About me
Judy Juanita's latest books are a memoir, California Fever Dream (Willow) and a pro-choice look at abortion, Abortion (or Woman as Threefold Murderess). Her poetry collection Gawdzilla (EquiDistance, 2022) conflates the destructive, prehistoric sea monster Godzilla with U.S. imperialism and racism. Her poetry collection Manhattan my ass, you're in Oakland (EquiDistance, 2021) won the American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation in 2021. Juanita's collection of essays, DeFacto Feminism: Essays Straight Outta Oakland (EquiDistance, 2016), examines race, gender, politics, and spirituality, as experienced by a black activist and self-described "feminist foot soldier." Juanita received Pushcart Prize nominations for (poem) "Bling" 2012; (essay) "The Gun as Performance Poem" 2014; and (short story) "The Black House" 2022. In her semi-autobiographical debut novel, Virgin Soul, depicts a protagonist who joins the Black Panther Party in the sixties in the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Area.
