Brontez Purnell

Brontez Purnell is an Oakland-based writer, musician, dancer,[1] and director.[2] He is the author of the books The Cruising Diaries (2014), Johnny Would You Love Me If My Dick Were Bigger (2015), and Since I Laid My Burden Down (2017)[3] and the zine Fag School;[4] frontman for the punk band The Younger Lovers;[3] and founder of the Brontez Purnell Dance Company.[5]

Brontez Purnell
Purnell at the 2018 Texas Book Festival
Born
Triana, Alabama
Occupationauthor, musician, dancer
Years active2003-present
Notable work
Since I Laid My Burden Down
Awards2018 Whiting Award

Biography

Purnell grew up in Triana, Alabama[5] where he created his first zine, Schlepp Fanzine,[6] when he was fourteen years old.[2] After moving to Oakland at 19,[7] he created Fag School[6] out of "wanting there to be a Sassy for gay boys."[4] "I hadn't really seen a zine or at least a personal gay zine that dealt with the difficult subject of gay sex with both humor and frank talk. It covered some real issues."[6]

His electro rock band Gravy Train!!!! gained national prominence for their live shows.[8] His punk band The Younger Lovers started in 2003 as a bedroom demo project.[9]

Awards

In 2018, Purnell was awarded a Whiting Award for fiction.[10]

Focus

Much of his work focuses on sex and sexuality. "In my work I try to use 'sex' or the body as this thing that does not create boundaries or separation with an audience, but instead gives my audience back their humanity."[11] He is openly gay.[4]

gollark: Maybe you should rewrite it in Rust.
gollark: Thusly, git.osmarks.net is C.
gollark: > Allows visitors to look and download without authenticating. (A+0)Yes.> Does not log anything about visitors. (A+1)No. Your IP and user agent are logged for purposes.> Follows the criteria in The Electronic Frontier Foundation's best practices for online service providers. (A+2)> Follows the Web “Content” Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) standard. (A+3)> Follows the Web Accessibility Initiative — Accessible Rich Internet Applications 1.0 (WAI-ARIA 1.0) standard. (A+4)Probably not.> All data contributed by the project owner and contributors is exportable in a machine-readable format. (A+5)No idea. There might be an API.
gollark: > All important site functions work correctly (though may not look as nice) when the user disables execution of JavaScript and other code sent by the site. (A0)I think they *mostly* do.> Server code released as free software. (A1)Yes.> Encourages use of GPL 3-or-later as preferred option. (A2)> Offers use of AGPL 3-or-later as an option. (A3)> Does not permit nonfree licenses (or lack of license) for works for practical use. (A4)See above. Although not ALLOWING licenses like that would be very not free.> Does not recommend services that are SaaSS. (A5)Yes.> Says “free software,” not “open source.” (A6)Don't know if it says either.> Clearly endorses the Free Software Movement's ideas of freedom. (A7)No.> Avoids saying “Linux” without “GNU” when referring to GNU/Linux. (A8)It says neither.> Insists that each nontrivial file in a package clearly and unambiguously state how it is licensed. (A9)No, and this is stupid.
gollark: > All code sent to the user's browser must be free software and labeled for LibreJS or other suitable free automatic license analyzer, regardless of whether the site functions when the user disables this code. (B0)Nope!> Does not report visitors to other organizations; in particular, no tracking tags in the pages. This means the site must avoid most advertising networks. (B1)Yes, it is entirely served locally.> Does not encourage bad licensing practices (no license, unclear licensing, GPL N only). (B2)Again, don't think gitea has this.> Does not recommend nonfree licenses for works of practical use. (B3)See above.

References
  1. AIDS, Visual. "Brontez Purnell". Visual AIDS. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  2. "Naked Soap Operas: An Interview with Brontez Purnell - Art in America". Art in America. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  3. "The Truth at the Heart of Brontez Purnell's Since I Laid My Burden Down". MTV News. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  4. "'I'm in the Band' Ep. 2: Brontez Purnell Talks Growing Up Black, Gay & Punk". read.tidal.com. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  5. "Brontez Purnell Is Everything". Granta Magazine. 2017-07-05. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  6. Miles, Frank J (2012-01-02). "Brontez Purnell: Love, Compassion, and Rock & Roll". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  7. "The Legendary Queer Punk Rocker and Hysterical Author Whose Book You Need to Read". MEL Magazine. 2017-10-10. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  8. "Five Reasons to Love Brontez Purnell and The Younger Lovers". Colorlines. 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  9. "VIDEO PREMIERE: Punk band The Younger Lovers gives a triumphant, fun (and trippy) ode to the working class with "Whiskey And Water" | AFROPUNK". AFROPUNK. 2017-04-18. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  10. Purnell, Brontez (2018-03-21). "Brontez Purnell, Fiction". The Paris Review. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
  11. "Brontez Purnell on Doing as Much as Possible". thecreativeindependent.com. Retrieved 2018-07-31.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.