Michael Rowe is an award-winning Canadian writer and anthologist. He has written for, among other publications, the National Post, Globe & Mail, The United Church Observer, The Huffington Post and The Advocate.[1]
As an author, Rowe has published a variety of non-fiction books. His first, "Writing Below the Belt:Conversations with Erotic Authors" was an exploration of censorship, pornography, and popular culture. "Looking for Brothers" contains essays on the contemporary gay experience. "Other Men’s Sons," which won the 2008 Randy Shilts Award for Nonfiction, is a collection of his work from 2000 to 2005. His first novel, "Enter, Night," a vampire story set in northern Ontario in 1972, will be published in October 2011 by ChiZinePublications.
Rowe has edited several collections of gay horror, the most notable being "Queer Fear" for which he won a Lambda Literary Award.[2] Chad Helder, editor of Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet", credited Queer Fear as paving the way for his win of the Bram Stoker Award.[3]
Rowe married his partner, Dr. Brian McDermid, in a Holy Union ceremony at the Metropolitan Community Church in Toronto in 1985. The two re-wed in 2003 when gay and lesbian marriage became legal in Canada, which he wrote about in the essay "From This Day Forward" which appeared in "Other Men's Sons". They were among the first gay couples in Canadian history to be legally married, and are believed to be the first gay couple in history to be married inside a United Church of Canada. They currently reside in Toronto.[4]