In recognition of National LGBTQ+ History Month, we present this bonus episode in which Timothy Bussey talks to Richie Hofmann, Juniper Jordan Cruz, and Claire Oleson about the importance of LGBTQ+ literature. Topics of discussion include queer readings of traditional novels, queer and trans biographies, themes of resistance in LGBTQ+ writing, and much more.
Timothy Bussey is the Assistant Director of the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Kenyon College.
Juniper Jordan Cruz is a scholar and poet from Hartford, Connecticut. She is currently a senior at Kenyon College and majors in English and creative writing. Her work has been published in the Atlantic, Academy of American Poets, and Lambda Literary. Her work primarily focuses on the intersection of being a Black, Trans, and a Woman.
Richie Hofmann is the author of a collection of poems, Second Empire (2015). He is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and a Ruth Lilly Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, and his poems appear in the New Yorker, Kenyon Review, New Republic, Ploughshares, The Baffler, New England Review, New Criterion, and Poetry.
Claire Oleson is a student and writer hailing from Grand Rapids Michigan. She is currently studying English and Creative Writing at Kenyon College. She is an avid fan of books, bread, and trying to win the hearts of all felines, regardless of how cantankerous they may be. Her work has been published by the University of Kentucky’s graduate literary journal Limestone, Siblíní Art and Literature Journal, Newfound, NEAT, Werkloos, and Bridge Eight, among others. She won the Propper prize for poetry in 2017.