Poet, editor, climate justice organizer, drag performer.

My writing draws on a lineage of queer, Jewish artists and activists to explore the potentials of imagining and organizing for more livable futures. You can read my recent poetry in MAYDAY and Terrain.org, and my prose in the Cleveland Review of Books. Currently, I’m a guest editor-in-chief with Seventh Wave Magazine, curating a digital anthology on queer family. I served as Managing Editor for The Journal, the award-winning literary magazine from The Ohio State University, where I was awarded an Abolition and Freedom Dreams Fellowship, with which I developed a series of people’s poetry workshops for local activists and organizers.

For four years, I organized with the Sunrise Movement, fighting for clean energy and good jobs in Central Ohio. I have organized for a municipal Climate Action Plan, fought for an equitable and reliable public transit system, and supported teachers in a history, citywide strike.

At night, you can catch me performing as the drag queen Mona Schewitz in bars and living rooms.

Isaiah Back-Gaal

isaiah.backgaal@gmail.com

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