AJ Odasso

AJ Odasso
Odasso in 2019
Odasso in 2019
BornUnited States
Occupation
  • Writer
  • Poet
Alma materBoston University
Period2005–present
GenreScience fiction
Website
www.ajodasso.com

AJ Odasso is an American queer, intersex, nonbinary author and poet with a published career dating back to 2005. They are also a six-time Hugo nominee in the Semi-Prozine category in their capacity as Senior Poetry Editor for the speculative fiction magazine, Strange Horizons. An English Faculty member at San Juan College, Odasso holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Boston University, and they are currently enrolled in the Rhetoric & Writing doctoral program at the University of New Mexico.

Writing career

Odasso began their published career in 2005 while an undergraduate at Wellesley College,[1] since then producing poetry, nonfiction, and short stories for magazines and anthologies.[2] Their poetry has been published in Sybil's Garage, Mythic Delirium, Midnight Echo, Not One of Us, Dreams & Nightmares, Strange Horizons, Liminality, Stone Telling, Farrago's Wainscot, Battersea Review, Barking Sycamores, Goblin Fruit and New England Review of Books. Solo collections include: Lost Books (Flipped Eye Publishing), published 2010, The Dishonesty of Dreams (Flipped Eye Publishing), published 2014, and The Sting of It (Tolsun Books), published 2019,[3] originally shortlisted for the 2017 Sexton Prize as Things Being What They Are.[4] They have also published a historical fiction novel, The Pursued and the Pursuing (DartFrog Blue), a continuation of The Great Gatsby.[5]

Odasso is also Senior Poetry Editor for Strange Horizons, a weekly speculative fiction and non-fiction magazine, where they have worked since 2012.[2][6][7]

Personal life

Currently living in New Mexico, Odasso holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from Boston University.[3] They are a full-time English Faculty member at San Juan College and a Doctor of Philosophy candidate in Rhetoric & Writing at the University of New Mexico.[2] They are intersex, identifying as pansexual[8] and non-binary.[5] They are also Jewish[9] and on the autism spectrum.[10]

Bibliography

  • Odasso, AJ (2019). The Sting of it
  • Odasso, AJ (2021). The Pursued and the Pursuing[11]

Awards and recognition

Solo works

  • Lost Books: 2010 London New Poetry Award nominee;[12] 2010/2011 The People's Book Prize winner, Fiction Category, Winter 2010[13]
  • Things Being What They Are: 2017 Sexton Prize shortlist[3]
  • The Sting of It: 2019 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award winner, Gay/Lesbian (GLBT) category[14]
  • The Pursued and the Pursuing: 2021 Reads Rainbow Award, 2nd Place, Historical Fiction category[15]

Strange Horizons Senior Poetry Editor

References

  1. ^ "Retelling and Happy Endings". Wellesley Magazine. Winter 2022. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  2. ^ a b c "AJ Odasso". Strange Horizons. 31 December 2012. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  3. ^ a b c "A. J. Odasso". Simon and Schuster. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  4. ^ "Two Poems by A.J. Odasso". Indolent Books. 25 October 2018. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  5. ^ a b "Readers and writers: Poet gives Jay Gatsby a new gay life with Nick Carraway in debut novel". Twin Cities. 30 October 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  6. ^ "About". Strange Horizons. 17 October 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  7. ^ "The Staff of Strange Horizons". Strange Horizons. 22 October 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  8. ^ "Our Queer Roundtable". Strange Horizons. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  9. ^ Yudelson, Larry (16 June 2022). "Celebrating Jewish trans poetry day!". Ben Yehuda Press. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  10. ^ "Knowing Why: Adult-Diagnosed Autistic People on Life and Autism". Autistic Self Advocacy Network. 15 October 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2022.
  11. ^ "THE PURSUED AND THE PURSUING | Kirkus Reviews" – via www.kirkusreviews.com.
  12. ^ "London New Poetry Award 2010". Coffee House Poetry. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  13. ^ "Winners 2010/2011". The People's Book Prize. 21 November 2017. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  14. ^ "2019 Winners New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards" (PDF). New Mexico Books. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  15. ^ "Reads Rainbow Awards 2021: The Results". 8 December 2021. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
  16. ^ Multiple sources: