Although Liana DeMasi loves classics, “so many of our stories are about the forbidden aspects of our love and identities,” she tells GO. “I wonder [what] it would’ve been like for me, growing up in the very heterosexual suburbs, to have been exposed to people like me.” Now, as a writer, DeMasi tells stories about queer characters that transcend their sexual identities and focus on more than queer tragedies. “I do often write very tragic and queer work, but it’s not tragedy as it relates to queer identity,” she says. “Sometimes we need a story about hardship that’s not about how hard it was to come out. So much of who we are is about that, but we’re so much more and deserve representation that’s accurate and expansive.” DeMasi’s first book of poetry, “In Which She Takes Multiple Lovers,” explores a queer person’s journey through love. She is also a member of Tactile Movement Collective, an artist collective and company, which holds gallery shows and events, and serves as an independent publisher. Her written work has appeared in The Boston Globe, GO Magazine, Prometheus Dreaming, Musèe Magazine, and other publications. This fall, she will be attending the City College of New York to pursue an MFA in Fiction Writing. DeMasi wants the community to know that, “We so concretely matter. … As marginalized people, we’ve faced — and will continue to face — adversity, but we have something our non-marginalized counterparts don’t have: We have the ability to rise above all odds.” —RK
