Jewelle Gomez

Jewelle Gomez (Cape Verdean/Wampanoag/Ioway) is an acclaimed novelist, poet, essayist, playwright, and lesbian/feminist activist born in Boston, Massachusetts, on September 11, 1948. She graduated from Northeastern University and earned an MS in Journalism from Columbia University, becoming involved in activism, black theater, and writing, inspired by Ntozake Shange's play. Best known for her groundbreaking Black lesbian vampire novel *The Gilda Stories* (1991), which won two Lambda Literary Awards and remains in print over 30 years later, she has authored ten books and held positions such as director of the San Francisco Arts Commission's Cultural Equity Grants Program.