About

I write fiction, nonfiction, and literary criticism. My fiction often explores queer/trans adolescence, friendship and the ethics of intimacy, and the tensions between form and voice. My first novel, Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body, was published in September 2021 from Feminist Press, and was named a 2022 Lambda Literary Award Finalist in Transgender Fiction.

In November 2021, Feminist Press published Slug and Other Stories, a revised new edition of my first book, Kill Marguerite and Other Stories. Many of the stories in Slug/Kill Marguerite recombine popular genres and forms, including video games, teen magazines, lesbian pop songs, and body horror. Kill Marguerite won the 2015 Devil’s Kitchen Award in Fiction and was named a Lambda Literary Finalist in Debut Fiction.

After several years of not publishing much, I am celebrating four books out in 2021! Here are the other two: Tori Amos Bootleg Webring (Book #2 in Instar Books’ new Remember the Internet series) is a short nonfiction book blending music criticism and memoir that’s part of Instar Press’ new series of books on internet history. I also co-edited, with Marisa Crawford, a new anthology called We Are the Baby-Sitters Club: Essays and Artwork from Grown-Up Readers, which collects writing and art related to the iconic series, now out from Chicago Review Press.

My criticism concentrates on contemporary literature, film, and performance and visual art, and has been published or is forthcoming on 4ColumnsBOMB, BookforumLos Angeles Review of Books, The New Inquiry, Fanzine, and the collective blog Montevidayo (now defunct), among other venues. In 2014, my essay on Kate Zambreno’s novel Green Girl received a Critical Hit Award from Electric Lit.

In addition to contemporary art and literature, my interests include transgender, queer, feminist, and disability studies, asexuality studies, and critical psychiatry. The volume Asexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives, which I co-edited with KJ Cerankowski, was published by Routledge in March 2014 and has recently been released in paperback. KJ and I are currently at work on a 10th anniversary second edition with new and updated content.

I teach writing at The New School and gender and women’s studies at Pace University. I received my Ph.D. in English Studies from the University of Illinois and my M.A. in Literature and Creative Writing from Temple, where I was a student of Samuel R. Delany’s.

I use they/them pronouns.

I live in Brooklyn.

For professional inquiries, please contact Rach Crawford at Wolf Literary Services: rachel@wolflit.com. For speaking inquiries, please contact Leslie Shipman at The Shipman Agency: leslie@theshipmanagency.com.

I can be reached at megan dot milks at gmail dot com.

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