Emanuel Xavier

Emanuel Xavier
File:Emanuel Xavier by Bobby Miller 2- b&w- low res.jpg Emanuel Xavier (Photograph by Bobby Miller)
Born	1971 Brooklyn, New York
Website	http://www.emanuelxavier.com

Emanuel Xavier (born May 3, 1971), is an American poet, spoken word artist, novelist, editor, and activist born and raised in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. Once a street hustler and drug dealer, he emerged from the neo-Nuyorican spoken word movement to become a successful writer and advocate for gay youth programs and Latino gay literature. Of Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian ancestry, he has conducted spoken word poetry workshops and produced benefits and events for youth organizations around the United States. His work has been translated from English into Spanish and the Serbian language.

Early years

Xavier's father abandoned his mother after learning she was pregnant; he was never heard from again. At the age of three, Xavier was the victim of child sexual abuse by a relative. At age 16, he came out to his mother and was thrown out of his house. Soon after, he became a hustler. He credits ball house mother Anji Xtravaganza for providing him with a temporary place to stay in her Lower East Side apartment and dancer-choreographer Willi Ninja for encouraging him to pursue his passion for journal writing during this period. Eventually, he reconciled with his mother and returned home to complete his studies at Grover Cleveland High School, where he graduated with top honors as president of the student association and editor-in-chief of the student newspaper. He then attended St. John's University (New York City) for several years, dropping out after receiving his associate's degree in communications. He worked for a local drug dealer and made a living by selling drugs at some of New York City's most popular gay nightclubs, including The Sound Factory and Roxy NYC. Later, after leaving the club scene, he became employed at a bookstore where he discovered his passion for writing and turned his life around to become a genuine role model. He has said that he viewed poetry as an "outlet to unleash pain and anger."

Regarding his past, he stated, "I became all those things society expected me to become. I thought that was the only thing I could be."

Professional career

Xavier self-published his debut poetry collection, Pier Queen, in the fall of 1997 through his own independent publishing house, Pier Queen Productions. Lacking his own computer, he put the book together at a friend's apartment in Harlem during the previous summer. Poems such as "Bushwick Bohemia", "Deliverance", "Every Latino", "Nueva York" and "Tradiciones" helped him gain acclaim in New York City's underground arts scene. He first distributed postcard versions of his earlier poems at the West Side Highway piers and clubs he had once frequented as a hustler and drug dealer.

In 1998 he created the Glam Slam, an annual poetry slam competition featuring four open categories such as Best Erotic Poem in Sexy Underwear or Lingerie and Best Love Poem in Fire Engine Red (alternately Best Bitter Break Up Poem in Blue). Winners of each category received a trophy and went on to compete for the Grand Prize title of Glam Slam Champion. The event aspired to bring together poetry slams and ball culture in a unique and vibrant contribution to the downtown arts scene. In 2008, after a decade of staging the slam in New York, he passed the torch to Basque-Spanish performance poet Ernesto Sarezale, who introduced the event to London.

Painted Leaf Press, a small, independent publishing company which went out of business, published Xavier's novel, Christ Like, in 1999. Despite a limited press run, the novel was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award.

In 2000, Xavier hosted the Lambda Literary Awards ceremony in New York.

Soon after 9/11, Xavier was one of the leading forces behind Words to Comfort, a poetry benefit held at the New School. The event brought together major spoken word artists, poets, actors, and musicians to raise money for the World Trade Center Disaster Relief Fund. He went on to produce other spoken word events to benefit organizations, including the Latino Commission on AIDS and the Nuyorican Poets Café.

The 2002 poetry collection Americano helped establish Xavier as a central figure in the people of color literary arts movement.

A flyer promoting an event featuring Emanuel Xavier at Amherst College

Xavier edited the 2005 anthology Bullets & Butterflies: Queer Spoken Word Poetry, earning him his second Lambda Literary Award nomination.

He has been featured on television on Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry on HBO (Seasons 3 & 5), In The Life on PBS and hosted several editions of Out At The Center on Manhattan Neighborhood Network. He also appears in the Wolfgang Busch documentary How Do I Look.

In 2008, he appeared in The Cult of Sincerity, the first feature film to premiere on YouTube and later air on PBS. That year, he edited the anthology Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry, the first book ever to gather the work of openly gay poets from the Latino community.

In 2009, he appeared at a Fight The California H8 protest in New York to read his poem, "Children of Magdalene". He capped off the year with the release of a spoken word/music compilation CD, Legendary- The Spoken Word Poetry of Emanuel Xavier.

He has contributed spoken word/musical collaborations to the CD, Word War I, produced by El David to benefit political prisoners in Puerto Rico.

His writing has appeared in various publications, including Genre, The New York Post, and The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide.

El Museo del Barrio staged its first NYC Gay Pride event on June 20, 2010, a choreographed dance presentation featuring selections from the spoken word/music album, Legendary- The Spoken Word Poetry of Emanuel Xavier. Xavier curated El Museo del Barrio's Speak Up! monthly spoken word poetry program through Spring 2011 and edited an anthology inspired by the series.

A former homeless gay youth, he has particularly focused his activism on working with queer youth organizations. He has organized benefit events for organizations such as Youth Enrichment Services, The New Neutral Zone, Fierce, Sylvia's Place, The New York Peer AIDS Education Coalition, The Hetrick Martin Institute, and Live Out Loud.

Regarding his career, he has been quoted to say, “I think at the beginning it was about me, about sharing my story. But as it evolved, it became more about the larger picture, hoping to inspire others not to follow that path, that it wasn’t the only way to go if you were gay, a person of color, and thrown out because you were gay. That it wasn’t the only option.”

Assault and aftermath

In October 2005, Xavier was brutally attacked by a group of about twenty young men in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. Despite various rumors about the attack—some suggested it stemmed from his granting the Latin Kings gang permission to publish one of his poems, "Waiting For God", which dealt with police brutality while others suggested it was simply another gay bashing—Xavier said the crime was a random act of violence. He later captured his experience in the poem "Writer's Block".

After the attack, Xavier experienced significant hearing loss. An MRI resulted in the discovery of an acoustic neuroma, which was surgically removed in 2006.

Controversies

In 2009, Xavier headlined an event at El Museo del Barrio entitled, Spic Up! Speak Out! Due to public outcry, the event organizers changed the name to Speak Up! and issued a formal apology. Regarding his personal use of the word spic, Xavier told The New York Times, "For me, it's about empowerment. Look at everything we have done and accomplished. And it is a play on the word. We are speaking out our truths and identities in very perfect English. . . . spic is a word that we can re-appropriate, that was used to oppress us and box us in a negative way." He uses the word within this context in his poem, "Americano".

In 2010, a positive book review for "If Jesus Were Gay & other poems" posted on a popular Latino website during the Christian observation of Lent sparked controversy.

Awards and honors

Xavier received the Marsha A. Gomez Cultural Heritage Award, a New York City Council Citation and is a 2008 World Pride Award recipient.

In 2009, he was one of the honorary Padrinos featured at the annual Three Kings Day Parade in the Spanish Harlem district in New York City. Later that year, he was named one of the "25 Most Influential GLBT Latinos" by the Mi Apogeo (My Latino Voice) website.

In 2010, The Equality Forum announced him as a GLBT History Month Icon.

His poetry collection, "If Jesus Were Gay & other poems" was selected by the American Library Association as one of their Over The Rainbow books for 2011.

Bibliography

• Best Gay Erotica 1997, edited by Richard Labonte with an introduction by Douglas Sadownick, Cleis Press, 1997 (features his first short story publication titled "Motherf***ers" which introduces the character of Mikey X.)
• Pier Queen, Pier Queen Productions, 1997 (first full length poetry collection)
• Ma-Ka: Diasporic Juks- Contemporary Writing by Queers of African Descent, edited by Makeda Silvera, Sister Vision Press, 1997 (features a reprint of the poem "Bushwick Bohemia" from the poetry collection, Pier Queen)
• Men On Men 7: Best New Gay Fiction, edited by David Bergman, Plume Books, 1998 (includes a short story titled "Christ Like" which also features a main character named Mikey X. and inspires the author to write a full length novel)
• Besame Mucho: New Gay Latino Fiction, edited by Jaime Manrique & Jesse Dorris, Painted Leaf Press, 1999 (features an out of place reprint of the entire unedited first chapter from the novel, Christ Like)
• Virgins, Guerillas & Locas, edited by Jaime Cortez, Cleis Press, 1999 (features a short story titled "Crazy Horse Memoirs")
• Blood & Tears: Poems for Matthew Shepard, edited by Scott Gibson, 1999 (features a reprint of the poem "Oya/St. Therese" from the poetry collection, Pier Queen)
• Best of Best Gay Erotica, edited by Richard Labonte, Cleis Press, 2000 (features a reprint of the short story "Motherf***ers")
• Of The Flesh, edited by Greg Wharton, suspect thoughts press, 2001 (features the poem "Nearly God" from the poetry collection, Americano)
• Americano, suspect thoughts press, 2002 (second full length poetry collection)
• The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name, edited by Greg Wharton, Boheme Press, 2003 (features an essay titled "Confessions")
• From Porn To Poetry 2, edited by Susannah Indigo & Brian Peters, Samba Mountain, 2003 (also features a reprint of the poem "Nearly God")
• Bad Boys, edited by Paul J. Willis & M. Christian, Alyson Books, 2003 (features an essay titled "Bookshop Booty")
• Coloring Book, edited by boice-Terrel Allen, Rattlecat Press, 2004 (features the poem "Legendary" from the collection, Bullets & Butterflies: queer spoken word poetry)
• Bullets & Butterflies: queer spoken word poetry, suspect thoughts press, 2005 (edited by Emanuel Xavier and featuring several new poems)
• In Our Own Words: A Generation Defining Itself Volume 7, edited by Marlow Peerse Weaver, MW Enterprises, 2007 (features reprints of the poem "Another Country" from the poetry collection, Pier Queen, and "In The Eighties" from Bullets & Butterflies: queer spoken word poetry)
• Best Gay Erotica 2008, edited by Richard Labonte with an introduction by Emanuel Xavier, Cleis Press, 2007 (finalists selected by Emanuel Xavier)
• Queer & Catholic, edited by Trebor Healey & Amie M. Evans, Haworth Press, 2008 (features the poems "Just Like Jesus" and "Bastard" from the forthcoming poetry collection, If Jesus Were Gay & other poems)
• Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry, Floricanto Press, 2008 (edited by Emanuel Xavier and featuring several new poems)
• Christ Like: tenth anniversary revised edition, Rebel Satori Press, 2009
• If Jesus Were Gay & other poems, Rebel Satori Press, 2010 (third full length poetry collection)
• Me No Habla With Acento, El Museo del Barrio & Rebel Satori Press, 2011 (edited by Emanuel Xavier and featuring several new poems)
• Ambientes: New Queer Latino Writing, edited by Lázaro Lima and Felice Picano, University of Wisconsin Press, 2011 (features "Dear Rodney" from If Jesus Were Gay & other poems)
• collective BRIGHTNESS: LGBTIQ Poets on Faith, Religion & Spirituality, edited by Kevin Simmonds, Sibling Rivalry Press, 2011 (features the poem "The Omega Has Been Postponed" from If Jesus Were Gay & other poems)

Audio Recordings

• "Legendary (The E-Mix)" (single, 2009)
• "Legendary- The Spoken Word Poetry of Emanuel Xavier" (spoken word poetry/music album, 2009),'
• "Legendary (The RE-Mixes)" (remix EP, 2010, Hades Music)
• "Sound X" (remix, 2011, Royal Advisor Records)
• "Waiting For God" (spoken word poetry/music, 2011, Voices Against Police Brutality)

Television appearances

• The Cult of Sincerity feature film (PBS, 2008)
• Canterbury's Law episode: Baggage (Fox, 2008)
• The Return of Jezebel James (Fox, 2008)
• Law & Order episode: Illegal (NBC, 2008)
• Fort Pit (2007)
• Law & Order episode: In Vino Veritas (NBC, 2006)
• The Ski Trip feature film (LOGO, 2005)
• Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry two episodes (HBO, 2003 & 2005)
• In The Life episode: Family Law (PBS, 2003)

See also

• List of Puerto Rican writers
• List of Famous Puerto Ricans
• Puerto Rican literature

External links

• Official Website
• Emanuel Xavier at the Internet Movie Database