Daniel Allen Cox (born February 3, 1976) is a Canadian author. Cox's novels Shuck and Krakow Melt were both finalists for the Lambda Literary Award and the ReLit Award, and his memoir-in-essays I Felt the End Before It Came: Memoirs of a Queer Ex-Jehovah's Witness was a finalist for the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal.[1][2][3]

Daniel Allen Cox
Born (1976-02-03) February 3, 1976 (age 48)
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
OccupationWriter
NationalityCanadian
Period2000s-present
Notable worksShuck, Krakow Melt

Life and career edit

Cox was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where he was raised a Jehovah's Witness. His novella Tattoo This Madness In, about a young Jehovah’s Witness who uses Smurf tattoos to rebel against his faith, was nominated for an Expozine Alternative Press Award.[4]

Shuck, his debut novel about a New York City hustler, was a Lambda Literary Award and a ReLit Award finalist. Cox’s second novel Krakow Melt was excerpted in The Advocate,[5] nominated for the Ferro-Grumley Award, and named to the American Library Association’s Over the Rainbow List. The novel formed the basis of three essays in the debut issue of The Word Hoard, academic journal of the Department of English and Writing Studies at Western University.[6][7][8]

The author’s third and fourth novels, Basement of Wolves and Mouthquake, were also published by Arsenal Pulp Press.[9][10] An excerpt of Mouthquake was translated for Nova Istra literary journal as the first queer text to be published in the Chakavian dialect of Croatian, as well as the first text to introduce the personage of Antonio Barichievich, Croatian-Canadian strongman, to a Croatian literary audience.[11][12] Cox read the entire novel out loud at a durational performance, the last event held at RATS9 gallery in Montreal.[13]

Cox has appeared at Ottawa International Writers Festival, Blue Metropolis Montréal International Literary Festival,[14] Winnipeg International Writers Festival, Victoria Festival of Authors, GritLit Festival, Westfest, the Atlanta Queer Literary Festival, and Strand Bookstore, as well as on CBC Radio One and Airelibre TV.[15] He co-wrote the screenplay for the Bruce LaBruce film Gerontophilia, and is a former columnist for Xtra! and former president of the Quebec Writers' Federation.

His essays and short stories have been published in several anthologies and literary journals, including The Guardian, The Globe and Mail,Electric Literature, Literary Hub, Catapult, The Florida Review, The Rumpus, Fourth Genre, Maisonneuve, Open Book Toronto, and filling Station.[16][17] His essay "The Glow of Electrum", published in The Malahat Review, was named Notable in The Best American Essays 2021 and was a finalist for a Canadian National Magazine Award in Personal Journalism.[18] His essay "You Can't Blame Movers for Everything Broken," also published in The Malahat Review, was named Notable in The Best American Essays 2023 and was reprinted in Best Canadian Essays 2024.[19] Cox was a juror for the 2021 Dayne Ogilvie Prize presented by Writers' Trust of Canada.

Cox's memoir-in-essays I Felt the End Before It Came: Memoirs of a Queer Ex-Jehovah's Witness was published in May 2023.[20] It was a finalist for the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal, named a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2023, and reviewed in The Washington Post.[21][22]

Bibliography edit

  • Tattoo This Madness In (novella, Dusty Owl Press, 2006) ISBN 0-9739266-4-3
  • Shuck (novel, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2008) ISBN 978-1-55152-246-3
  • Krakow Melt (novel, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2010) ISBN 978-1-55152-372-9
  • Basement of Wolves (novel, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2012) ISBN 978-1-55152-446-7
  • Mouthquake (novel, Arsenal Pulp Press, 2015) ISBN 978-1-55152-604-1
  • I Felt the End Before It Came: Memoirs of a Queer Ex-Jehovah's Witness (essays, Penguin Random House Canada, 2023) ISBN 978-0-73524-210-4

References edit

  1. ^ "21st Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. February 18, 2010.
  2. ^ "22nd Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. June 27, 2011.
  3. ^ "Grand Prix du livre de Montreal: 2023 edition". Montreal.ca. November 14, 2023. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  4. ^ Roberts, Laura (2008). "DF'd and out in Montreal". The Link. Archived from the original on April 2, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  5. ^ "The Ninio in the Room". The Advocate. September 16, 2010.
  6. ^ Matthew Halse, Dock Currie (July 15, 2012). "Prometheus Queer". The Word Hoard. Issue 1. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  7. ^ Wennekers, Eileen (July 15, 2012). "The Progeny of Prometheus: Solidarity as Gift". Word Hoard. Issue 1. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  8. ^ Stepaniuk, Casey (July 15, 2012). "Publishing and Reading as Dissent: Resistance, Literary Tourism and Arsenal Pulp Press". Word Hoard. Issue 1. {{cite journal}}: |volume= has extra text (help)
  9. ^ Burnett, Richard (May 1, 2012). "Porn star, author and Expos fanatic: The many lives of MTL enfant terrible Daniel Allen Cox". The Montreal Gazette. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  10. ^ Colbert, Jade (March 25, 2017). "Review: New fiction from Pauline Holdstock, Paul Yee, and Daniel Allen Cox". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  11. ^ "Trusna usta". Nova Istra. XXI.54. Fall–Winter 2016.
  12. ^ Cox, Daniel Allen (August 10, 2015). "The Myth of Fluency and a Search for New Language". Lambda Literary. Archived from the original on August 18, 2015.
  13. ^ Marsillo, Cassandra (September 15, 2015). "Montreal Rampage". Montreal Rampage.
  14. ^ "Azure Scratchings: Eastern Europe Today". Blue Metropolis. 2012. Archived from the original on April 2, 2018.
  15. ^ Nasrallah, Dimitri (November 2015). "Between the Pages: Gay Writing Culture". Between the Pages (Airelibre TV). Archived from the original on April 2, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  16. ^ Cox, Daniel Allen (May 10, 2023). "Life after shunning: what I faced after coming out as a queer Jehovah's witness". The Guardian. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  17. ^ Cox, Daniel Allen (August 4, 2023). "Author Daniel Allen Cox discards perfection in narrating his audiobook". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  18. ^ "2021 National Magazine Awards Nominees Announced". 2021. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  19. ^ Cintio, Marcello Di (November 14, 2023). The Best Canadian Essays 2024. Biblioasis. ISBN 9781771965651. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  20. ^ Cox, Daniel Allen (May 10, 2023). "Life after shunning: what I faced after coming out as a queer Jehovah's witness". The Guardian. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
  21. ^ "PW Best Books of 2023". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  22. ^ Tenz, Courtney (May 19, 2023). "What it's like to leave the Jehovah's Witnesses". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 17, 2023.

External links edit