Moonshine, Sassafras, and Raccoons in Negligee: Writing Queer Southern Fiction

About the Storytellers

Morgan Thomas (they/them) is a writer from the Gulf Coast. Their debut story collection, MANYWHERE, was published by MCD-FSG and received starred reviews from Kirkus and Publisher’s Weekly. Their work has appeared in The Atlantic, American Short Fiction, The Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. They were the recipient of Lambda Literary’s Judith Markowitz Award for Exceptional New LGBTQ+ Writers and have also received support from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Southern Studies Fellowship, and the Fulbright Foundation.

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De'Shawn Charles Winslow (he/him) is the author of In West Mills, a Center for Fiction First Novel Prize winner, an American Book Award recipient, a Willie Morris Award for Southern Fiction winner, and a Los Angeles Times Book Award, Lambda Literary Award, and Publishing Triangle Award finalist. His second novel, Decent People, will be published in January of 2023. De'Shawn was born and raised in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

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Kristen Arnett (she/her) is the queer Floridian author of With Teeth: A Novel (Riverhead Books, 2021) which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in fiction and the New York Times bestselling debut novel Mostly Dead Things (Tin House, 2019) which was also a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in fiction and was shortlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. She was awarded a Shearing Fellowship at Black Mountain Institute and was longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize recognizing mid-career writers of fiction. Her work has appeared at The New York Times, TIME, The Cut, Oprah Magazine, Guernica, Buzzfeed, McSweeneys, PBS Newshour, The Guardian, Salon, and elsewhere.

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Itai Jeffries, PhD (Yesah/Occaneechi) is Two Spirit queer researcher, writer, strategist, advocate, and a lover of plants and stories. They were born in North Carolina and reside in Seattle, Washington.
English Pronouns: they/them/y'all

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About the Moderator

Desiree S. Evans is an award-winning writer, scholar, and activist from South Louisiana. She writes fiction for children, teens, and adults. Desiree’s creative writing has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, and has appeared in literary journals such as Gulf Coast, The Offing, Nimrod Journal, and other venues.