Category: Art & Culture

trigger, venus selenite, trans writer, contemporary queer, l

trigger by Venus Selenite | CQ Interview

Sage Nenyue

venus selenite trigger, poet, artistVenus Selenite, DC-based poet and social critic from Baton Rouge, Louisiana  and self-described lesbiqueer has been in the poetry circuit since her early to mid teens. So it should come as no shock that she’s harnessed everything she’s learned and experienced to focus it into her debut book of poetry: triger.

And yes, the ‘t’ is lowercase, thank you very much. *Nail polish emoji*

A Black nonbinary trans woman who’s words can bring comfort or start fires, Venus agreed to let me conduct this interview on behalf of Contemporary Queer in celebration for trigger’s grand debut! Read More

blown covers by ryan thomas

CQ Interview: “Blown Covers” by Ryan Thomas

Sage Nenyue

Ryan Thomas“Finally! I get to read more than the first few chapters!” I exclaimed when a close friend of mine (Ryan Thomas) sent me the novel he’d been working on since college. I start reading the first few pages of Blown Covers and then I only emerge when day has turned into night, weekend into Monday, and everything I loved has turned into ashes in my mouth because the main character–*doesn’t add spoiler*.

Blown Covers, the coming of age story that follows three teens sharing an apartment while working the same literary internship, is something I wish I had read when I was younger. Written in three languages (and translated into English), it takes us through the trials of David (White American-Enlgish), Chrstiano (Spanish-Spanish), and Lena (German-German) as they deal with their inner turmoil and each other.

I sat down with the author Ryan over coffee (several thousand miles apart) and asked him to talk more about the book and his role as its author. Read More