Jewelle Gomez
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Jewelle Gomez (b. 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts) is an American writer and cultural worker.
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[edit] Background
Gomez was raised by her great grandmother, Grace, who was born on Indian land in Iowa to an African American mother and Ioway father. Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s landed her in the Black political and social movements which is reflected in much of her writing. More recent writing has reflected her Native American (Ioway, Wampanoag) heritage.
[edit] Writing
Gomez is the author of seven books, but is most known for the double Lambda Literary Award winning novel The Gilda Stories (Firebrand Books, 1991). This novel, which reframes the traditional vampire mythology in taking a lesbian feminist perspective, is an adventure about an escaped slave who comes of age over two hundred years. She also authored the theatrical adaptation of the novel Bones and Ash which toured 13 U.S. cities performed by the Urban Bush Women Company (1996).<ref name=glbtq1>Template:Cite web</ref> The book, which remains in print, was also issued by the Quality Paperback Book Club in an edition including the play.
Her fiction and poetry is included in over one hundred anthologies. Gomez has written literary and film criticism for numerous publications including The Village Voice, The San Francisco Chronicle, Ms. Magazine and Black Scholar.
[edit] Activism
Gomez was on the first staff "Say Brother," one of the first weekly Black television shows (WGBH-TV Boston, 1968), and was on the founding board of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) in 1984.
She also served on the early boards of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation and the Open Meadows Foundation, both devoted to funding women's organizations and activities. She's been a member of the board of the Cornell University Human Sexuality Archives and the advisory board of the James Hormel LGBT Center of the San Francisco Public Library. She acted as host or key note speaker for Gay Pride in New York City and San Francisco.
[edit] Professional
Formerly the executive director of the Poetry Center and American Poetry Archives at San Francisco State University, she has also had a long career in philanthropy. She was the director of Cultural Equity Grants at the San Francisco Arts Commission and the director of the Literature Program for the New York State Council on the Arts.
She currently sits on the San Francisco Public Library Commission.
