Emanuel Xavier

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Emanuel Xavier

Emanuel Xavier (Photograph by Derek Storm)
Born Emanuel Xavier Granja
1971
Brooklyn, NY
Official website

Emanuel Xavier Granja (born May 3, 1971) known as Emanuel Xavier, is an American poet, spoken word artist, author[1], editor, events producer and actor born and raised in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. He transitioned himself from a street hustler and drug dealer to become one of the most significant voices to emerge from the neo-Nuyorican spoken word movement using political, sexual and religious themes throughout his work. His background heritage is Puerto Rican and Ecuadorian. He has conducted spoken word poetry workshops and produced benefits and events for queer youth organizations throughout the country and is considered a role model for queer youth, particularly queer youth of color.

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[edit] Early years

His Puerto Rican father abandoned his Ecuadorian mother when he found out she was pregnant and was never heard from again. At the age of 3, he was the victim of child sexual abuse by an older cousin. At 16, he came out to his mother and was thrown out of his house. This is when he became a hustler at the West Side Highway piers where he first met members of the House and ball community which served as his makeshift family. He often credits Anji Xtravaganza as providing him with a temporary place to stay in her Lower East Side apartment and Willi Ninja for encouraging him to pursue his passion for writing during this period. Eventually, he reconciled with his mother (they now share a strong relationship) and returned back home to complete high school (Grover Cleveland High School (New York City)), where he graduated with top honors as President of the Student Association and Editor-in-Chief of the high school newspaper. He even attended St. John's University (New York City) for a few years. However, he dropped out after receiving his Associates Degree in Communications and soon became employed by 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. It was during this period that he lived in the West Village and befriended drug dealer club kid, Angel Melendez, who was later notoriously murdered by club kid Michael Alig, and Othniel Askew, who years later would gun down Councilman James E. Davis at City Hall (who coincidentally awarded Emanuel Xavier a New York City Council Citation). Later, he became employed at a local gay bookstore where he rediscovered his passion for writing and moved in with his mother's gay cousin in the South Bronx.

[edit] Professional career

He self-published his debut poetry collection, Pier Queen, in the fall of 1997 through his own independent publishing house, Pier Queen Productions. The self-published collection was printed by The Print Center, which also printed poetry books by one of his favorite gay black poets, Assotto Saint. Without his own computer, the book was put together at a friend's apartment in Harlem during the summer of 1997. Signature poems such as "Bushwick Bohemia", "Deliverance", "Every Latino", "Nueva York" and "Tradiciones" helped him gain notoriety in New York City's underground arts scene. He first distributed postcard versions of his earlier poems at the West Side Highway piers and gay clubs which he once frequented as a hustler and drug dealer.

He soon started putting together monthly queer spoken word events titled, Realness & Rhythms, at the now defunct A Different Light Bookstore featuring himself alongside his favorite queer spoken word artists.

In 1998, with the support of people like ballroom legend Willi Ninja and spoken word poetry icon Bob Holman, Emanuel founded the House of Xavier and created the annual Glam Slam competition. Held once a year, first at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and then at Bowery Poetry Club, the poetry slam competition featured 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, hosted every year by Mother Diva Xavier (ne Andre Rodriguez), aspired to bring together poetry slams and ball culture in a unique and vibrant contribution to the downtown arts scene. In 2008, due to dwindling audiences in New York City, the last Glam Slam competition was held before taking up permanent residency in London.

Painted Leaf Press, a small independent press which soon went out of business, published his debut novel, a semi-autobiographical book titled Christ Like, in 1999. The only full length novel he has ever published, Christ Like became a cult classic and is rumored for a reprint by Suspect Thoughts Press. The story is about a young Latino gay man caught up in New York City's club scene who also happens to be a drug dealer and prostitute. The main character, Mikey X, is a survivor of sexual abuse and a difficult childhood which mirrors much of the author's personal life experiences. It is also the first time a fictional main character is involved with the House scene profiled in Jennie Livingston's award-winning documentary; Paris Is Burning (film) (despite misinformation, he is not the young Latin boy that appears toward the end of the documentary referring to his friend as his "sister"). Christ Like was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award and established Emanuel Xavier as a central figure in the queer people of color literary arts movement.

In 2001, soon after 9/11, Emanuel Xavier was one of the leading forces behind a major poetry benefit titled, Words To Comfort, held at the New School in collaboration with Ratapallax Press. The event brought together major spoken word artists, poets, poet laureates, actors and musicians to raise money for the World Trade Center Disaster Relief Fund. It was one of the most successful events he helped organize and Emanuel Xavier would go on to produce other major spoken word events to benefit organizations such as the Latino Commission on AIDS, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and Youth Enrichment Services.

Americano, published by Suspect Thoughts Press in 2002, helped further his career as a spoken word artist and poet with signature poems such as "Children of Magdalene", "Nearly God" and the title poem.


A flyer used to promote a college event featuring Emanuel Xavier at Amherst College

In 2005, Suspect Thoughts Press published Bullets & Butterflies: queer spoken word poetry, a collection Emanuel Xavier edited. The anthology featured the work of thirteen openly queer spoken word artists and new work by the editor himself including: "Legendary", "Outside" and "A Simple Poem." The collection earned 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 2005, he co-starred in the independent feature film, The Ski Trip, which was the first gay black and Latino movie ever to air on television (MTV's LOGO).

In 2008, he appeared in The Cult of Sincerity, the first feature film to premiere on YouTube. Also in 2008, an invitation-only online literary journal sponsored by UNESCO included him as a contributer to an international project. He was also invited to select finalists for Best Gay Erotica 2008 (Cleis Press).

He has appeared on Mark Kostabi's game show, Name That Painting, as a celebrity guest alongside editor Bonnie Fuller and percussionist Jerry Marotta and as a background actor on the television shows Law & Order, Fort Pit, Canterbury's Law and The Return of Jezebel James.

He has been invited to recite his poetry throughout the country at venues such as: Rikers Island Prison, Lincoln Center, Columbia University, DePaul University, St. Mark's Poetry Project, Irving Plaza, The Henry Miller Theater, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Brown University, University of Chicago, Wellesley College, Shaggy Flores's "Voices For the Voiceless" at Amherst College, Miami Dade College, University of Louisville, Princeton University, Bao Phi's Equilibrium series at The Loft in Minneapolis, University of Florida and the San Francisco Public Library. He has also appeared as part of the annual Saints & Sinners literary festival in New Orleans. He remains a favorite amongst queer youth organizations and the college and university circuit.

He has performed abroad in the South American cities of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Guayaquil, Ecuador.

He collaborated with Nuyorican Poets Cafe founder Miguel Algarin and poet Caridad de la Luz on staged readings of "The Mongo Affair" at Central Park Summerstage, Joe's Pub and Aaron Davis Hall. He has also performed for the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC) and curated several evenings of Latino/a spoken word poetry at El Museo del Barrio in New York City.

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

His work has also appeared in Urban Latino, Latin Girl, Genre (magazine), The New York Post, A&U, Long Shot, Drumvoices Review, James White Review, and many other publications.

[edit] Controversy

When he first created The House of Xavier, one of the most prominent members of the ball community, whom he had collaborated with on a major ball event, challenged him on his efforts to create a spoken word poetry themed House. As a result, several initial members left to join other more traditional Houses and the House of Xavier was restructured exclusively for the annual Glam Slam spoken word poetry competition.

Years later, despite all of his work as an activist and with youth organizations, in October 2005, Emanuel Xavier was brutally attacked by a group of about twenty young men in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. Rumors swirled about the attack, some suggesting it was his connection to the notorious gang, The Latin Kings (he has been featured regularly in their monthly newsletter), while others suggested it was simply another gay bashing. Rather than join the hate crimes wagon, in an exclusive interview with queer Latino activist, Andres Duque, for Gay City News, and later in an editorial for The New York Post, Emanuel called this crime out as a random act of violence and eventually captured his experience in the poem "Writer's Block".

A silver lining to the 2005 attack was that significant hearing loss led to an MRI which resulted in the discovery of an acoustic neuroma for which he was diagnosed and underwent surgery in 2006. The tumor was successfully removed but he remained permanently deaf in his right ear with minor facial nerve complications to his right eye.

In 2006, he was one of several queer activists who protested a concert at New York City's Webster Hall sponsored by LIFEbeat featuring two openly homophobic reggae artists. The concert was ultimately cancelled but the activists were blamed for speaking out. LIFEbeat eventually issued an apology.

Several months later, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe attempted to launch a queer slam poetry competition, also titled The Glam Slam, without crediting The House of Xavier and ignoring the fact they had been staging these events since 1998. A successful writing campaign led them to cancel the event. Emanuel Xavier proceeded to stage a major benefit he had previously scheduled for the Nuyorican Poets Cafe but it would be his last appearance at the venue where he had reinvented himself as a spoken word artist.

In 2007, he was one of few modern day poets to end up on Page Six after competing on Mark Kostabi's game show against Star editrix Bonnie Fuller and percussionist Jerry Marotta ("Bonnie wordplay whips poet").

[edit] Present


Emanuel Xavier at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis (Photograph by Leo Toro, 2007)

He will appear in the independent film, Nothing To Nobody.

He is currently editing, Mariposas: A Modern Anthology of Queer Latino Poetry, due out from Floricanto Press in the fall of 2008. Also, Suspect Thoughts Press is set to publish a new poetry collection, Just Like Jesus, by Emanuel Xavier and a reprint of his only novel, Christ Like.

In 2008, after a decade of staging the annual House of Xavier's Glam Slam spoken word poetry competition in NYC, he will pass the torch over to Basque/Spanish performance poet, Ernesto Sarezale, who will introduce the event to a London audience at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in the UK.

Plans are also in the works for a compilation CD of his best spoken word/musical collaborations with producer, El David.

[edit] Personal Life

He lives in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn.


[edit] Awards

Emanuel Xavier has received the Marsha A. Gomez Cultural Heritage Award, an "I Am A Legend" Award for his contributions to gay and Latino culture and a New York City Council Citation for his contribution to New York City arts.

His novel, Christ Like, and the collection, Bullets & Butterflies: queer spoken word poetry, which he edited, have both been finalists for a Lambda Literary Award.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bahr, David (1999-05-11). Poetry in motion. The Advocate. Retrieved on 2007-06-04.

[edit] 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 first chapter from the forthcoming novel, Christ Like)
  • Christ Like, Painted Leaf Press, 1999 (his only full length novel)
  • 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 forthcoming 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 forthcoming 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, 1997 (finalists selected by Emanuel Xavier)
      • Books exclusively by the author or edited by the author are highlighted in bold

[edit] Television Appearances

[edit] External links