MEET KATE BORNSTEIN
“Over my 75 years, I’ve developed a lot of strategies for coming up with new ideas and things to say, and getting my voice out there in any number and types of situations. I can offer those to an emerging artist.”
Since the mid 1980s, Kate Bornstein has been writing about nonbinary gender in theory, fiction, and memoir. Kate is a trans elder whose art and activism have been in service to gender anarchy, and sex positivity. Kate’s books, Gender Outlaw, My New Gender Workbook, and A Queer and Pleasant Danger are taught in colleges and high schools. Her collected papers are archived and available for research at Brown University, alongside the archived papers of Kate’s partner in life and art, Barbara Carrellas. Kate has been crisscrossing North America and Europe with solo performances, lectures, and workshops for over 30 years. A darling of 90’s tv talk shows, Kate was an audience favorite series regular on E! Tv’s reality show, I Am Cait. She maintains a career in theater, making their Broadway debut in the summer of 2018, and more recently appearing in a recurring role on NBC’s The Blacklist. Kate is a co-founder of and advisor to Island Queers, a support group for LGBTQ+ youth and young adults on Rhode Island’s south shore. She is currently writing fables, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and fan fiction screenplays in collaboration with the artificial intelligence entities, GPT-4 and Pi.
Work
Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women, and the Rest of Us
My Gender Workbook: How to Become a Real Man, a Real Woman, the Real You, or Something Else Entirely
Hello Cruel World
A Queer and Pleasant Danger
mentor profile
Queer|Art|Mentorship will be accepting applications from emerging artists across the country. Are you open to working with someone remotely, or would you prefer they are based in the same city as you?
“I’m good with either.”
What interests you about mentoring?
“It’s my version of gardening. I love seeing queer artists blossom.”
Given your experience and interests, what kind of emerging artist do you feel best positioned to support?
“I think it would be an emerging artist who’s on the verge of losing their most cherished identities.”
As a mentor, what would you like to offer an emerging artist? What would you like to receive?
“Over my 75 years, I’ve developed a lot of strategies for coming up with new ideas and things to say, and getting my voice out there in any number and types of situations. I can offer those to an emerging artist. What would I like to receive? A pleasant surprise.”
Have you had mentors of your own? Who have they been?
“I have. My mentors have been Professor John Emigh at Brown University, and writer/performer Holly Hughes.”