Alexis Pauline Gumbs

Alexis Pauline Gumbs
Gumbs at the 2024 National Book Festival
Born1982 (age 43–44)
Summit, New Jersey, U.S.
Education
OccupationAuthor
Writing career
Notable works
  • Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity
  • M Archive: After the End of the World
  • Undrowned
Websitealexispauline.com

Alexis Pauline Gumbs (born 1982)[1] is an African-American writer, scholar,[2] poet,[3] activist,[4] and educator based in Durham, North Carolina.[5][6] Gumbs' work focuses on queer women of color[7][8] and has been described as a “Black feminist love evangelist.”[9] Gumbs describes herself[a] as a "queer Black troublemaker."[4] In her experimental triptych Spill, M Archive, Dub, Gumbs explores Black feminist theory and the struggle against ecological extraction.[10]

Early life and education

Alexis Gumbs was born in 1982 in Summit, New Jersey.[1]

Gumbs graduated from Barnard College in 2004.[11] She holds a PhD in English, African and African-American studies, and women and gender studies from Duke University.[12]

Career

Gumbs is the founder and director of Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind[12][13] and founder of BrokenBeautiful Press.[14] She was the dramaturge for Sharon Bridgforth's "Dat Black Mermaid Man Lady".[15][16] She and Ṣangodare co-founded the Black Feminist Film School.[13]

Gumbs has spent the majority of her career as an independent writer and scholar outside of formal academic institutions.[17][18] Gumbs teaches online seminars, writes blog posts, and runs webinars through her website Brilliance Remastered.[17] She has participated in conversations about how intellectual work can be more path-breaking and widely accessible outside of the academy.[18][17]

She characterizes her writing as defying genre categorization.[19] Her writing and activism are influenced by the work of her grandmother, Lydia Gumbs, who designed the flag of Anguilla during the country’s 1967 revolution,[20][21] as well as Audre Lorde,[22] June Jordan,[23] M. Jacqui Alexander,[24] and Dionne Brand.[25] Gumbs attributes her desire to attend Barnard College partially to June Jordan, Zora Neale Hurston, Ntozake Shange, and Edwidge Danticat.[26]

She featured in the documentary The Revival: Women and the Word in 2016.[27] She was a creative writing fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts and Whiting Award for Nonfiction winner in 2022.[19][28] She was awarded a Windham Campbell Prize for poetry in 2023.[29] She was formerly the creative writing editor at Feminist Studies.[30][31]

From 2017-2019, Gumbs was the visiting Winton Chair in the Liberal Arts in the University of Minnesota's Department of Theater Arts and Dance.[32][15][33][34] From 2023-2024 she was the visiting Sterling Brown Chair at Williams College.[35]

Works

She wrote a short story for Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements (2015), edited by adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha.[36]

Gumbs co-edited Revolutionary Mothering: Love on the Frontlines (2016) with Mai’a Williams and China Martens. This book focuses on the activity of mothering.[37]

Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity (2017)[38][39][40] is the first book in a trilogy and is a poetry collection in dialogue with Hortense Spillers’ Black, White, and in Color anthology.[41] The poems explores how Black women can utilize poetry for liberation.[42]

M Archive: After the End of the World (2018),[43] the second book in the trilogy, centers on concepts of Black life and Black metaphysics from a feminist perspective and is in conversation with Pedagogies of Crossing by M. Jacqui Alexander.[44] She invites readers to be mindful of ongoing societal issues like environmental degradation, anti-Black racism, and corrupt capitalist systems through recognizing Indigenous knowledge systems and Black writers' work. In the format of a “speculative documentary,” Gumbs highlights the ideologies of feminist theory, rooted in the metaphysical, to demonstrate the unsustainable nature of modern life and the issues with relying on digital archives.[45]

In DUB: Finding Ceremony (2020), the third book of Gumbs’ trilogy, she encourages readers to think critically about the connection between the individual and the collective, using marine life as a metaphor for the Black social condition.[46] Gumbs draws on Jamaican writer Sylvia Wynter as well as dub music for inspiration.[47] It emphasizes interspecies relations and Black feminist theory.[48]

Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals (2020) reflects on marine mammal behavior's ideological and cultural significance to discuss how society undervalues Black women and humans' connection to nature.[49][50] Gumbs divides her book into twenty sections, with the first nineteen using different marine mammals' behaviors to help Black women navigate the struggles of modern American life.[51]

In 2024, she published Survival Is a Promise, a biography of Audre Lorde.[52]

She wrote the foreword for This Unruly Witness: June Jordan's Legacy (2025), edited by Darrell M. Callier, Dominique C. Hill, Lauren Muller, and Becky Thompson.[53]

Personal life

Notes

  1. ↑ Gumbs uses both she/her and they/them pronouns. This article uses she/her for consistency.

References

  1. 1 2 "Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Windha Campbell Prizes. Archived from the original on April 30, 2024. Retrieved August 24, 2024.
  2. ↑ "Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Feminist Studies. Archived from the original on April 20, 2025. Retrieved February 14, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Alexis Pauline Gumbs". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  4. 1 2 "Alexis Pauline Gumbs". LGBTQ Religious Archives Network. Archived from the original on March 5, 2026. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  5. ↑ "Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Center for the Humanities. Archived from the original on April 17, 2025. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  6. ↑ Alsous, Zaina (March 28, 2018). "Alexis Pauline Gumbs's Groundbreaking Poetic Trilogy Engaging with Black Feminist Scholars Continues in M Archive: After the End of the World". The INDY. Archived from the original on September 28, 2024. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  7. ↑ "Queer & Authentic (Q&A) with Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Prideindex. October 4, 2024. Archived from the original on May 6, 2025. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  8. ↑ Hülsen, Lea (January 31, 2017). "Spill(ing) Over The Edges — Accounts of Black Fugitive Women". KULT_online (49). doi:10.22029/ko.2017.998. ISSN 1868-2855.
  9. ↑ Sullivan, Laura L. (2023). "'Black Feminist Love Evangelist' and 'Prayer Poet Priestess': Alexis Pauline Gumbs". In Carlacio, Jami L. (ed.). Activism in the Name of God: Religion and Black Feminist Public Intellectuals from the Nineteenth Century to the Present. University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781496845672.
  10. ↑ Thomas, Cathy (June 1, 2021). "Reverberations of the Black Feminist Breathing ChorusAn Interview with Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Sangodare". Resonance. 2 (2): 281–295. doi:10.1525/res.2021.2.2.281. S2CID 237925014. Archived from the original on March 11, 2022. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  11. ↑ Kotler, Margot (March 31, 2025). "A quantum life: Alexis Pauline Gumbs on Audre Lorde". Barnard Center for Research on Women. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  12. 1 2 "Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Duke University English Department. Retrieved June 11, 2026.
  13. 1 2 Norman, Rose (March 14, 2023). "Alexis Pauline Gumbs: Black Feminist Love Evangelist". Southern Lesbian Feminist Activist Herstory Project. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  14. ↑ Staff, Harriet (October 29, 2020). "Alexis Pauline Gumbs Talks About Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press". Poetry Foundation. Archived from the original on October 29, 2020.
  15. 1 2 "Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Imagining America. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  16. ↑ "2024 Fellow Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Monument Lab. Archived from the original on February 14, 2026. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  17. 1 2 3 Talley, Heather Laine (2012). "Brilliance Remastered: An Interview with Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Feminist Teacher. 22 (2): 165–167. doi:10.5406/femteacher.22.2.0165. ISSN 0882-4843. JSTOR 10.5406/femteacher.22.2.0165. S2CID 143017157.
  18. 1 2 Jafri, Beenash (2017). "Intellectuals Outside the Academy: Conversations with Leanne Simpson, Steven Salaita, and Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Social Justice. 44 (4 (150)): 119–132. ISSN 1043-1578. JSTOR 26538398.
  19. 1 2 "Alexis Pauline Gumbs". National Endowment for the Arts. Retrieved February 9, 2024.
  20. ↑ Gumbs, Alexis Pauline (November 17, 2020). Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals. AK Press. ISBN 978-1-84935-398-4.
  21. ↑ "Alexis Pauline Gumbs Remembers Her Grandparents Through Poetry". Anguilla Lit Fest. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  22. ↑ Ward, Caleb (May 2025). "Audre Lorde on the Sacred Scale of Livability: Alexis Pauline Gumbs in Conversation with Caleb Ward". Hypatia. 40 (2): 366–379. doi:10.1017/hyp.2024.66. ISSN 0887-5367.
  23. ↑ Gumbs, Alexis Pauline (2010). "We Can Learn To Mother Ourselves": The Queer Survival of Black Feminism (Thesis). Duke University.
  24. ↑ Heidebrink-Bruno, Sarah (February 6, 2021). "Review of M Archive: After the End of the World". SFRA Review. 51 (1). Archived from the original on July 26, 2025. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  25. ↑ Gumbs, Alexis Pauline (February 2022). "Letting Go". Small Axe Project. Archived from the original on October 5, 2025. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  26. ↑ Aronsohn, Marie DeNoia (Fall 2023). "Sacred Wonder". Barnard Magazine. Retrieved February 8, 2024.
  27. ↑ "Documentary: The Revival: Women And The Word". CURVE. October 9, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  28. ↑ Stewart, Sophia (April 6, 2022). "2022 Whiting Award Winners Announced". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on May 18, 2025. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  29. ↑ "Gumbs, Alexis Pauline". Windham-Campbell Prizes. Archived from the original on April 10, 2026. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  30. ↑ "Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Academy of American Poets. Archived from the original on February 13, 2026. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  31. ↑ "Editors and Staff". Feminist Studies. Archived from the original on January 19, 2026. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  32. ↑ "Profile: Alexis Pauline Gumbs (1982-)". Black Art Story. September 11, 2020. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  33. ↑ Ghadiali, Ashish (September 11, 2023). "Transcript: In conversation with Alexis Pauline Gumbs". UCL Sarah Parker Remond Centre. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  34. ↑ "Alexis Pauline Gumbs". AAIHS. February 18, 2021. Archived from the original on February 28, 2026. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  35. ↑ "'Other Destinies of Choice': The Infinite Audre Lorde". Africana Studies. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  36. ↑ Chisholm, Thomas (August 26, 2019). "Resistance Writers: An Interview with Alexis Pauline Gumbs". F(r)iction. Archived from the original on March 16, 2026. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  37. ↑ McClain, Dani (May 7, 2016). "How to Understand Mother as a Verb This Mother's Day and Always". ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved June 12, 2026.
  38. ↑ KMT, Joy (February 4, 2018). "We Stay in Love with Our Freedom: A Conversation with Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on November 11, 2018. Retrieved November 11, 2018.
  39. ↑ Gailey, Alex (November 17, 2016). "Alexis Pauline Gumbs inspires with feminist 'Spill'". The Daily Tar Heel.
  40. ↑ Brown, Lesley-Ann (October 23, 2017). "Toni Morrison to Jenifer Lewis: Stay woke and inspired with our fall reading guide". NBC News.
  41. ↑ Alsous, Zaina (October 13, 2017). "'Spill' Maps a Future In Which Black Women Inherit the Universe". Bitch Media. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023.
  42. ↑ "Spill: Scenes of Black Feminist Fugitivity by Alexis Pauline (review)". Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black International. 7 (1): 65. April 17, 2018. doi:10.1353/pal.2018.0010. ISSN 2165-1612.
  43. ↑ "M Archive: After the End of the World". Duke University Press. Archived from the original on November 8, 2018. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  44. ↑ Michele, Storäe (July 2021). "Book Review: M Archive: After the End of the World by Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Feminist Review. 128 (1): 169–172. doi:10.1177/0141778921992310. ISSN 0141-7789. S2CID 236179813.
  45. ↑ Frank, Chandra (2018). "M Archive. After the End of the World by Alexis Pauline Gumbs (review)". Feminist Formations. 30 (3): 214–217. doi:10.1353/ff.2018.0049. ISSN 2151-7371. S2CID 149599514. Archived from the original on December 16, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  46. ↑ Lewis-Meeks, Anya (September 22, 2022). "Dub: Finding Ceremony, by Alexis Pauline Gumbs". New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids. 96 (3–4): 429–430. doi:10.1163/22134360-09603047. ISSN 2213-4360. S2CID 252510804.
  47. ↑ Brown, Jordan (July 9, 2020). "Dub: Finding Ceremony". Canadian Art. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  48. ↑ Kwakye, Chamara Jewel (2022). "Dub: Finding Ceremony by Alexis Pauline Gumbs (review)". Palimpsest: A Journal on Women, Gender, and the Black International. 11 (1): 206–207. doi:10.1353/pal.2022.0011. ISSN 2165-1612. S2CID 250271500. Archived from the original on December 16, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  49. ↑ Darling, Kristina Marie (May 31, 2021). "Response to Alexis Pauline Gumbs' Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons From Marine Mammals". Tupelo Quarterly. Archived from the original on April 7, 2023. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  50. ↑ Brooks, R.B. (May 28, 2021). "Deep dives, deeper breaths: A review of 'Undrowned– Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals'". SGD Institute. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  51. ↑ Chan, Melvin Chin-Hao (December 1, 2022). "Review of Undrowned: Black feminist lessons from marine mammals by Alexis Pauline Gumbs". Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education. 25 (3): 379–383. Bibcode:2022JOEE...25..379C. doi:10.1007/s42322-022-00113-1. ISSN 2522-879X. S2CID 251716714.
  52. ↑ Wortham, J (August 22, 2024). "The Afterlives of Audre Lorde". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 15, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  53. ↑ "This Unruly Witness". Haymarket Books. Retrieved April 2, 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.