We Want the Airwaves: QPOC Artists on the Rise

Queer Colombian Salvadoran Alejandro Varela is one of my favorite living writers. His work weaves together comedy and tragedy as if it was the easiest thing in the world. His first novel, The Town of Babylon, is about growing up queer and brown in a place where neither is possible. His second book, The People Who Report More Stress, begins with a short story about gay hookups at the U.N. I had the honor of interviewing him in mid-October when he was in Philly to promote his new book, Middle Spoon. We nerd out about the craft of writing, explore how his public health background shapes the way he sees the world, and discuss how white supremacy leaves immigrants of color blaming themselves for failing to achieve the American Dream. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Charles A. Bush is a Black queer writer from West Philadelphia. In this interview, we dive deep into their first book, Every Variable of Us, a love story between two high school girls, one Black and one Indian American. Listen in to find out how much of the story is based on Charles' real life. It's much more than I expected. Find Charles at @Charles_A_Bush on Instagram and TikTok and @CharlesBush10 on X. Trigger warning for discussion of domestic violence. Read the interview at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Bangladeshi Irish novelist Adiba Jaigirdar writes love stories with queer brown girls as protagonists. In this interview, we discuss risk-taking in the publishing industry, racism in Ireland, and do deep dives into three of her novels. We discuss the interracial (Brazilian-Bengali) relationship in The Henna Wars (2020), the interfaith (Hindu-Muslim) relationship Hani & Ishu's Guide to Fake Dating (2021), and representing fatphobia without depressing the audience in The Dos and Donuts of Love (2023).  Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia. Photo by Aleksandria Rudenko. Transcription by Amirah Mizrahi.

Gay Iranian author Abdi Nazemian joins Nia to drop some intergenerational wisdom. We dive deep into his queer young adult novels: Desert Echoes, about addiction and grief; Only This Beautiful Moment, about three generations (two queer) of an Iranian family; and Like A Love Story, about coming of age at the height of the AIDS epidemic. In the process, he explains what it was like growing up in the '80s, why he's grateful to an ex for forcing him out of the closet, and how Madonna saved his life. Transcript available here.

Lamya H., the author of Hijab Butch Blues (she/they) is a bit of an enigma. In the memoir (and this interview), she never reveals which South Asian country she was born in or which Middle Eastern country she grew up in, and Lamya H. is a pen name. However, the book is not sparse on details when it comes to their experiences of racism, sexism, homophobia, and Islamophobia, or in chronicling their attempts to find and/or build progressive queer Muslim community in the U.S. after moving here for college. In this interview, we discuss her love of sports, the power of interracial Muslim friendships, and passages from the Quran around which she structured her story. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Comedian Tan Hoang discusses moving from Vietnam to the Philly suburbs at age 9, transitioning at acting school, and how training as an actor made her a better stand-up. She also tells stories of hosting Pride events in small towns, being recognized when she's out with her mom, and being a "peacocky-ass kid" and an aspiring rock star in a dying genre. If you live near Philly, catch her at Tattooed Momedy on the last Tuesday of every month! Photo by Casey O'Donnell. Transcript available at scribd.com/artactivistnia thanks to transcriber Amirah Mizrahi!

Jonny Garza Villa (they/them), author of three young adult novels, discusses growing up queer and Mexican in a small Texas town, how getting into astrology helped them develop characters, and how pettiness can serve as inspiration. This is a deep dive into their books Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun (2021), Ander + Santi Were Here (2023), and Canto Contigo (2024), with a teaser for their forthcoming adult novel Futbolista at the end. Transcript available at scribd.com/artactivistnia thanks to transcriber Amirah Mizrahi!

Growing up, reading and writing were things that made Sonora Reyes feel "dumb" in school. So how did they get from there to writing the Lamba Literary Award-winning, National Book Award-nominated Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School? In this interview, Sonora discusses healing their relationship to writing through fanfiction, growing up with a combination of brown pride and gay shame, and receiving an autism diagnosis later in life. Listen to the interview at qtpocart.libsyn.com. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia. Read the transcript here. Support the podcast here.

A panel featuring four of Nia King's favorite artists: Sawyer Lovett, Joe Hatton, Vo Vo, and Cristy C. Road. Zines played a crucial role in reducing social isolation for many of us, whether we were one of the only punks of color in our scene (Nia in Boston, Joe in the Dakotas, and Vo in Sydney, Australia), or the only gay in our rural Virginia town (Sawyer). Cristy C. Road discusses growing up in Miami's predominantly Black and brown punk scene and using zines to process heartbreak and trauma. Other important zinesters that received shout-outs (or should have include): Mimi Thi Nguyen Jackie Wang Lauren Jade Martin Suzy X Osa Atoe Adee Roberson Lawrence Lindell Breena Nuñez Ajuan Mance the Queer Zine Archive Project Jenna Freedman/the Barnard Zine Library this list truly never ends. Shout out to Amirah Mizrahi for the transcription and Maliha Ahmed for running tech.

We Want the Airwaves celebrates 10 years with a panel featuring six of the artists from Queer & Trans Artists of Color, Volume Three: Anthony J. Williams, Kamal Al-Soylaylee, Joamette Gil, Venus Kii Thomas, Qwo-Li Driskill, and Osa Atoe! (This is the first part of a two-part episode, so you will only hear Ant, Kamal, and Jo on it.) This panel is co-hosted by Maliha Ahmed, co-editor of Queer & Trans Artists of Color, Volume Three, and sponsored by the Aydelotte Foundation, Black Studies, Film & Media Studies, and the Libraries at Swarthmore College. Art by Gabriela Riveros and Dan Nosheny. Tune back in next month for part two! Read the transcript here. Support the podcast here.

In this very special CROSSOVER episode, I interview the hosts of the Mexican podcast No Hay Tos (in English after they interviewed me for their own show in Spanish). Beto and Héctor, both long-time Spanish teachers, discuss their own language-learning journey, what they love about podcasting, and some of the challenges of teaching. Check out their podcast at nohaytospodcast.com. Read the transcript of this interview at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Sri Lankan-American Tamil trans woman reporter and martial artist Simi Kadirgamar is the guest on this month's podcast episode. In it, we discuss her reported/illustrated zine on the Indian and Pakistani occupation of Kashmir, a family that peddles Brazilian Jiu-jitsu training to police all over the world, and why she chose hate groups and the far-right as her beat. Shout out to my BFF Amirah for introducing me to this amazing woman! Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Singer, dancer, actor: Briyana Clarel is a triple threat! In this episode, the Black, nonbinary theater artist discusses growing up in South Jersey, racism at Princeton, and learning to love musical theater, sketch comedy, and a capella. Read the transcripts at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Afro-Latina trans woman essayist Princess Harmony stops by the podcast to discuss her writing for Black Girl Dangerous, Wear Your Voice and Workers World. We also discuss what's missing in reporting about the opioid pandemic, the different types of medication-assisted treatment available and whether rehab is a scam. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

In part two of my interview with Afro-Peruvian Brazilian filmmaker Gabriela Watson-Burkett, we discuss her second film, Baobab Flowers and her new organization, Presente! Media. Baobab Flowers follows the parallel lives of two Black women educators, one who lives and teaches in São Paulo, Brazil and another who lives and teaches in Philly. At the end, we discuss the new media org Gabriela co-founded with two other Latina media-makers. We also talk about anti-Blackness and colonial legacies in Brazil. Read the transcript at scribd.com. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Filmmaker and producer Gabriela Watson-Burkett makes work to connect people across the African diaspora. Her first film, Nosotros Afroperuanos, discusses Black history in Peru and its erasure. Her second film, Baobab Flowers, draws parallels between a Black woman educator in São Paulo, Brazil and a Black woman educator in Philadelphia. Her most recent project, ¡Presente! Media, is an activist media organization she co-founded with two other Latinas. In part one of this two-part interview, we discuss her experience growing up Afro-Peruvian in Brazil and covering Brazil's immigrant communities as part of one of her (many) internships in broadcast journalism. Keep an ear out for part two, coming later this month! (Photo by Scott Burkett) Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

How has coronavirus impacted the fitness industry? In this episode Nia chats with two queer Black business owners, athletic trainer Mike Watkins and Pilates instructor Teresa Ellis, to find out. They also discuss creating fat-positive fitness spaces, working with disabled clients, and ways they try to make their services accessible to low-income folks who want to work out. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

At the intersection of political art and environmental science, queer nonbinary Chinese-American Fèini Yĭn is a celestial presence in a static world. Their work ranges from enthralling pieces in The New York Times, to art processions designed to shake up science communities, to short stop-motion films about the natural world — a praxis that challenges the status quo and engages the people, cuts out the traumatic edges of displacement and reanimates them for a new world. Nia chatted with Fèini about the mash-up of art, activism and the radical implications of an expansive view of the scientific. (Episode description written by Alex Smith. Photo by Kieran Alessi) Read the transcription at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

To say that Vo, a nonbinary trans masc Vietnamese immigant, is an artist is to dance to the arrhythmic tune of understatement: they are a traveler, social worker, and wizened anarchist soul who not only dabbles in various artistic media, but transforms each discipline they encounter. Their galvanizing work in the zine underground with the international BIPOC [Black/Indigenous/People of Color] zine "Fix My Head" and the political perzine "The Swan, the Vulture," in comics, contemporary visual art, experimental fabric manipulation, and their ever-evolving musical explorations with textural metal-inspired folk, is astonishing. Vo brings their experience as an activist to their work, imbuing their many endeavors with radicalism, emotional intensity, and humor, all hallmarks of a wandering spirit whose work leaves a lasting impact on those touched by it. Nia sat down with Vo and explored the chaos, beauty, and radical potential of living an eclectic life shaped and molded by all things. (copy written by Alex Smith, alexoteric.com) Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Black Boricua Taíno queer and trans artist Ignacio Rivera is a poet, performer and activist working to end child sexual abuse, or CSA. They are also a grandparent. In this interview, featuring their baby grandson, Ignacio discusses growing up in Brooklyn, becoming politicized in Massachusetts, and the connections between sexual liberation and ending CSA. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Bisexual Latina writer, comics artist and musician Suzy X has gone from making zines to drawing comics for Rookie Mag to writing for MTV Iggy (RIP) to being the Latin music editor at Rolling Stone in the short time (approx. 7 years) I've known her, and I cannot think of anyone more deserving of this success. In this interview we discuss her zines Malcriada and Chronicles of an 8th Grade Mallgoth, illustrating her first graphic novel, and the challenges of working in media as a young woman of color. Photo by Ebru Yildiz. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Queer Indian-American author Rahul Mehta discusses his award-winning collection of short stories, Quarantine; growing up Asian in Appalachia; and how LGBTQ audiences in India have received his work. We also try to sort out why he's so drawn to unlikeable protagonists. Photo by Matthew Hamilton. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Alex Smith is a queer, Black sci-fi writer, musician and visual artist. In this interview, we discuss his collection of short stories, ARKDUST, as well as his many influences, ranging from Public Enemy to Nirvana and Marvel Comics to the Black Panther Party. Photo by Shane Jenkins. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at Patreon.com/artactivistnia.

BL Shirelle of Die Jim Crow Records discusses the challenges of recording and releasing music by incarcerated artists. She also shares stories of dealing drugs, doing time and raising kids with her wife. (Photo by Verse.) Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia. Transcript coming soon.

Black queer Philadelphia-based musician and visual artist Oliver Spencer (known musically as St. Sol) discusses growing up between North Carolina and Okinawa, how their dad's military service impacted their life, and finding the space to be weird in (an arts) high school. We also talk about the whiteness of art school(s), not letting perfectionism hold you back, and using music to assert your humanity. Photo by Georgia Wescott. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Black asexual zinester and cartoonist Joyce Hatton discusses their comic Locks and their zines Trust the Knife and Grief. Joyce is a survivor of breast cancer, homelessness, and a suicide attempt, so this episode gets pretty heavy. We also talk about the concept of "trauma porn" (which is not actual porn), when illustrations come easier than words, and their love of birds. Here is a link to the Vivek Shraya article I reference in this episode. Buy Joyce's work here. You can support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia. Transcript coming soon.

1.) I'm taking a break from the podcast. I'll be back in October. 2.) I'm moving to Philly. Please hit my up if you have leads on any jobs! 3.) The book launch for Queer & Trans Artists of Color, Volume 3 is October 19th at East Bay Booksellers in Oakland, featuring Anthony J. Williams, Luna Merbruja and Paradise Khanmalek. PLEASE DONATE so we can hire ASL interpreters for the event. Thank you! Launch party GoFundMe: https://bit.ly/2NMcsFK

Bisexual trans Latina writer Mey Rude discusses growing up in Idaho, getting kicked out of her church family, and how comics helped her find her queer- and trans-ness. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Two-Spirit mestiza musician Aja Archuleta discusses growing up in a big Mexican family with deep Denver roots, discovering her Indigenous identity, and why "Two-Spirit" now fits her better than "trans". She also shares how her love of music evolved: from playing piano in Catholic school to discovering the how much fun noise-punk could be to making massage music. Photo by Kristin Cofer. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Queer Chinese-American drag queen, filmmaker, and musician, Kyle Casey Chu talks growing up in SF, touring the South in a punk band, and changing media representations of Asian-American men. Photo by Vincent Flores. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Acclaimed author and artist Luna Merbruja interviews me (Nia King) about my pre-podcast life as zinester and cartoonist, turning the podcast into a book, and how the QTPOC art world has changed since We Want the Airwaves began six years ago.

Black queer femme Southerner The Lady Ms. Vagina Jenkins may be best known as a burlesque performer, but she's also a stand-up comic, filmmaker, and taxidermist. In this interview, she discusses growing up working-class in the country, starting sex work after finishing college, and moving to the Bay (nearly ten years ago) to pursue greater artistic opportunities. Read the interview at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Queer Black and brown punk weirdos in love! In this episode, Breena Nuñez and Lawrence Lindell, both cartoonists, musicians, and educators, tell the story of how they met and how the places they grew up shaped them. They also discuss getting what you need out of art school DESPITE the faculty and administration, making a living off of art (but pursuing higher education to make a living as teachers), and their "gateway" comics and punk bands.  To see some of Breena's comics about their Afrolatinx experience, and learn more about their work: http://www.breenache.com To see Lawrence's affirming comics about queerness and Blackness: http://lawrencelindellstudios.bigcartel.com Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Black queer SF native and dancer Jocquese Whitfield discusses discovering vogue in college, his first ball in Oakland, performing with MIA and Azealia Banks, taking corporate money and giving back to the community. (Photo by Ejects Collection) Read the interview at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.  

Indigenous trans woman poet Arielle Twist discusses her upcoming book DISNTEGRATE/DISSOCIATE, growing up Cree on a M'ikmaq reservation, and the mentorship she's received from other trans women of color poets. This conversation also covers the importance queer sex education, the problems of performative allyship, and the meaning of the phrase "all trans girls are ghosts." Photo by Laurence Philomene. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Is visibility ultimately a good thing for the artist with revolutionary intentions? For most artists, seeking to be visible to the mainstream mass media is key to economic survival. However that visibility and the surveillance that comes with it can be detrimental to the intent of subversive art. What if we accept that anything we get paid to do can never be truly revolutionary, and that anything truly revolutionary cannot be done in public? Malcolm Lasalle explored these and other questions in their essay "War on Reality," (published in Maji: An Afro-Futurist Community Newspaper, Volume I, Number 5). Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Jackie Wang's book Carceral Capitalism helps draw a direct line between the Recession of 2008, the following calls for austerity, and the visible uptick in anti-Black police violence. Indebted cities are trying to cut costs and raise funds, and they are doing it by having machines and algorithms make decisions that cops and judges would usually make. In places like Ferguson, MO, they're also charging exorbitant fees and fines for the most minor infractions, making poor Black residents' lives way harder than they need to be. Find out exactly how new, technologically advanced, supposedly race-neutral methods of policing continue to perpetuate racism, classism, and heterosexism in this episode. Photo by Sasha Pedro. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Queer mixed-race writer Jackie Wang and I lived parallel lives in different parts of the country. In this first half of the interview, we reminisce about our teen years, spent listening to punk, reading/writing zines, and volunteering at Food Not Bombs. We also discuss her trajectory from zinester to blogger to published author and from dropping out of a poetry MFA program in the desert to becoming a PhD candidate at Harvard. Read the interview at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Chief Esparza is the founder and editor-in-chief of EFNIKS.com, an online magazine for queer and trans people of color. In this episode, we discuss the environmental racism issue (EARTH), why they went on hiatus after Pulse, and how they hope to nurture young writers of color in the future. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Gay Lebanese-American novelist Rabih Alameddine authored the California Book Award-winning book An Unnecessary Woman and the Lambda Literary Award-winning book The Angel of History. In this interview we discuss (questionable) reasons some Lebanese don't identify as Arab, and the commodification of gay struggle, and writing against empire. TW for use of the word "sand n****r". This episode was recorded at Women's Audio Mission in SF. Photo by Oliver Wascow. Listen to the interview at read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Black trans dyke poet Venus Di'Khadijah Selenite discusses finding her voice in the Baton Rouge slam poetry scene, moving to DC to transition, and performing at the White House. STAY TUNED UNTIL THE VERY END to hear her perform two of her poems. Photo by Pink & White Productions. Read the transcript at scribd.com. Support the podcast at http://kck.st/2LaHzVi.

In part two of my interview with queer Afro-Cuban comics artist, editor, and publisher Joamette Gil, we get into the nuts and bolts of surviving off your creative labor. Jo gives us an exact breakdown of how much she made last year and how she made it. She also discusses the process of putting together Power & Magic: The Queer Witch Comics Anthology. Plus, find out what she's working on next! Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Queer Afro-Cuban illustrator Joamette Gil and I discuss some of the many racial categories that exist in Cuban society and how they correlate (or don't) to US understandings of Blackness. Read the interview at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Mixed-race Puerto Rican filmmaker and oral historian André Pérez discusses how he came to identify as a person of color, founding the Trans Oral History Project, and his upcoming documentary series America in Transition. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.  

Mixed-race filmmaker Andre Perez discusses growing up queer and trans in the South, being raised by a white mom (in mostly Black environments), and moving to Chicago to have Puerto Rican community. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

In part two of my interview with Teresa Ellis, proprietor of PB&J: Pilates, Barre & Jams, we discuss sounding white, buying Black, and whether working out can actually help with chronic pain. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Black queer cis femme Teresa Ellis worked as a stripper at the Lusty Lady for 13 years (before and after it was unionized), founded one of the first Black burlesque troupes (Harlem Shake), raised a kid, and now teaches fat-positive Pilates classes out of her Oakland home. She's also also had a slew of other jobs, from phone sex operator to real estate agent. Hear about them all in this episode. Read the interview at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Biracial genderqueer DJ YNG GMA and I discuss how grandmas inspire their party philosophy, why they're not on social media, and the increasingly political hip-hop that's been coming out since the election. Read the interview at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Palestinian scholar Samar Habib is the author of Female Homosexuality in the Middle East, Islam and Homosexuality, A Tree Like Rain, and Rughum and Najda. In this interview, we discuss the sexual curiosity and diversity of 9th-century Baghdad, her secular Christian upbringing in Lebanon during the civil war, and how her parents got tricked into baptizing her before the family moved to Australia. Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.

Queer Puerto Rican novelist and writer of Marvel Comics "America" series Gabby Rivera and I discuss white feminism, cis feminism, writing for X-Men's Storm and making a living off of writing and speaking (by learning how to budget and save money)! Read the transcript at scribd.com/artactivistnia. Support the podcast at patreon.com/artactivistnia.