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Joseph Earl Thomas

@jetvgc

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Sink; God Bless You, Otis Spunkmeyer; Leviathan Beach forthcoming | Center for Fiction First Novel Prize | Sarah Lawrence & The Brooklyn Institute

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Last year I went to the New Orleans International Pokémon Championships as a little more than a spectator, so I could be nosey. And the result is this essay. For real for real, I did not assume my life would turn out like this, having done a whole ass dissertation around black folks and Japanese video games and literature, let alone writing essays “about” two of my greatest loves with any rigor—Pokemon and negroes—but hey, here we are. Too many people to thank in the meager hopes that I’ve done any of them any justice, or paid any local respect for @mauriceruffin specifically, but of course shouts to @vqreview and @reyes_edits @annieflanagan @simonefonsiba @semifluentmundo @phillipbw_author @jverchwrites @thestackspod youth, KaSun, Becca, Sonnie, and everybody else I’ve met or will meet through the love of the game. by @jetvgc

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a year ago

Thank you to @poetryfoundation for publishing these two poems (and Panini aka @semifluentmundo for a last line) in the beautiful September issue that just dropped: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/issue/1814943/september-2026 by @jetvgc

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I had the pleasure of speaking to Nell Irvin Painter for UCLA mag last year, and here’s a hope towards more engagement with her work. by @jetvgc

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a year ago

New poem in concerning the delectable qualities of an underrated sandwich. Thank you to @yalereview and thee @semifluentmundo by @jetvgc

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14 days ago

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16 days ago

DURATIONS: Meredith Graves & Offal Literary Salon present Philosophy and Magic with Simon Critchley, Elvia Wilk, Joseph Earl Thomas, Sasha Ravitch

Magic, like philosophy, can be perfidious: it hides in plain sight, it re-writes systems of thinking, and it redesigns ways of being. Philosophy and the Occult Sciences are as much about concealing as they are revealing, and knowing when to do which. The true seat of power within any system is occupied by those individuals tasked with deciding who gets to see in the dark, who has access to the hidden tongues, what lies in wait on the Otherside – and perhaps most of all, by those who understand the two disciplines as perpetual strange bedfellows, at origin a monstrous two-headed birth still fighting any attempt at division well into the 21st century.

This year at Durations, in a special clandestine meeting of the Offal Salon, we aim to place a candle in front of a trick scrying mirror: four luminous writers from across genres and disciplinary specialties, whose work simultaneously conceals and reveals the inner workings [in/of] [the/a] machine, whether mechanical or human, with or without organs.

Join us on the evening of Friday November 13th for a series of individual readings followed by spirited conversation, and help us dissolve the lines between philosophy and magic, fiction and non-, meat and spirit. by @jetvgc

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September, in moderation. by @jetvgc

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a month ago

📚We have a virtual Conversation with Authors session for you this September like no other! Coming back for a second round of literary reflection, Senegalese writer Mohamed Mbougar Sarr, known for his Prix Goncourt winning masterpiece, The Most Secret Memory of Men, joins us to talk to award-winning American writer + poet Joseph Earl Thomas on Pure Men, the English translation of his novel De purs hommes, released on June 2nd from @otherpress

In Pure Men, A viral video makes the rounds in Dakar, showing an incensed crowd that gathers to dig up a grave and drag the corpse from holy ground. When Ndéné, a French literature teacher, watches it, he’s surprisingly affected. Who was this man, and what could he have done to deserve such a fate? The answer soon becomes clear: he was a “góor-jigéen,” one of the so-called “men-women,” the shameful label given to homosexuals, cross-dressers, or any man who lives outside the accepted norm.

Haunted by the video, Ndéné sets out to learn more. With the help of a friend who works in night life, he explores a hidden side of Dakar, away from the rigid Islam of his family and university. Although he feels a certain disgust for homosexuality, he’s moved by the suffering and resilience of the people he meets. But the further he goes, the more he doubts his own identity, threatening to become an object of suspicion and scorn himself.

The link to participate/listen in on this conversation is available through the link in bio!

Date : Monday 21st September
Time : 8 PM EAT/ 5 PM GMT/ 1PM EDT by @jetvgc

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✨✨ The extraordinary writer, Joseph Earl Thomas, is visiting CWC Prose to teach “Black Speculative Literature: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Race & Reality.”

“What’s interesting for the purposes of this lecture and discussion,” @jetvgc writes, “is to consider why and how this differs from straightforward history or realism, and to consider what kinds of craft questions and lessons emerge from taking this kind of work seriously, when the past, future, and present are often in play all at once.”

This session is part of our CWC Prose Branch programming, but we’re opening it up to five non-members. Comment TICKET to join us and we’ll send you a direct link to sign up.

We can’t wait for this. ✨✨ by @jetvgc

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31/31: Marilyn Hacker & Deema K. Shehabi, “Gaza Renga”

#sealeychallenge
#sealeychallenge2026 by @jetvgc

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2 months ago

30/31: Erica Dawson, “When Rap Spoke Straight to God”

#sealeychallenge
#sealeychallenge2026 by @jetvgc

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2 months ago

29/31: Frank O’Hara Collected Poems

#sealeychallenge
#sealeychallenge2026

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/1822640/infinite-waves by @jetvgc

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