Jewelle Gomez
Jewelle Gomez, (Cape Verdean/Wampanoag/Ioway) is a novelist, poet and cultural worker. She’s the author of eight books including the first Black Lesbian vampyre novel, THE GILDA STORIES, which has been in print more than 25 years. She’s playwright in residence at New Conservatory Theatre Center which commissioned and produced her trilogy of plays.
Twitter: @VampyreVamp
Instagram: @VampyreVamp
What’s your favorite comic strip or graphic novel?
My favourite graphic novel is FUN HOME by Allison Bechdel. I’ve loved Bechdel’s comic strips for years (Dykes to Watch Out For) and this novel displays her very expressive visual artistry as well as her ability to tell a delicate, moving, tragic story about her relationship with her self-deluding father.
What’s the oddest thing a reader has ever asked you?
The oddest thing a reader ever asked me was if my novel was autobiographical. That’s odd only because my book is a vampire novel! I said ‘yes’ and the reader took a step back. Of course, it is autobiographical emotionally and even some of the characters are drawn on people I know. It has been interesting to talk with readers about the how much of ourselves goes into our writing, how writing helps writers know ourselves sometimes. Even the not so simple process of my establishing the moral parameters of my characters given what/who they are was politically clarifying for me.
Favorite non-reading activity?
When I’m not reading (or listening to radio drama) I love watching television. I realised that I’m a narrative junkie so TV is a continuous stream of stories. Some of them are well told, others aren’t but the array is astounding. And it can be a window into many other worlds. I love trying out new series and documentaries about things I didn't really think I'd care about (like Pluto, the planet not the dog); as well as keeping up with favourite series. British detectives are my fave, I guess because the stories always resolve themselves in finding the killer/robber/kidnapper/etc. and the writers have such good vocabularies.
Vacation druthers… City or Rural destination? Why?
I’m an urban girl. I have enjoyed camping in the Southwest in my youth and going to things like the Michigan Women’s Music Festival but as I’ve gotten older, I enjoy cities that I feel give me a look into the lives of other people not on vacation. I love architecture and most cities have something interesting to offer—Albuquerque, Barcelona, St Louis, London. And in cities I can also go to theatre my other love!
What’s the difference (at least for you!) between being a writer and an author? How do you shift gears between the two?
For me the ‘writer’ is the one who sits down and weaves a story, puts it together and cuts it up and puts it back together again. All the time the writer is trying to feel what the story really is meant to be. The ‘author’ is who I am when I try to market or present the work. I have to build a frame and send it out into the world so somebody wants to read or buy it. This takes a bit of distance from the creative process and giving myself a tougher skin. I almost never do the two things in the same day. It takes two different kinds of thinking so I usually devote a separate day to sending my work out or trying to locate professors that might be interested in inviting me to their classes or theatres that might want my plays.
