Emerging Writers; Gulf Coast’s First Place Nonfiction Award; and the AWP Intro Journals Project Award. He received an MFA from Hamline University, in St. Paul, Minnesota, and his work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays of 2006. He is the curator of Queer Voices: A GLBT Reading Series, one of the country’s longest-running reading series for queer writers.

Reviews

[Stephani]

My poems "Mango" and "Wavelengths" are in this book.

[Griffin Wold · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Like any anthology of works, I liked some of the pieces better than others. Overall, it was a good collection, but it seemed to be lacking some cohesion. I wish the editors would have been more intentional with the organization of the pieces (they are just in alphabetical order by author's last name) in order to make it flow better and show WHY each piece had been included.

[Emma Pattock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection of queer Minnesota writers, especially the variety of genres, topics, and authors. No two pieces/authors were exactly the same, and I particularly enjoyed the more autobiographical pieces. It makes me feel more connected to the queer community and less alone knowing that there are other queer Minnesota writers.

[Arielle W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection with a variety of pieces from Minnesota authors--short stories, mini-essays, poetry. Some of them were beautiful, some were funny, some were sad. Some of the pieces are stronger than others, but overall good collection.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really nice, varied collection of Minnesota voices. There is a ton of beautiful work in this collection.

[Charles McCaffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, funny & sad. A nice collection with a variety of pieces (short stories, mini-essays & poetry). Some of the pieces are stronger than others, but overall a good collection.

[Zoë Chatterton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in 2022 and was just re-reading it. I absolutely adore this book. So many amazing stories from a variety of authors.

[Space Twink · Rating 3 out of 5]

123

[Maren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kinda hard to rate collections like this, just giving it a 3 based on liking most of it :-)