Sassafras Lowrey

Sassafras Lowrey got hir start writing as a straight-edge queer punk zinester in Portland, Oregon, and grew up to become the 2013 winner of the Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award. Along the way, ze changed coasts, genders, and several other things besides. Hir first book, the Kicked Out anthology (www.KickedOutAnthology.com), gathered voices of current and formerly homeless queer youth alongside policy makers and activists, and was honoured by the American Library Association and the Lambda Literary Foundation. Hir debut novel, Roving Pack (www.RovingPack.com) chronicles the underground lives of gender-radical queer youth searching for identity, community, and belonging. Roving Pack was honoured by the American Library Association and won a Rainbow Book Award for Transgender Fiction. Ze also edited Leather Ever After, a finalist for the National Leather Association Writing Award. Hir work has received acknowledgement and awards from the Astraea Foundation Lesbian Writers Fund, Poets & Writers, and Queer Heroes of the Pacific Northwest. Ze has toured widely, giving readings, workshops, and keynotes at colleges, conferences, bookstores, festivals, and squats ranging from Atlanta to Berlin to Oakland to Amsterdam. Sassafras has contributed to numerous anthologies and publications, and ze believes storytelling is essential in the creation of social change. Ze lives and writes in Brooklyn with hir partner, two dogs of dramatically different sizes, two bossy cats, and a mostly feral kitten. www.SassafrasLowrey.com