Join us Sunday, June 23 at 8 pm EST/5 pm PST for a conversation and Q&A with writers Greg Mania, Jacob Tobia, Jen Winston, and Jason Yamas. Co-hosted by Greg Mania and Reema Zaman and presented by The Rumpus. 


These four authors will share their experience crafting personal experiences into public narratives. They’ll contribute their insights on writing distinctly queer stories, finding an audience, and (most importantly) finding a creative community.

Suggested donation of $20. Pay what you can, no one turned away due to lack of funds. All proceeds after processing fees will help keep The Rumpus going. As an independent volunteer-run lit and culture magazine, the vast majority of the magazine’s funding comes from reader support.

This event is co-hosted and organized by Rumpus board member, Reema Zaman. This is the first in a series of monthly author and publishing industry conversations with people we admire and hope to learn from. 

Please consider buying these authors books through Bookshop or from your local indie bookstore. 

Greg Mania’s words have been published in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, HuffPost, Oprah Daily, PAPER, among other international online and print platforms. He is also a contributing editor to BOMB magazine, he hosts The Rumpus’s #ShowUsYourDesk on Instagram Live, and co-hosts Empty Trash, a bi-monthly reading series in Los Angeles, alongside author Jen Winston. His debut memoir, Born to Be Public, is out now from CLASH Books. He lives, writes, and still doesn’t know what sign his Venus is in, in Los Angeles. Follow Greg @gregmania on IG and X.

Jacob Tobia (what/ever) is an Arab American writer, producer, and author of the national bestselling memoir Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story. From running across the Brooklyn Bridge in high heels to giving Trevor Noah an on-air makeover on The Daily Show, Jacob helps others embrace the full complexity of their gender, even (and especially) when it’s messy as hell. As an Executive Producer and Creator, they’ve sold multiple trailblazing pilot scripts to major networks: with Hulu & eOne, Showtime & Legendary Television, and most recently HBO Max & Charlize Theron’s company Denver & Delilah. As an actor, Jacob originated the nonbinary character “Double Trouble” on Netflix’s She-Ra and The Princesses of Power and recently starred in Valentine, a short that premiered at Tribeca Film Festival. Their writing has been featured in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, and TIME, among others. Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, Jacob is a member of the Forbes 30 Under 30 and the OUT 100 and currently lives in Los Angeles. Follow Jacob at @jacobtobia on Instagram and X.

Jen Winston (she/they) is a writer and bisexual whose work focuses on dating, queerness, and the millennial condition. They are the author of the critically-acclaimed book, GREEDY: NOTES FROM A BISEXUAL WHO WANTS TOO MUCH, which was named a Lambda Literary finalist in 2022, and co-host of the reading series Empty Trash, wherein writers share unpublished pieces from the depths of their hard drives. Jen lives in Los Angeles with her partner, dogs, and iPhone. You can follow Jen on Twitter, Instagram, and, alas, TikTok at @jenerous.

Jason Yamas is a queer writer, producer and actor. With the publication of Tweakerworld, a LAMBDA Literary Finalist, he intends to shine a bright light on the worsening epidemic of crystal meth in the LGBTQ+ community. He holds a BFA from NYU, Tisch School of the Arts and is currently working on his first novel and developing Tweakerworld as a television series. He lives in Los Angeles, has a dachshund named Spektor and a beautiful newborn daughter named Swayze. Follow Jason on IG at @jasonyamas.

Reema Zaman is a writer, speaker, book coach, and teacher. She is the author of the memoir I Am Yours and the forthcoming novel Woman in Flight. Her essays have been published in The Rumpus, Vogue, The Guardian, Salon, and several others. She was an Oregon Literary Arts Fellow in 2018. In her ten years (and counting!) of being a professional writer, what she loves most is creating authentic, lasting relationships with her readers and fellow authors, and she is devoted to amplifying underrepresented voices and stories. She is a member of The Rumpus's capacity-building board. Born in Bangladesh and raised in Thailand, she now lives in Los Angeles, CA with her chihuahua-daughter, Fia the Fierce.

The Rumpus publishes original fiction, poetry, literary humor writing, comics, essays, book reviews, and interviews with authors and artists of all kinds. Our mostly volunteer-run independent magazine strives to be a platform for risk-taking voices and writing that might not find a home elsewhere. We lift up new voices alongside those of more established writers our  readers may already know and love. We want to bring new perspectives into the conversation that will make us all look deeper. Visit therumpus.net to read new work five days a week.

http://therumpus.net/

Pay what you can. All proceeds will benefit The Rumpus's funds for contributor pay in 2024. 

Queer Coming-of-Age: Memoirs on Belonging, Identity, and Finding Community