Sean Horlor (born January 11, 1981) is a Canadian poet, actor, television producer, columnist and blogger. He is the author of Made Beautiful by Use (2007), published by Signature Editions, and co-host/associate producer of Don't Quit Your Gay Job, an original Canadian comedy television series that premiered on OUTtv in 2009.
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Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Horlor grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, and currently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has an undergraduate degree in Fine Arts from the University of Victoria.[1]
In 2010, he competed in an international competition hosted by Tourisme Montréal to "search for the brightest star under the rainbow" [2] and won the first annual Queer of the Year title.[3]
Don't Quit Your Gay Job is a half-hour reality series broadcast on OUTtv in Canada [4] and Europe.[5] Each episode features Sean Horlor competing with friend Rob Easton to see who can be the most successful at stereotypical gay jobs.[6] The first season of the show (2009) has six episodes about jobs as bus driver, stripper, equestrian, dominatrix, modelling and drag. The second season featured curling, hockey, policing and extreme wrestling.[7]
In 2003, Horlor collaborated with Vancouver poet Matt Rader and illustrator James Kingsley to publish Our Mission, Our Moment through Rader's publishing company, Mosquito Press. A hand-bound chapbook, Our Mission, Our Moment featured eight poetic transpositions of the speeches of George W. Bush.
His poem "In Praise of Beauty" won first place for poetry in This Magazine's 2006 Great Canadian Literary Hunt[8] and "St. Brendan and the Isle of Sheep" was a 2006 Editor's Choice in Arc Poetry Magazine's Poem of the Year contest.[9]
His first poetry collection, Made Beautiful by Use, was published by Winnipeg-based Signature Editions in 2007. Edited by poet John Barton, the collection was described as a "a striking and, yes, beautiful set of musings on belief, sex, and power."[10] It was longlisted for the 2008 ReLit Awards.[11]
His work also appeared in the groundbreaking Seminal: The Anthology of Canada’s Gay Male Poets (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2007), edited by poets Billeh Nickerson and John Barton.
Horlor is also a freelance writing consultant specializing in marketing communications, editorial services, and technical writing. He has previously worked as a speechwriter for Gordon Campbell, the Liberal premier of British Columbia.[12] He is currently writing Cocked & Loaded, a bi-weekly social column for Xtra! West and also runs Up Your Alley.