As a Queer Author, I Thought I Had to Come Out Before My Books Did
Some misguided fans believe they are owed information about artists’ sexual and gender identities. As a queer writer myself, this worries me.
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Zakiya N. Jamal was born in Queens, raised in Long Island, and currently resides in Brooklyn. In other words, she’s a New Yorker through and through. She holds a BA in English from Georgetown University and a MFA in Creative Writing with a concentration in Writing for Children and Young Adults from The New School. She has been published in Romper, BuzzFeed, People.com, and more. Her non-fiction essay about her “Cuban Impostor Syndrome” is featured in the Latinx anthology, Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed. You can find her on Twitter at @ZakiyaNJamal.
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