Paulina & Jez had a blast chatting with Caren Gussoff Sumption about her writing career and her latest sci-fi novella, So Quick Bright Things Come to Confusion. 

Caren Gussoff Sumption is a writer and editor of Romany ancestry, living near Seattle, WA. The author of 5 books and more than 100 short stories, Caren's been awarded a Hedgebrook Elizabeth George Award, the Speculative Literature Foundation's Gulliver Grant, a stint as the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Geek of the Week, and honors from the European Commission on Science and Society.

She received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and in 2008, was the Carl Brandon Society’s Octavia E. Butler Scholar at Clarion West. She also holds a seat on the Renton Municipal Arts Commission, and volunteers time to We Need Diverse Books, and other organizations promoting diversity and inclusion in literature.

By day, she chips away at injustice, as a social services specialist serving as a state and nationally certified peer counselor, victim advocate, and community health worker.

Caren is on the Autism spectrum, lives with chronic autoimmune disorders, and can't carry a tune (she tries anyway). Find her online at www.spitkitten.com and https://linktr.ee/spitkitten.

This episode’s Romani crushes are performer & writer  Mihaela Drâgan of Giuvlipen & designer & performer Zita Moldovan of Loly & Giuvlipen. 

Thank you for listening to Romanistan podcast.

You can find us on Instagram @romanistanpodcast, and on Facebook under the same name, and on Twitter @romanistanpod

We started a Ko-fi fundraiser to help us expand. Our goal is to continue releasing 2 episodes a month, including our advice column, and we would eventually like to expand so we can produce content by other Romani & Sinti creators. We are hoping to cover production costs, like paying for our hosting site, website, editing and producing, and all the rest. We would love it if you could contribute and spread the word. The link, Ko-fi.com/romanistan, is in our bio on Instagram, and will be in the show notes

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You can find Jess on Instagram @jezmina.vonthiele, and you can find Jess’ vintage and curiosities shop Evil Eye Edit on Instagram @evileyeedit & Etsy.

You can find Paulina Verminski on Instagram @_paulina_v_ and at https://romaniholistic.com/. Follow Paulina’s store, Romani Holistic, in Corona Del Mar, CA, on Instagram @romaniholistic 

Romanistan is hosted by Jessica Reidy and Paulina Verminski

Conceived of by Paulina Verminski

Edited by Cherub

With Music by Viktor Pachas

And Artwork by Elijah Vardo

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