Myriam Gurba

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Myriam Gurba
MyriamGurba.jpg
OccupationArtist and writer

Myriam Gurba is a Mexican American writer, story-teller, and visual artist. She is best known for her review in , of American Dirt.

In 2019, O, The Oprah Magazine called Gurba's work Mean (2017) one of the "Best LGBTQ Books of All Time".

Career[]

Gurba toured with Sister Spit, a "lesbian-feminist spoken-word and performance art collective."[1]

Gurba exhibited at the Museum of Latin American Art[2] and The Center Long Beach.[3]

Works[]

Gurba is the author of three books: Mean (Coffee House Press, 2017)[4][5] and Dahlia Season: Stories and a Novella (Manic D Press/Future Tense, 2007),[6][7] and Painting Their Portraits in Winter: Stories.[8] Her second book, Painting Their Portraits in Winter: Stories, explores Mexican stories and traditions from a feminist lens.[9]

Gurba's work has been anthologized in Colorlines,[10] Les Figues Press, Zocalo Public Square, The Wanderer, figment and XQsi Magazine.[citation needed]

Gurba's review of the book American Dirt in Tropics of Meta sparked controversy about cultural appropriation, the white gaze, racism, #ownvoices, and lack of diversity in the publishing industry.[11][12][13][14] The review for Tropics of Meta was written after a previous review, commissioned by Ms. Magazine, was rejected for being too negative. Gurba's review, along with the hashtag #DignidadLiteraria, went viral in early 2020.

Since 2017, she and fellow author MariNaomi have been hosting an advice podcast called AskBiGrlz where they answer listener questions.[15]

Awards[]

Gurba's debut novel Dahlia Season[16] won The Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction from Publishing Triangle, and was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award.[17][18] Dazed ranked Dahlia Season among their list of queer lit classics.[19] Emily Gould described Gurba as "a new writer for the first time whose voice is different from any you’ve heard before and who you want to keep hearing forever."[20]

Reception[]

In 2019, O, The Oprah Magazine called Gurba's work Mean (2017) one of the "Best LGBTQ Books of All Time".[4] The New York Times described Gurba as having a "distinct and infectious" voice.[21]

The New York Times' Meghan Daum calls Mean one of the five best memoirs of 2017, writing "Gurba has a voice as distinct and infectious as any I’ve discovered in recent years. “Mean” contains the usual childhood confusions and adolescent humiliations, but it’s also a meditation on race, class, sexuality and the limits of niceness."[22]

New York Times' Parul Seghal calls Mean “a scalding memoir that comes with a full accounting of the costs of survival, of being haunted by those you could not save and learning to live with their ghosts.” It also “adds a necessary dimension to the discussion of the interplay of race, class and sexuality in sexual violence."[23]

Reviews of Gurba's work appear The Iowan Review,[24] The Paris Review,[25] The Lesbrary,[26] Rain Taxi,[27] BIG OTHER[28] and Wing Chair Books.[29] Jill Soloway blurbs for Mean, describing Gurba's voice as, "an alchemy of queer magic feminist wildness, and intersectional explosion."[30] Michelle Tea reviews Mean as a book that mesmerizes with prose, stating that, "there is no other writer like Myriam Gurba and Mean is perfection."[31]

Articles about her appears in KQED,[32] The Edge LB[33] and Confessions of a Boy Toy.[34]

Interviews with her appear in The Los Angeles Review of Books,[35] OC Weekly,[36] MOLAA,[37] The Normal School,[38] Weird Sister[39] and Otherppl.[40] Playlists for Gurba's writing appear in Largehearted Boy.[41][42]

Personal life[]

Gurba is from Santa Maria, California, US. She identifies as queer[43] and as of 2016 lived in Long Beach, California.[32]

References[]

  1. ^ "Long Beach authors to share their humor, discomfort at Sister Spit tour". www.presstelegram.com. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
  2. ^ Morris, Asia. "Local Artists Explore Identity and Diversity in WHO ARE YOU, MOLAA's First Exhibit of 2016". Long Beach Post. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  3. ^ "Opening Reception Featuring Myriam Gurba and Denise Rivas The Center Long Beach". The Center Long Beach. Archived from the original on 2020-09-09. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Hart, Michelle (2019-06-04). "50 Queer Authors Share Their All-Time Favorite LGBTQ Books". Oprah Magazine. Retrieved 2019-08-08.
  5. ^ Gurba, Myriam (Nov 7, 2017). Mean. Coffee House Press. ISBN 978-1-56689-491-3. Archived from the original on September 9, 2020. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  6. ^ Gurba, Myriam (May 1, 2007). Dahlia Season: stories & a novella. Future Tense. ISBN 978-1933149165. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  7. ^ "Dahlia Season eBook by Myriam Gurba". Kobo. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  8. ^ "2015 Latino Books: 8 Must-Reads from Indispensable Small Presses". NBC News. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  9. ^ "2015 Latino Books: 8 Must-Reads from Indispensable Small Presses". NBC News. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  10. ^ Rao, Sameer. "READ This Exhilarating History of L.A.'s Super-Badass 'Ovarian Psychos' Bicycle Brigade". Colorlines. race forward. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  11. ^ "'American Dirt' is a novel about Mexicans by a writer who isn't". Washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2020-01-22.
  12. ^ Hampton, Rachelle (2020-01-21). "Why Everyone's Angry About American Dirt". Slate Magazine. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  13. ^ Shephard, Alex (2020-01-22). "How Not to Write a Book Review". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  14. ^ "Pendeja, You Ain't Steinbeck: My Bronca with Fake-Ass Social Justice Literature". Tropics of Meta. 2019-12-12. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  15. ^ Gurba, Myriam; MariNaomi. "AskBiGrlz". AskBiGrlz.
  16. ^ Gurba, Myriam (2007). Dahlia Season: Stories & a Novella - Myriam Gurba. Retrieved 2016-12-09 – via Internet Archive.
  17. ^ "Publishing Triangle". www.publishingtriangle.org. Archived from the original on 2019-03-23. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  18. ^ "20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Archived from the original on 2017-07-31. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  19. ^ Dazed. "Come out with the best characters in queer lit". Dazed. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
  20. ^ "The Millions : A Year in Reading: Emily Gould". www.themillions.com. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
  21. ^ Daum, Meghan (2017-12-22). "In Search of Lost Time". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-08-08.
  22. ^ Daum, Meghan (2017-12-22). "In Search of Lost Time". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-02-05.
  23. ^ Sehgal, Parul (2017-12-19). "An Account of Surviving Assault Mixes Horror and Humor". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
  24. ^ "Myriam Gurba's MEAN | The Iowa Review". iowareview.org. Archived from the original on 2020-09-09. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
  25. ^ Review, The Paris (2017-09-15). "Staff Picks: Morphine, Martyrs, Microphones". The Paris Review. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
  26. ^ Ellis, Danika. "Danika reviews Painting Their Portraits in Winter by Myriam Gurba". The Lesbrary. The Lesbrary. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  27. ^ Attaway, Jacklyn. "DAHLIA SEASON". Rain Taxi. Rain Taxi. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  28. ^ Gaudry, Molly. "Sentences and Fragments: Prathna Lor's VENTRILOQUISIM and Myriam Gurba's WISH YOU WERE ME". BIG OTHER. BIG OTHER. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  29. ^ Filippone, Michael. "Wish You Were Me by Myriam Gurba". Wing Chair Books. Michael Filippone. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  30. ^ "Mean – Emily Books". emilybooks.com. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  31. ^ "Mean – Emily Books". emilybooks.com. Retrieved 2020-01-23.
  32. ^ Jump up to: a b Clark, Leilani. "For Mexican Girls Who Paint Their Fingernails Black". KQED Arts. KQED. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  33. ^ Rasmussen, Emily. "What's The Deal With Frida Kahlo's Cult Following?". The Edge LB. The Edge: The Independent Voice of Long Beach. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  34. ^ Darling, Nikki. "Myriam Gurba: Required Reading for Mexican Girls Who Paint their Fingernails Black". Confessions of a Boy Toy. Confessions of a Boy Toy. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  35. ^ "LARB Radio Hour: Queer Memoir Part Two: Feeling Mean with Myriam Gurba". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on 2020-09-09. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
  36. ^ Nericcio, William. "Author-Artist Myriam Gurba is a Bettie Page-Susan Sontag Hybrid". OC Weekly. OC Weekly. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  37. ^ "Who Are You? Artist: Myriam Gurba". MOLAA. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  38. ^ Quintana, Monique. "A Normal Interview with Myriam Gurba". The Normal School. The Normal School. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  39. ^ Abelkop, Gina. "It's Kinda Creepy Because I Am: An Interview with Myriam Gurba". Weird Sister. Weird Sister. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  40. ^ Listi, Brad. "Otherppl with Brad Listi: Episode 388 - Myriam Gurba". Otherppl. Brad Listi. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  41. ^ Gurba, Myriam. "Largehearted Boy: Book Notes - Myriam Gurba "Painting their Portraits in Winter"". Largehearted Boy. Largehearted Boy. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  42. ^ Gurba, Myriam. "Largehearted Boy: Book Notes - Myriam Gurba ("Wish You Were Me")". Largehearted Boy. Largehearted Boy. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  43. ^ Soto, Christopher. "'Neplantla: A Journal Dedicated to Queer Poets of Color: Issue Two Representatives". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2016-12-09.

External Sources[]

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