Khadijah queen biography alex

Khadijah Queen holds a PhD in English and Literary Arts from University of Denver.
This week's installment of Ten Questions features Khadijah Queen, whose latest poetry collection, Anodyne, is out today from Tin House Books.
The author of Southbound and The Parted Earth shares her approach to balancing projects in multiple genres.

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Craft Capsule: The Multi-Genre Mindset

This is no. 105 in a series of craft essays exploring the finer points of writing. Check back each week for a new Craft Capsule.

As a journalist, critic, novelist, and essayist, I write in several different genres on any given day. It can be dizzying. Different genres involve different techniques and strategies. A reported piece involves tracking down sources, finding an intriguing hook, and crafting clear, concise sentences with facts, data, and quotes—all while keeping to a deadline and a strict word limit. Creative writing and criticism, meanwhile, demand that the mind be pliable, contemplative, and reflective, that ideas have the time and attention to marinate and wander before committing to a particular narrative.

Yet many writers still manage to switch genres. Zora Neale Hurston was the ultimate genre-switcher. She wrote short stories, novels, biographies, ethnographies, and criticism. Even after her death in 1960, Hurston’s estate continued to publish books in multiple genres. Her biography of Cudjo Lewis, Barracoon: The Story of

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Alex Highsmith is a newcomer to Seattle, a Utah native with Washington roots, growing up visiting family here at Christmas. After graduating from Boston University’s College of Fine Arts in 2011, Alex travelled the country with the National Players, performing as Kate in Taming of the Shrew and Curley’s Wife in Of Mice and Men. She’s no stranger to intense female roles, also playing Maggie in Dancing at Lughnasa and the title role in Hedda Gabler.
Alex will portray Harper Pitt, a Mormon housewife struggling with a Valium addiction and its incessant hallucinations, not to mention her husband’s closeted battle with his sexual identity.
Fun Fact: Alex is learning to play the ukulele.
How did you first encounter Angels in America?
I think the first time Angels came on my radar was freshman year of college at Boston University. I had just moved to the east coast from Salt Lake City, and was being inundated with the kinds of art and perspective I thought only occurred in coming-of-age films. Some of my peers did a scene from Angels, and I was totally stunned. Four