. Says the store: Outspoken queer performance poet Staceyann Chin electrifies audiences wherever she performs, from New York’s Nuyorican Poets Café to Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway or the International Gay Games Opening Night Ceremonies at Chicago’s Soldier Field. In her searing and ultimately inspiring new memoir, she recounts her poignant story from heartbreak and tragedy to determined survival and finally thriving. Dorothy Allison raves, “[Chin] shows me a culture I knew far too little about—the everyday life of young people in Jamaica and the threat of violence over anyone who might be too independent or queer or outrageous. How wonderful that this outrageous, talented, determined woman has given us her story.”
And what a story it is. Born on the floor of her grandmother's home in Jamaica to a women who didn't want her and a man she didn't know, Staceyann Chin escaped Jamaica's brutally cruel anti-homosexual society, moving to New York to "live in exile", as she puts it. Life in exile has been busy though, as she's not only become a well known poet, performer and writer, but she's also taken nearly all top poetry awards, had her one-woman show go international, appeared on TV and in films, and still found time to work for justice and equality, especially for GLBT people in her homeland.
After seeing her read at the opening ceremonies of the Gay Games several years ago, I can only promise that this will be one night you won't soon forget. Need a sneak peak? How about this video:
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