Brent Calderwood

[1] His writing and advocacy on behalf of LGBTQ youth is documented in the films The Butch Factor[2] and Now We Can Dance: The Story of the Hayward Gay Prom,[3] as well as the television program Lifestories with Gabrielle Carteris.

[7] Calderwood’s writing has included essays and op-ed articles, as well as profiles and interviews with artists such as director Guillermo del Toro, musician-composer David Amram,[8] women’s music pioneer Holly Near,[9] Harvey Milk photographer Daniel Nicoletta,[10] painter Lenore Chinn, and the singer-songwriters Mary Lambert and Justin Vivian Bond.

[20] A large format two-page comic strip that Calderwood illustrated and wrote, titled “Memoirs from a Closet",[21] was recognized as culturally significant by GLAAD and is still used in classrooms to educate students on homophobia and diversity.

In addition to the collected poems in The God of Longing, Calderwood’s poetry and essays appear in dozens of anthologies and journals including The Southern Poetry Anthology,[26] The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, and Gathered Light: The Poetry of Joni Mitchell’s Songs (an essay anthology published with participation from Mitchell in which notable poets such as Cornelius Eady and Kim Addonizio each write about the prosody and literary merits of the lyrics of an individual Mitchell song).

[27] Calderwood also writes and performs music; he plays guitar and sings an original song in the documentary The Butch Factor.