joj (they/them) is a France-based American nonbinary writer of creative nonfiction–memoir, essay, and flash/prose poetry. They are a self-described collector of unused graduate degrees, the most recent (2020) an MA in Creative Writing from Ball State University. Their work explores themes of place, class, queerness, parenthood, infant loss, plant medicine, and the nomadic/peripatetic. Their writing has appeared in Insider, Parents, Yes!, Five Minutes, Your Life is A Trip, and The Matador Network. While at NES, they are working on LIKE SHELLIN’ PEAS, a collaborative memoir about being a teen birthmother (written in partnership with the mother who adopted their firstborn child), a work that celebrates choice and alternative family construction. For more information about joj, please visit their website jojthefirst.com, at Facebook at Joj Thefirst, and Instagram @jojthefirst.
