Junauda Petrus

Junauda Juanita Petrus-Nasah is an American author, filmmaker, performance artist, and "pleasure activist".[1][2] Her debut novel, The Stars and the Blackness Between Them, was a winner of a Coretta Scott King Honor Award.

Junauda Petrus
BornMinneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
OccupationAuthor, filmmaker
GenreYoung adult fiction
Notable awardsCoretta Scott King Honor Award (2020)
SpouseNgowo Nasah

Early life

Petrus was born on Dakota land in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[3][4][5] She is of Afro-Caribbean descent.[1] Her mother was born in Trinidad and her father in US Virgin Islands and later moved to Minnesota.[6] She was one of four daughters born to her mother and father; her father has a total of eleven children from five mothers.[7]

As a child, Petrus wanted to be an astronaut and enjoyed reading V.C. Andrews, Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, Anne Rice, and Alice Walker.[4] She came out as gay to her family at age 30 and met her wife, a native of Cameroon, four years later.[7]

Career

Petrus' piece There Are Other Worlds was performed at Intermedia Arts in 2015.[2][8] She and Erik Ehn co-wrote Queen, which was performed at In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre in 2016.[9] Queen was partly inspired by Petrus' 2015 poem "Could we please give the police departments to the grandmothers?"[10] This poem was contributed to the anthology How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation by Maureen Johnson, which was released in 2018.[11] A picture book based on the poem, titled Can We Please Give the Police Department to the Grandmothers?, was released in 2023.[12]

Her 2019 novel, The Stars and the Blackness Between Them,[13] is a coming of age story of two 16-year-old queer black girls in Minneapolis.[4] In February 2021, Petrus announced that she was working on a film adaptation of the novel.[14]

In the wake of the murder of George Floyd, Petrus wrote a short prose piece entitled "Sweetness for George".[15]

Petrus' works incorporate themes such as black diasporic futurism, female friendships, queerness, black community, identity, and healing.[4][13][8] She is inspired by her mother, Al Green, nature, and women.[16]

Petrus is an affiliated writer of The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis.[17] Along with Erin Sharkey, she co-founded the group Free Black Dirt, a collective of writers and creators who seek to "spark and engage in critical conversations".[2] The group organizes events to showcase original performance and theatre works by emerging artists.[18]

Petrus describes herself as a "pleasure activist",[19] which she claims her art has "healing power" and relates to themes involving desire and pleasure. She has written about her pleasure activist work in Adrienne Maree Brown's book Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good,[19] which explains pleasure activism as making social justice work "the most pleasurable human experience."[20]

Personal life

Petrus lives in Minneapolis with her wife, Ngowo Nasah, and family.[1][21]

Awards

Petrus was recognized as a City Pages Twin Cities artist of the year in 2016.[10]

In 2020, Petrus received a Coretta Scott King Honor Award for The Stars and the Blackness Between Them.[22]

Petrus has also been awarded several fellowships.[23]

References
  1. "Junauda Petrus". Penguin Random House. Archived from the original on July 1, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  2. "Junauda Petrus". The Playwrights' Center. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  3. "Junauda Petrus, A Manifester of Magic". Free Black Dirt. Archived from the original on August 30, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  4. Jenna Ross (September 16, 2019). "Minnesota artist's novel about queer black teens is one of fall's hottest books: After puppets and poetry, theater and film, artist Junauda Petrus is releasing her first young adult novel about two queer, black teenagers". Star Tribune. Archived from the original on June 29, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  5. @junaudaalma (September 26, 2019). "My birthday twin! Love her so darn much and look up to her wild and brilliant ways" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  6. Sheila Regan (December 18, 2015). "Junauda Petrus' transformative year with Naked Stages, BLM". City Pages. Archived from the original on July 1, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  7. Thompson, Daphne (June 28, 2020). "Junauda Petrus on LGBTQIA Co-Parenting & Life In Minneapolis During Protests for Black Lives". mamaglow.com. Archived from the original on July 8, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  8. "The Catalyst Series: Art with Impact". intermediaarts.org. Archived from the original on January 9, 2015.
  9. "Queen". In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre. 2016. Archived from the original on August 10, 2022. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  10. "These are the Twin Cities artists of the year". City Pages. January 5, 2017. Archived from the original on June 30, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  11. Brynn Allison (December 13, 2018). "On My Bookshelf: How I Resist: Activism and Hope for a New Generation by Maureen Johnson". The Literary Maven. Archived from the original on July 8, 2020. Retrieved July 8, 2020.
  12. "Can We Please Give the Police Department to the Grandmothers?". Kirkus Reviews. January 11, 2023. Retrieved September 5, 2023. A refreshing homage to the power of intergenerational relationships and potent alternative to policing.
  13. "Local author Junauda Petrus sources her creativity in healing". Minnesota Daily. September 18, 2019. Archived from the original on July 1, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  14. "Junauda Petrus Announces Film Adaptation of 'The Stars and the Blackness Between Them'". Nerds and Beyond. February 27, 2021. Archived from the original on February 27, 2021. Retrieved February 28, 2021.
  15. "Love, History, Hope: In the wake of George Floyd's killing, three black Twin Cities authors look to the past, to their families and to the community as they make a plea for change". Star Tribune. June 6, 2020. Archived from the original on June 30, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  16. "At the PWC this week: Junauda Petrus". pwcenter.org. January 26, 2015. Archived from the original on June 30, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  17. Brittany Shrimpton (February 18, 2019). "Get to know Junauda Petrus and Erin Sharkey of Free Black Dirt". Twin Cities Public Television. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  18. Jessica Armbruster (June 2, 2020). "UPDATED: Black-owned/run arts orgs in the Twin Cities to support right now (and always)". City Pages. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  19. "For Colored Girls Book Club + Junauda Petrus". forcoloredgirlsbookclub.com. December 3, 2019. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  20. "Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good | IndieBound.org". www.indiebound.org. Archived from the original on July 9, 2020. Retrieved July 13, 2020. How do we make social justice the most pleasurable human experience? How can we awaken within ourselves desires that make it impossible to settle for anything less than a fulfilling life?
  21. "A Day In The Life: Junauda Juanita Petrus". Lavender Magazine. September 27, 2018. Archived from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 7, 2020.
  22. "American Library Association announces 2020 Youth Media Award winners" (PDF). American Library Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 22, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
  23. "Junauda Petrus". Pillsbury House Theatre. December 2015. Archived from the original on July 28, 2020. Retrieved July 27, 2020. She has received the MN State Arts Board Cultural Community Partnership, the Givens Foundation Writer's Mentorship, The Playwrights' Center Many Voices Fellowship, and the Jerome Travel and Study Grant.

Further reading
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