Assotto Saint (October 2, 1957 - June 29, 1994) was a Haitian-born American poet, publisher and performance artist, who was a key figure in LGBT and African-American art and literary culture of the 1980s and early 1990s.
[2] He moved to New York City in 1970, enrolling briefly in a pre-med program at Queens College,[1] but soon dropped out to pursue his artistic interests.
[1] In November 1980, he met Jan Holmgren, a Swedish-born musician and composer who would become both his life partner and a collaborator in his artistic work.
[2] During this era, he began publishing poetry in anthologies such as In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology (1986, edited by Joseph Beam) and Gay and Lesbian Poetry in Our Time (1988, edited by Carl Morse and Joan Larkin), and in his own chapbook, Triple Trouble (1987).
[1] He was also a mentor to other emerging LGBT African American cultural figures of the era, including Essex Hemphill, Marlon Riggs and Melvin Dixon.