Julene T Weaver

Poet

Seattle, WA
Washington US

Author's Bio

Julene Tripp Weaver, a native New Yorker, has an undergraduate degree in creative writing and women's studies from CUNY where she studied with Audre Lorde, Louse DeSalvo and Joan Larkin. After relocating to Seattle she completed a masters in counseling and worked in AIDS services for twenty-one years. MoonPath Press will publish her fourth poetry collection, Slow Now With Clear Skies, by June 2024. Three prior books include, truth be bold—Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS, Finishing Line Press, 2017, which won the Bisexual Book Award, four Human Relations Indie Book Awards, and was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards; No Father Can Save Her, Plain View Press, 2011; and a chapbook, Case Walking: An AIDS Case Manager Wails Her Blues, Finishing Line Press, 2007. Her poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including: HEAL, Autumn Sky Poetry, The Seattle Review of Books, Poetry Super Highway, As it Ought To Be, Feels Blind, Verse-Virtual, HIV Here & Now, Mad Swirl, Journal of the Plague Years, Global Poemic, MookyChick; recent anthologies include: Poets Speaking to Poets: Echoes and Tributes, Rumors Secrets & Lies: Poems about Pregnancy, Abortion & Choice.

She is an "Artivist" in the Through Positive Eyes Project that works to stop AID stigma. She is writing a memoir about her life and work as a long term survivor of AIDS. Essay publications include: The GuardianMollyhouseHags on FireThe Muse (McMaster University), But You Don’t Look Sick: The Real Life Adventures of Fibro Bitches, Lupus Warriors, and other Super Heroes Battling Invisible Illness. .

Since 1988, she has practiced Continuum Movement. She ran Muse To Write Circles for ten years integrating movement to evoke body-centered writing, with workshops at Seattle's Cancer Life Line. She created two spoken word performance pieces: The Wailing Wall, focused on her work with AIDS, and Spin the Bottle, with her writing about women's sexuality. Both these pieces used words, experimental voicing, and Continuum Movement. She studied with Tom Spanbauer and his trademarked Dangerous Writing, and did a year-long memoir intensive with Anne Liu Kellor.

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
I Sing the Salmon Home (Empty Bowl Press, 2023)
,
A Guide to Creative Writing and the Imagination (Routledge, 2022)
,
COVID, Isolation & Hope: Artists Respond to the Pandemic (Finishing Line Press, 2022)
,
Rumors Secrets & Lies: Poems about Pregnancy, Abortion & Choice (Anhinga Press, 2022)
,
Poets Speaking to Poets: Echoes and Tributes (Ars Omnia Press, 2021)
,
Spaces Between Us: Poetry, Prose, and Art on HIV/AIDS (Third World Press, 2010)
,
Letters to the World Poets from the Wom-Po Listserv (Red Hen Press, 2008)
,
Tattoos on Cedar (Washington Poets Association, 2006)
Books:
Slow Now with Clear Skies (MoonPath Press, 2024)
,
truth be bold—Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS (Finishing Line Press, 2017)
,
No Father Can Save Her (Plain View Press, 2011)
Chapbook:
Case Walking: An AIDS Case Manager Wails Her Blues (Finishing Line Press, 2007)
Journals:
Arabesques Review
,
Arnazella
, , , ,
knock
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Las Cruces Poets and Writers Magazine
, ,
Nerve Cowboy
,
Off the Coast
,
Penitalia
,
Pilgrimage
,
Pontoon
,
Words' Worth
,
Writer's Almanac
Prizes won: 
  • Christopher Hewitt Award in Nonfiction, Honorable mention, A&U (AIDS & Understanding), “Babes With AIDS,” 2022 
  • Sally Albiso Award, Semi-finalist, poetry manuscript, “To Harvest a Life,” MoonPath Press, 2022
  • Through Positive Eyes, Photography/storytelling Project sponsored by the Discovery Center, The Gates Discovery Center & UCLA Art & Global Health Center, 2020-2022. Featured in The Guardian and on the UNAIDS website.
  • Pushcart Prize nomination for essay, “How HIV Changes One Woman’s Sex Life,” by Raymond Luczak, editor, Mollyhouse, 2020.
  • truth be bold: Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS won 4 Human Relations Indie Book Awards: Silver Winner Life Challenges; Silver Winner Medical Issues; Gold Winner Personal Challenge Poetry; and Director's Choice Award for 2018 Human Relations AIDS Awareness Book of the Year, 2018
  • truth be bold: Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS won Bisexual Book Award Winner for Poetry, 2017
  • truth be bold: Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS was a Finalist for the Lambda Literary Foundation Awards, Bisexual nonfiction category, 2017
  • Honorable Mention, “Istanbul Secrets,” Interboard Poetry Community (IBPC) Poem of the Year: May 2015-Apr 2016, Judged by Gerald Fleming
  • Poetry Second Place Prize, “Istanbul Secrets,” Interboard Poetry Community(IBPC), Judged by Leslie Wheeler
  • Nerve Cowboy Chapbook Contest, 3rd Prize, Case Walking: An AIDS Case Manager Wails Her Blues, 2006
  • Poetry Third Place Prize, Unfinished Works Competition, AIDS Services Foundation Orange County. Announced World AIDS Day, December 1, 2005. She read her poem at their World AIDS Day (Dec 1, 2006) candlelight vigil and art opening
  • Case Walking: An AIDS Case Manage Wails Her Blues, Nerve Cowboy Chapbook Contest, Third Place Prize, 2006

Personal Favorites

What I'm reading now: 
Orpheus in the Bronx: Essays on Identity, Politics, and the Freedom of Poetry by Reginald Shepherd, Poem Revised: 54 Poems; Revisions, Discussions by Robert Hartwell Fiske, Editor, King of Shadows by Aaron Shurin, Big Towns, Big Talk by Patricia Smith, In The Heart of The Heart of Another Country by Etel Adnan

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
White
Prefers to work with: 
Adults, LGBTQ, Seniors, Women
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Callicoon, NY
New York
Raised in: 
Kenoza Lake, NY
New York
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Apr 15, 2024