“Creativity is kind of the family business,” she says, referring not only to her mother but to her two sisters: One once worked as the manager of the Public Theater in New York City, and the other is part of the three-time Grammy-nominated jazz ensemble the Baylor Project. Growing up in the liberal suburb Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Norris was the child of a second-generation Baptist minister and a schoolteacher classically trained in voice and piano. Forty years ago, ‘literary’ meant straight white male and stylistically spare. “I feel like I get to use that to continue to kick the door open even wider. “I feel like I have power professionally, which I’ve never felt before,” she says. Leaning back against her green velvet couch, she is quick to laugh, and speaks with deliberation and grace. “It feels amazing,” she tells me, as we sit in her West Harlem apartment talking over the sounds of Manhattan traffic and the dings of Slack messages rolling in.
In August, Norris became the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication when Electric Literature-an online journal with an annual readership of 5.5 million that strives to make literature exciting, relevant, and inclusive-named her editor-in-chief.
And when I find the right name, I know I truly understand who the character is.” “I can’t just pick any old name,” she says. Her chapbook of short stories, Awst Collection - Dennis Norris II, was named one of the best books of 2018 by Powell’s Bookstore, and her stories have appeared in prestigious national publications like McSweeney’s, American Short Fiction, Smokelong Quarterly, and others, as well as in several anthologies.Īs in life, names are also important in Norris’s fiction, and she confesses to obsessing over naming her characters. Norris is also an award-winning fiction writer, penning works that highlight the experience of queer Black characters navigating social, religious, sexual, and academic landscapes. “She tricks you with the levity of her personality, but underneath that she’s extremely hard-working, and she sees and knows everything.” “Denne is one of the most resilient and vulnerable writers I know,” says Tommy Pico, a poet as well as a cohost of the podcast, which launched in 2017. The group tours the country frequently to give live shows, and has watched Food 4 Thot grow to become one of the most successful Society & Culture shows on Apple Podcasts. Described by the hosts as “a roundtable discussion … wherein a multiracial mix of queer writers talk sex, relationships, race, identity, what we like to read, and who we like to read,” the podcast brings humor and wit to conversations about the arts, culture, and the contemporary queer experience, particularly highlighting queer people of color and gender nonconforming and trans people. “But for me, I really value the years I spent as Dennis Norris II and the work I did in that time.”īy work, she means the emotional and personal growth, but also the many projects she has worked on, including the critically acclaimed podcast Food 4 Thot, which she cohosts with three other queer writers: Joe Osmundson, Tommy Pico, and Fran Tirado. “Generally speaking, deadnaming trans people is not OK,” she says, referring to people using a trans person’s birth name contrary to their stated identity and preference. Dennis Earl Norris, had legally changed his first name as a loving gesture to his childless Uncle Dennis, and when he had a son of his own, his mother insisted he name the child after himself.ĭenne (pronounced “Den”) honors the nickname that many friends gave her over the years, and “Michele” is an homage to her idols Michelle Obama and champion figure skater Michelle Kwan. Names are important in the Norris family, so when Denne Michele Norris ’08 came out as a trans woman earlier this year and had the opportunity to choose her own name, she wanted to make sure to choose something that honored those who have come before her.
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