In this conversation Shuli talks with Sebastian Merrill, whose debut collection GHOST :: SEEDS was selected by Kimiko Hahn as the winner of the 2022 X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, and published by Texas Review Press in November 2023. GHOST :: SEEDS was recently named a winner of 2024 Stonewall Honor Book - Barbara Gittings Literature Award from the American Library Association and was selected by Ellen Doré Watson as the winner of the 2022 Levis Prize for Poetry from Friends of Writers. Sebastian is also a yoga instructor and happens to be a dear friend!

In this conversation, Shuli and Sebastian use his book as a frame to think about transition, the narratives we carry along and try to break with, relating with our ghosts and our grief, the absurdity of gender, and what liberation even means.

Content warning: mention of sexual assault, but with no specific details

You can find out more about Sebastian and buy his book at his website:

https://www.sebastianmerrill.com/

You can also find him on Instagram @seb.merrill

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