Zeus Sumra

Non-fiction writer Zeus Sumra was born in Saint Lucia and emigrated to the US when he was 17. Currently based in Jersey City, NJ, Zeus directs a reading series for Lampblack Lit, a community organization that supports and publishes black writers across the world. He holds an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers University. His work has appeared in the Bristol Short Story Prize Anthology and elsewhere.

At the Anderson Center, Zeus worked on a collection of critical essays that examine portrayals of queerness in Black Diasporic literature. One long essay in particular, called “Away from Our Origins,” explores his experience reading the work of Jamaica Kincaid as a queer teenager growing up in the Caribbean, and the complicated feelings he has about his home country. During his residency, Zeus connected with English students at Tower View Alternative High School for a creative writing workshop.