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Always Becominging
Born1990 (age 33–34)[1]
New Zealand
Other names
  • Jay Nieuwland
  • Jackson Nieuwland
OccupationPoet
AwardsMitoQ Best First Book Awards: Jessie Mackay Prize for Poetry

Always Becominging (formerly Jay Nieuwland;[2] born 1990) is a New Zealand poet, editor and co-founder of the publishing house We Are Babies. Her 2021 publication I Am a Human Being won the best first book award (poetry) at the Ockham New Zealand Book Awards.

Biography

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Becominging was born and raised in Wellington.[3] She first seriously began writing poetry in high school, after developing a passion for New Zealand hip hop artists such as Frontline and the Breakin Wreckwordz hip-hop collective, eventually realising that she was drawn to the process of writing, instead of hip-hop performance.[4] Becominging studied creative writing at Whitireia New Zealand.[4]

Together with American poet Carolyn DeCarlo, Becominging co-founded the independent publishing house We Are Babies.[4] Becominging and DeCarlo worked on a number of projects, including the eBook Twilight Zone (2013)[5] and Bound: an Ode to Falling in Love (2014), a fictionalised chapbook telling the story of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's relationship.[6] In 2015, We Are Babies released the poetry anthology Left: a Book of Words and Pictures, which featured Becominging as the work's editor.[3][7] Becominging and DeCarlo also founded the zine/poetry reading collective Food Court, which eventually expanded to become a physical store in Newtown, Wellington.[4] The store shut down in 2022.[8]

In the early 2010s, Becominging began writing the poetry collection I Am a Human Being. Halfway through the writing process, Becominging realised that she was genderqueer.[9] I Am a Human Being was eventually published by Compound Press in 2020,[10] winning the MitoQ Best First Book Award for Poetry at the 2021 Ockham New Zealand Book Awards,[11][12] and was longlisted for the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry.[13] A review in Landfall described it as "a unified artwork and a collection of lyrical bangers", and said the book was "probably the funniest book of poetry published in Aotearoa this year".[14]

As of 2022, Becominging is completing a PhD in poetics.[15]

Personal life

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Becominging previously identified as genderqueer.[16] In 2021, Becominging came out as a trans woman, and started using she/her pronouns.[17][18]

Becominging met Carolyn DeCarlo online in 2011, on the literary website HTMLGIANT. After the pair developed a long-distance relationship, DeCarlo moved to New Zealand from Maryland.[4] Becominging and DeCarlo separated in 2022.[19]

Bibliography

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  • DeCarlo, Carolyn; Nieuwland, Jackson (2014). Bound: an Ode to Falling in Love. Auckland: Compound Press. ISBN 9780994112323. OCLC 1003123254.
  • Nieuwland, Jackson, ed. (2015). Left: a Book of Words and Pictures. Wellington: Compound Press. ISBN 9780473316518. OCLC 934111390.
  • Nieuwland, Jackson (2020). I Am a Human Being. Auckland: Compound Press. ISBN 9780995125148. OCLC 1241570294.

References

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  1. ^ "Bound : an ode to falling in love / by Carolyn DeCarlo & Jackson Nieuwland ; illustrations by Josephine Jelicich". National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  2. ^ "Always Becominging". Read NZ Te Pou Muramura. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  3. ^ a b "I Am a Human Being". The Women's Bookshop. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e "A Conversation with Carolyn DeCarlo & Jackson Nieuwland: Passing into Another Dimension". Starling Magazine. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  5. ^ "What are ways to take your night?". Sweet Mammalian. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  6. ^ "BOUND: an ode to falling in love". Compound Press. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  7. ^ "Journals: From Start to Finish". The Big Idea. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  8. ^ "Food Court Books Closing Down Sale". Instagram. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  9. ^ "Meet Jackson Nieuwland, author of the award-winning poetry collection I Am A Human Being". Kete Books. 22 June 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  10. ^ Crofskey, Vanessa Mei (30 September 2020). "I Am A Reader Reading: A Review of I Am A Human Being". Pantograph Punch. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  11. ^ "How I write: Award-winning poet Jackson Nieuwland on 'finding community'". Stuff. 26 May 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  12. ^ "I Am a Human Being". The Women's Bookshop. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  13. ^ "The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending February 19". The Spinoff. 19 February 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  14. ^ Kennedy, Erik (1 December 2020). "On Memory, Grief and the Multitudinousness of Being". Landfall Review Online. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  15. ^ "Mermaid Metaphors & Other Tales". The Big Idea. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  16. ^ "Celebrating Our Ockham Poets: Q & A with Jackson Nieuwland, Winner of the Mitoq Best First Book Award". New Zealand Book Awards Trust. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  17. ^ @becominging (12 December 2021). "Hi everyone. Recently admitted to myself that I'm a woman. She/her pronouns from now on please 💋" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  18. ^ Ward, Louise (11 August 2022). "A Progression of Poets comes to Napier on August 23 to entertain and inspire". Hawke's Bay Today. The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 20 December 2022.
  19. ^ @becominging (25 May 2022). "UPDATES: In case you missed it, Carolyn DeCarlo and I are no longer an item. If you want to know more about why, you can ask privately. I may or may not tell you my side of the story" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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