Jewelle Gomez, (Cape Verdean/Wampanoag/Ioway), is the author of eight books including the first Black Lesbian vampire novel,
THE GILDA STORIES, winner of two Lambda Literary Awards; now available as an eBook and on AUDIBLE.
The novel was recently optioned for a television mini-series by Cheryl Dunye (Queen Sugar). Her play based on the novel, “Bones and Ash,” was commissioned and performed by Urban Bush Women Company; featured original music by Toshi Reagon and was performed in 13 U.S. cities.
Her new speculative fiction novella WE THREE was published by Rebel Satori Press this fall (2024). It explores the magic of tattoos and dangers of government control.
Her writing has appeared in hundreds of anthologies including DARK MATTER-100 Years of African American Speculative Fiction; STORIES FOR CHIP: A Tribute to Samuel R Delany; and LUMINESCENT THREADS: Connections to Octavia Butler.
As playwright in residence at New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco she was commissioned to write a trilogy of plays: WAITING FOR GIOVANNI, about author/activist James Baldwin; LEAVING THE BLUES, about singer songwriter Alberta Hunter; and UNPACKING IN P’TOWN, about a group of retired Vaudevillians. Each premiered at New Conservatory Theatre Center.
Her one act ghost story play, THE CLOAK ROOM, will be part of a reading series this fall.
She has taught creative writing workshops—poetry, fiction, speculative fiction, and playwriting—at institutions around the U.S. including San Francisco State University and Hunter College.
She was on the original board of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Astraea National Lesbian Foundation. She is a past-president of the San Francisco Public Library Commission. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram: @VampyreVamp.
