I was raised in the 1970s by a children’s librarian, a sex therapist, and TV. After many false starts I grew up to be someone who writes books, teaches, and learns with other people.
Before I started writing I co-founded a worker co-operative, consulted for TV, and, after getting a master’s in education from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, became an educator.
These days I spend most of my time either making books, helping other people make books, or talking with parents and young people about things like bodies, gender, sex, drugs, and power.
I make books as a way of figuring out things that confuse me. I write collaboratively, so making books also helps me feel (and be) less alone.
I prefer not to describe myself, or to be present when others describe me, but when I have to queer, disabled, and awkward are three words that come immediately to mind.
All of my work is collaborative. I’m most comfortable working across and within the spaces that divide us, like age, race, gender, class, embodiment, disability, and identity.
My life is full of young people. All of them know where babies come from and most of them know what they need to know about drugs.
I have co-authored five books, including the award-winning Sex Is a Funny Word, and the forthcoming You Know, Drugs, from Flatiron Books.
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Acknowledgements
All the books I’ve worked on have been collaborations, and everything I have written was developed in conversation with others. Sometimes it’s friends or co-authors, sometimes it’s conversations with people in my community, sometimes it’s something I read or overheard. I keep this running list of people who have influenced my work directly or indirectly because it reminds me that I can’t and don’t have to try and do this work alone.
Some of these are people I’ve never talked to or met; others are people I get to talk to every day. None of them are responsible for errors or omissions in my work, but all of them have made the work better.
Anna-Louise Crago, Allison Howell, Andrew Weil, Annanda DeSilva, Aidan Key, Alejandra Ospina, Alec Milton, Alison Kafer, Andy Tank, Aruna Mitra, Anita Harding, Athena Brewer, Barry Siskind, Bec Sokha Keo, Becky McFarlane, Betty Tank, Bianca I. Laureano, Brendan Cheung, Catherine Fitzpatrick, Caitlyn MacIntyre, Carl Hart, Carol Camper, Carol Queen, Chloë Atkins, Chloe Eudaly, Coman Poon, Corrina Melles-Orego, Cyndi Gilbert, Cynthia Loyst, Dan Rosenbaum, Daniel Heath Justice, Del LaGrace Volcano, Eli Clare, Elizabeth Boskey, Ellen Friedrichs, Ellie Grossman, Esther Ignagni, Emma Kleinman, Emmy Pantin, Farzana Doctor, Fiona Smyth, Fran Odette, Hanny Elsayed, Hilary North-Ellasante, Ines Buchli, Ing Wong-Ward, Ivy Wool, Jake Pyne, Jennifer Luu, Jennifer Moorman, Jessica Abraham, Jessica Whitbread, Jowita Bydlowska, Judy Taylor, Julie Flett, Kaitlin Winslow, Karen B.K. Chan, Karen Chappelle, Katrina Peddle, Karleen Pendelton-Jimenez, Kathleen Trotter, Ketan Vegda, Kia Corthron, Koomah, Kristyn Dunnion, Lan Li, Laura Hershey, Leah Steele, Lisa Lomax, Louise Bak, Leroy Moore, Linda Crabtree, Linda Mona, Lynda Barry, Maddie Ritts, Melanie Cundari, Michelle Alexander, Maia Szalavitz, Mitche Chai, Maisa Said-Albis, Michelle Bourgeois, Maria Palacios, Mariko Tamaki, Maya Gonzalez, Mirha-Soleil Ross, Morénike Giwa-Onaiwu, M. Morgan Lefay Holmes, Miriam Kaufman, Michelle Melles, Patricia Berne, Pedro Orrego, Peggy Kleinplatz, Rebecca Picherack, Rei Marzoughi, Ritika Goel, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Ronnie Ali, Ruth Birgin, Sam Levine, Sarra Levine, Sean Saifa Wall, Shaylih Muehlmann, Stacey Milbern, Stevie Forbes-Roberts, Sunaura Taylor, Susan Ludwig, Susan Pereira, Syrus Marcus Ware, Susie Bright, Tasha Spillett, Theodore (Ted) Kerr, Tracey Brown, Tara-Michelle Ziniuk, Tuppy Owens, Veronica Liu, Venita Ray, Viv Cornejo, Yangchen Lachungpa, Zab Hobart, Zoë Wool