Jewelle Gomez
 

Jewelle Gomez (Cabo Verdean/Wampanoag/Ioway; she/her) is a novelist,  poet, essayist, playwright, and lesbian/feminist activist. Her ten books include five collections of poetry and the first Black Lesbian vampire novel, THE GILDA  STORIES. In print for more than 30 years, the novel was recently optioned by  Cheryl Dunye (“Lovecraft Country” “Watermelon Woman”) for a TV miniseries.  Her latest collection of poetry, “Still Water,” is from BLF Press. 
 

Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies, including “Red Indian Road  West,” “Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African  Diaspora,” “Oxford Treasury of Love Stories,” “Luminescent Threads:  Connections to Octavia Butler,” and “Stories for Chip: A Tribute to Samuel R.  Delany.”  
 

Gomez was playwright in residence (2011-2023) at New Conservatory Theatre  Center (San Francisco), which commissioned and produced her last three plays:  “Waiting for Giovanni” about author/activist James Baldwin; “Leaving the  Blues” about singer/composer Alberta Hunter, and “Unpacking in P’town”  about a group of retired vaudevillians. The plays premiered in New York City, produced by TOSOS at The Flea Theatre. 
 

Gomez also worked in philanthropy for thirty years, including at the NY State  Council on the Arts, the San Francisco Arts Commission, and Horizons  Foundation (SF). She was on the founding board of the Astraea Lesbian  Foundation and The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). 
 

She was the recipient of an NEA Fellowship, two California Arts Council Artist’s  Residency and recently a Bram Stoker Legacy Award from Horror Writers of  America.