Next-gen gender
As a parent to a two-year-old, Markus Harwood-Jones made visiting a Toronto Public Library branch an essential mainstay in his week. Several branches near his area offered opportunities to check out toddler-friendly board books and access play spaces. “They’re an absolutely essential space, especially for parents like myself who don’t want to have to spend money every time I want to take my kid somewhere.” …
SPACING INVESTIGATION: TORONTO PUBLIC LIBRARY RANSOMWARE ATTACK, PT. I
As a parent to a two-year-old, Markus Harwood-Jones made visiting a Toronto Public Library branch an essential mainstay in his week. Several branches near his area offered opportunities to check out toddler-friendly board books and access play spaces. “They’re an absolutely essential space, especially for parents like myself who don’t want to have to spend money every time I want to take my kid somewhere.” …
Navigating a Polycule: Exploring Non-Monogamous Networks
Markus Harwood-Jones, an author and PhD candidate, calls his current relationship dynamic “polycule-esque.” He lives with his husband of ten years and a platonic third partner. Together, they co-parent a child. He says that there are lots of questions this brings up both from others and within the group itself.
“We have to constantly navigate, like, how do we do our taxes? How do we figure out an RESP [registered education savings plan]? How do we figure out a birth certificate? How do we decide who’s going to take the kid where today. And also, definitely a lot of our neighbors are sort of like, ‘Who are these three adults and their baby? What’s the story there?’” …
Really Cute People: Review
Harwood-Jones (The Haunting of Adrian Yates) amps up the warm fuzzies in this wonderfully queer triad romance. Toronto mental health professional Charlie Dee (who is nonbinary) is still recovering from the dissolution of their co-op living situation when work sends them to check out a potential client referral partnership in Ontario…
Really Cute People
Adrian’s best friend and his boyfriend don’t get along. Oh, and his boyfriend is a ghost.
A little domestic bliss never hurt anyone…right?
Charlie Dee is headed for burnout. They’ve been burned before, both by their bio family and the now-defunct queer collective they once called home. So when they’re asked to take a work trip outside the city, they jump at the chance. Sure, it’s additional work with no additional pay, but it’s also an excuse to get out of town—and out of their own head…
The Haunting of Adrian Yates: 25 Canadian YA books to read in fall 2023
Adrian’s best friend and his boyfriend don’t get along. Oh, and his boyfriend is a ghost.
Adrian Yates expected his summer would involve sharing Slurpees with his best friend Zoomer and pretending not to hear his dads’ whispered fighting. And that’s exactly how it was going, until the night Sorel appeared in the graveyard by Adrian’s apartment. Sorel gets Adrian in ways no one else has; the fact that he’s not technically alive only makes things exciting. But Sorel can’t always control his otherworldly behaviour, and Zoomer’s worried he might be hiding something…
The Haunting of Adrian Yates: Review in Quill & Quire
Adrian Yates is used to fading into the background, especially at home, where his dads are too busy arguing to pay him any attention. Drifting listlessly through mundane summer days, the only thing tethering Adrian to life is his best friend, Zoomer, and – ironically – his nightly trips to the graveyard to visit his ghostly boyfriend. Though Sorel has been dead for a long time, he is bursting with life and a desire to reconnect with the living. Adrian, on the other hand, wants nothing more than to take a break from his heavy life, and soon the pair enter a relationship of consensual possession. Through Adrian, Sorel gets a second chance to live, to reconnect with his human memories, and to finally leave the confines of the graveyard. Through Sorel, Adrian can let someone else take the reins, and in doing so, feels seen and appreciated more than ever before…
The Haunting of Adrian Yates: The Lambda Literary Review
For those of us who love the espooky season, it’s the best time of the year. And that includes me. All things magical and haunting are in the air. And even if you are not a Halloween person, there’s plenty of sweater weather to go around….
Unconventional families face structural barriers, even as social views shift
River’s family tree has three branches — one for each parent.
Markus Harwood-Jones, one of River’s dads, adjusted the five-month-old’s baby book so it would reflect the family’s unconventional parenting arrangement.
“I keep having to wipe out sections like that,” the 31-year-old said of the parenting keepsake, in an interview from his home in Toronto…
Review: In A Heartbeat
“This story isn’t just about teen romance, but also gives subtle insights into the angst of many trans kids.”
Confessions of a Teenage Drag King, Featured on The Next Chapter
“The Next Chapter holiday children’s book panel: 12 great book recommendations for young readers”
CBC Radio, November 2020
In the holiday edition of this semi-annual feature, panellists Michele Landsberg, Ken Setterington and Bee Quammie recommend 12 books to suit the tastes of every young reader…
Confessions of a Teenage Drag King, One of the Best Books of 2020 by CBC
“The Best Canadian YA and Middle-Grade Books of 2020”
CBC, 2020
Set in Toronto, Confessions of a Teenage Drag King takes a colourful and lighthearted look at gender, sexual orientation and identity. Lauren is a 17-year-old LGBTQ teen who breathlessly maintains two public personas — alternating between being a drag king and an unassuming high school student — as they look for romance in the city…
Trans Creatives to Look Out For
“Three Trans Creatives to Look Out for from Rye”
Rhea Singh and Dhriti Gupta
Eyeopener, May 2020
Markus ‘Star’ Harwood-Jones, a sociology alumni at Ryerson, has made his mark in the literary industry with three recent young adult novels, Just Julian, Romeo for Real and We Three. Growing up in Winnipeg, Harwood-Jones started writing to create a space where he and his friends were represented…
Reviewing We Three
Review from Nour Abi Nakhoul
Quill and Quire, 2019
The latest offering from Toronto YA author Markus Harwood-Jones is a bright and quirky tale that explores themes of self-worth and social marginalization from the perspective of a young girl away from home at summer camp….
We Three featured by CBC
“30 Canadian YA and Middle-Grade Books to Watch for this Fall”
CBC, 2018
We Three by Markus Harwood-Jones is a YA romance novel about three teenage girls at summer camp. Jasbina “Jassie” Dhillon has feelings for her two best friends, Ams and Sydney. At first, it seems as though Ams and Sydney hate each other, but it turns out the opposite is true. The three of them form an unconventional polyamorous relationship that works at camp — but what will happen once camp ends…?
BookTrib Interview
“Harwood-Jones’ Journey Filled With LGBTQ Life Lessons”
BookTrib, June 2018
Markus Harwood-Jones is coming out with two companion books this August: Romeo for Real, and Just Julian, both modern adaptions of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but updated to the 21st Century, with a gay love story between Romeo and Julian. In addition to these book, Harwood-Jones also self-published two story collections: Confessions of a Teenage Transsexual Whore and Everything & All at Once.
Here, he talks with us about his writing process, what inspired him to tell stories, his experiences as a trans man, and more….
Lecture at Queen’s University for International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia
“Building LGBTQ+ allies”
Phil Gaudreau
Queen’s Gazette, May 2018
An event marking International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia will explore both the personal and conceptual aspects of gender…
Outsider Artist: Markus “Star” Harwood-Jones
“The Eyeopener Outsider Arts Issue: Feature on Markus Harwood-Jones”
Dylan Freeman-Grist,
Eyeopener, 2015
Star is a trans activist and community organizer. They’re the lead coordinator at the Ryerson Trans Collective. From their office, which doubles as storage for both the Centre for Women and Trans people and the Collective, they steadily cut out newspaper clippings while reflecting on their art.
RU Trans Collective Action
“Ryerson Trans Collective tackles transphobia on campus”
Krista Hessey,
Ryersonian, February 2016
Starting in March, the Ryerson Trans Collective plans to launch a campaign to tackle systemic cissexism and transphobia on campus.
“Recently what I have been finding very challenging is dealing with transphobia in the classroom and transphobic professors,” said Markus Harwood-Jones…
The Zines of Markus “Star”
“Queer zines, naked hearts and confessions of a teenage, transexual whore: the art and activism of Markus/Star Harwood-Jones”
MJ Lyons
A Queer Notion, October 2015
Existence, in itself, is resistance, says artist and activist Markus/Star Harwood-Jones. Survival has been a recurring theme from the time Harwood-Jones came out as queer and trans in his adolescence. Currently the coordinator for Ryerson University’s Trans Collective, Harwood-Jones goes by either Markus or Star interchangeably, and uses either “he/him/his” or “them/them/their” as gender pronouns…
Mosaic Documentary launched at Buddies in Bad Times
“Markus Harwood ‘s Mosaic at Buddies in Bad Times”
Courtney Miceli
Toronto Guardian, May 2014
This August, Markus will premiere his documentary Mosaic. The film takes an in-depth journey into transgender communities, and explores the meanings and effects of gender identity. The project was inspired by Markus’ own journey of self-discovery, particularly during a gender transition in his late teens…