Michelle Tea

Tea grew up in Chelsea, Massachusetts in a working-class family. Her father was a Polish Catholic and her mother was Irish and French Canadian. In high school, Tea identified with the goth subculture and artists such as Siouxsie Sioux. She was also drawn to literary work including The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton, the poetry of Sylvia Plath, and the beat movement.

When she was twenty years old, Tea read Angry Women from RE/Search Publications, which included interviews with radical female performers, writers, and thinkers. The book was highly influential. "That really made me see that there is a lineage [of female writers], and a path, and I could really put myself on that," she explained in an interview.{{Cite news|last=Sturges|first=Fiona|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/nov/08/michelle-tea-interview-memoir-writing-elfish-act|title=Michelle Tea: 'Memoir writing is a very selfish act. There's wreckage behind me'|date=2019-11-08|work=The Guardian|access-date=2020-03-21|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077}}

During her childhood, Tea's stepfather spied on her through a drilled hole in the wall of her bedroom. She struggled with this abuse, and she was in denial for many years. Tea began drinking alcohol as a teenager. When she was 19 years old, her stepfather admitted to the abuse, but Tea's mother chose to stay with him. It was at this time that Tea moved out of her home and relocated to the home of her then-girlfriend in Boston.

During this period, Tea supported herself with two minimum wage jobs as a hair salon receptionist and deli shop employee. Her girlfriend, a sex worker, was earning significantly more money than she did, and Tea decided to go into sex work as well. In the early 1990s, Tea broke up with her girlfriend and moved to San Francisco.

In San Francisco, Tea immersed herself in the spoken word scene. In 1994, Tea and Sini Anderson formed Sister Spit, a queer feminist collective. The group hosted weekly open mic nights in San Francisco, which attracted local and underground talent, as well as more established writers such as Mary Gaitskill, Eileen Myles, and Beth Lisick. In 1997, Sister Spit launched Ramblin' Road Show, a spoken word tour that performed in bars, galleries, bookstores, community centers, and other venues in the United States and Canada.{{Cite web |title=Collection : City Lights/Sister Spit, City Lights Publishers |url=http://www.citylights.com/collections/?Collection_ID=338 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321224045/http://www.citylights.com/collections/?Collection_ID=338 |archive-date=2020-03-21 |access-date=2020-03-21 |website=City Lights Booksellers & Publishers |language=EN}}{{Cite web |title=Sister Spit |url=https://queerculturalcenter.org/sister-spit/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150911223027/http://www.queerculturalcenter.org/Pages/Qfestival01/SpitCD.html |archive-date=2015-09-11 |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Queer Cultural Center}} The tour was briefly revived in 2007 with Sister Spit: The Next Generation, which featured artists such as Ariel Schrag, Justin Vivian Bond, Blake Nelson, Nicole J. Georges, Cristy Road, Eileen Myles, and Beth Lisick.{{Cite web |last=Kim |first=Clea |date=2013-04-09 |title=Sister Spit Takes Over REDCAT |url=https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/theater/2013/04/09/sister-spit-takes-over-redcat |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Advocate |language=en}}

In 1998, Tea's first book, The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America, was published by Semiotexte/Smart Art Press. The book contained short stories in memoir form, exploring topics such as Tea's childhood in Massachusetts, her teenage interest in the goth subculture, and sex work.{{Cite web |last=Zeisler |first=Andi |date=2000-08-31 |title=Tea Time: Michelle Tea Likes it Caffeinated |url=https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/bitch-interview/michelle-tea |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200321222920/https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/bitch-interview/michelle-tea |archive-date=2020-03-21 |access-date= |website=Bitch Media |language=en}}

In 2000, Tea's memoir Valencia was published. The book chronicles the life of Michelle, a young lesbian poet, in the Mission District of San Francisco. The plot primarily focuses on the love life of the main character, as she dates multiple women over the course of a year. Tea explained in an interview, "The 'Michelle' in the book is definitely me, though if it makes a reader more comfortable to imagine it's all a giant work of fiction, that's fine too." The book won the 2001 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction.{{Cite web |date=10 July 2001 |title=13th Annual Lambda Literary Awards |url=https://www.lambdaliterary.org/2001/07/lambda-literary-awards-2000/ |access-date=2020-03-21 |website=Lambda Literary |language=en}} Tea served as the executive producer of Valencia: The Movie. Based on her novel of the same name, the experimental film was spearheaded by filmmaker Hilary Goldberg.{{cite web |last=Pulley |first=Anna |date=2013-06-25 |title=Review: "Valencia: The Movie" premieres at Frameline |url=http://www.afterellen.com/review-valencia-the-movie-premieres-at-frameline/06/2013/ |access-date=2013-10-30 |publisher=AfterEllen.com}}{{cite web |author=Dennis Harvey |date=2013-07-12 |title='Valencia' Review: Twenty Directors Take on Michelle Tea's Novel |url=https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-valencia-1200562329/ |access-date=2013-10-30 |publisher=Variety}} Valencia was filmed by 20 different lesbian, queer, and trans directors, each assigned a different chapter of her novel. The twenty one different 'Michelle' characters "vary in age, gender, size, ethnicity, style and era."{{cite web |title=Valencia: The Movie/s |url=http://www.radarproductions.org/valencia-the-movies/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131030095952/http://www.radarproductions.org/valencia-the-movies/ |archive-date=2013-10-30 |access-date=2013-10-30 |website=RADAR Productions |publisher=}}{{cite web |last=Mirk |first=Sarah |date=2013-08-19 |title=Q&A With Michelle Tea on Her New Alternative Parenting Project "Mutha Magazine" |url=http://bitchmagazine.org/post/qa-with-michelle-tea-on-new-alternative-parenting-project-mutha-magazine |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101183204/http://bitchmagazine.org/post/qa-with-michelle-tea-on-new-alternative-parenting-project-mutha-magazine |archive-date=2013-11-01 |access-date=2013-10-30 |publisher=Bitch Magazine}}

In 2003, Tea founded Radar Productions, a nonprofit organization that produces events to showcase the work of queer writers and artists.{{cite web |date= |title=About Us |url=http://www.radarproductions.org/about/ |access-date=2024-11-15 |publisher=Radar Productions }} She served as creative director for twelve years before stepping down in 2015. Julián Delgado Lopera took her place.{{Cite web|url=https://48hills.org/2015/05/5511/|title=Michelle Tea leaves Radar Productions, oral historian to succeed her|last=Donohue|first=Caitlin|date=2015-05-08|website=48 hills|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-21}} In 2015, with Radar, Tea created the first Drag Queen Story Hour in San Francisco.{{Cite web |last=Fitzsimmons |first=Tim |date=2018-06-19 |title=Drag Queen Story Hour brings pride and glamor to libraries across U.S. |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/drag-queen-story-hour-brings-pride-glamor-libraries-across-u-n884671 |access-date=2019-03-04 |website=NBC News |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://www.dragstoryhour.org/about |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Drag Story Hour |language=en}}

Tea has toured with the Sex Workers' Art Show.{{cite news |last=Bussel |first=Rachel Kramer |date=May 2004 |title=Interview with Michelle Tea |url=http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/People/michelletea-interview.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100424192346/http://www.afterellen.com/archive/ellen/People/michelletea-interview.html |archive-date=2010-04-24 |access-date= |work=AfterEllen |publisher=}} She was also a contributor to The Believer magazine.{{cite web |title=Contributor: Michelle Tea |url=https://www.thebeliever.net/contributor/michelle-tea/ |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Believer Magazine |publisher=}}

In February 2008, Tea was the 23rd Zale Writer-in-Residence at the H. Sophie Newcomb Memorial College Institute at Tulane University.{{Cite web |title=The Zale-Kimmerling Writer-In-Residence Program |url=https://newcomb.tulane.edu/zale-kimmerling-writer-residence-program |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Newcomb Institute}}

In 2012, Tea partnered with City Lights Publishers to form the Sister Spit imprint.{{cite web|author=Steve Berman |url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/07/03/michelle-tea-a-writers-passion/ |title=Michelle Tea: A Writer's Passion |publisher=Lambda Literary |date=2012-07-03 |access-date=2013-10-30}}{{Cite web |last=Rathe |first=Adam |date=2012-09-04 |title=Tea and Spit |url=https://www.out.com/entertainment/art-books/2012/09/04/michelle-tea-sister-spit-city-lights |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Out Magazine |language=en}} In 2016, she created Amethyst Editions, an imprint of Feminist Press, and in 2023 launched the nonprofit press Dopamine Books.{{Cite web |last=Stewart |first=Sophia |date=2023-08-18 |title=Michelle Tea Launches Dopamine Books |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/93015-author-michelle-tea-launches-dopamine-books.html |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Publishers Weekly |language=en}}

From 2012 to 2015, Tea wrote a column for xoJane, where she chronicled the difficulties she faced in trying to have a baby with her partner, Dashiell.{{cite web |last=Tea |first=Michelle |date=2011-11-15 |title=Getting Pregnant With Michelle Tea |url=http://www.xojane.com/family/getting-pregnant-michelle-tea |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031061048/http://www.xojane.com/family/getting-pregnant-michelle-tea |archive-date=2013-10-31 |access-date=2013-10-30 |website=xoJane |publisher=}}{{cite web |last=Tea |first=Michell |date=2011-12-06 |title=Getting Pregnant With Michelle Tea: I Have a Donor! Plus, I'm Dating Someone |url=http://www.xojane.com/family/getting-pregnant-michelle-tea-i-have-donor-plus-im-dating-someone |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031124140/http://www.xojane.com/family/getting-pregnant-michelle-tea-i-have-donor-plus-im-dating-someone |archive-date=2013-10-31 |access-date=2013-10-30 |website=xoJane |publisher=}} Her articles documented the stress and difficulty that accompanied fertility treatments and artificial insemination, and additionally illuminated gaps that existed for queer couples in a system that was created with heterosexual couples in mind.{{cite web |last=Tea |first=Michelle |date=2012-12-18 |title=Getting Pregnant With Michelle Tea: Scrolling Through Sperm Donors |url=http://www.xojane.com/family/getting-pregnant-with-michelle-tea-sperm-donors |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101164959/http://www.xojane.com/family/getting-pregnant-with-michelle-tea-sperm-donors |archive-date=2013-11-01 |access-date=2013-10-30 |website=xoJane |publisher=}}{{cite web |last=Tea |first=Michelle |date=2012-10-05 |title=Michelle Tea: Homophobia at the Fertility Clinic |url=http://www.xojane.com/family/baby-42 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101164918/http://www.xojane.com/family/baby-42 |archive-date=2013-11-01 |access-date=2013-10-30 |website=xoJane |publisher=}}{{cite web |last=Tea |first=Michelle |date=2012-11-07 |title=Getting Pregnant With Michelle Tea: Dashiell's Ovaries RULE! |url=http://www.xojane.com/issues/baby-45 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131101164800/http://www.xojane.com/issues/baby-45 |archive-date=2013-11-01 |access-date=2013-10-30 |website=xoJane |publisher=}} Her experiences trying to conceive and preparing for parenthood led her to start the website Mutha Magazine, an alternative parenting website for parents that do not identify with mainstream parenting media.

Tea and Clint Catalyst's 2004 anthology, Pills, Thrills, Chills and Heartache was featured by Publishers Weekly and reached #10 on the Los Angeles Times non-fiction paperback bestseller list in its first week of release.{{Cite web |last=Hix |first=Charles |last2=Dahlin {{!}} |first2=Robert |title=Selected Gay & Lesbian Titles, June 2003 – March 2004 |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20030825/28301-selected-gay-amp-lesbian-titles-june-2003-march-2004.html |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Publishers Weekly |language=en}}{{Citation |title=Paperbacks; Bestsellers|date=2004-03-14 |work=Los Angeles Times |page=R.11 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/578375021.html?dids=578375021:578375021&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+14%2C+2004&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=R.11&desc=Paperbacks%3B+BESTSELLERS%3B+LOS+ANGELES+TIMES+LIST+FOR+MARCH+14%2C+2004 |access-date= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121025100526/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/578375021.html?dids=578375021:578375021&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+14,+2004&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&edition=&startpage=R.11&desc=Paperbacks%3B+BESTSELLERS%3B+LOS+ANGELES+TIMES+LIST+FOR+MARCH+14,+2004 |archive-date=2012-10-25 |url-status=dead |id={{ProQuest| }} }} The book was a 17th Lambda Literary Awards finalist in the Anthologies/Fiction category.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2005-07-09 |title=17th Annual Lambda Literary Awards |url=https://lambdaliterary.org/2005/07/lambda-literary-awards-2004/ |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Lambda Literary |language=en}} Her books have often been nominated in these awards, beginning with the 2001 Lesbian Fiction nomination and award for Valencia.{{cite web |date=2001-07-10 |title=13th Annual Lambda Literary Awards |url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/winners-finalists/07/09/lambda-literary-awards-2000/ |access-date=2012-02-08 |website=Lambda Literary |publisher=}}{{cite web |date=2003-07-10 |title=15th Annual Lambda Literary Awards |url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/winners-finalists/07/09/lambda-literary-awards-2002/ |access-date=2012-02-08 |website=Lambda Literary |publisher=}}{{cite web |date=2004-07-10 |title=16th Annual Lambda Literary Awards |url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/winners-finalists/07/09/lambda-literary-awards-2003/ |access-date=2012-02-08 |website=Lambda Literary |publisher=}}{{cite web |date=2010-06-10 |title=19th Annual Lambda Literary Awards |url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/winners-finalists/04/30/lambda-literary-awards-2006-2/ |access-date=2012-02-08 |website=Lambda Literary |publisher=}}{{cite web |date=2007-04-30 |title=20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards |url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/winners-finalists/04/30/lambda-literary-awards-2007-2/ |access-date=2012-02-08 |website=Lambda Literary |publisher=}}

She was awarded the Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize by the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in 2008.{{Cite web |title=Special Prizes |url=https://lambdaliterary.org/awards__trashed/special-awards/ |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Lambda Literary |language=en}}

In February 2019, Tea won the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay for her book Against Memoir.{{Cite web |date=2019-02-27 |title=Michelle Tea wins PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay |url=https://www.feministpress.org/news/michelle-tea-wins-pendiamonstein-spielvogel-award-for-the-art-of-the-essay |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Feminist Press |language=en-US}}

Tea was in a relationship with Katastrophe for many years. They shared an apartment in the North Beach district of San Francisco.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Michelle-Tea-mines-her-colorful-past-for-a-2699256.php|title=Michelle Tea mines her colorful past for a graphic memoir. And we mean graphic.|last=Ganahl|first=Jane|date=2004-08-25|website=SFGate|access-date=2020-03-21}} In 2013, Tea married Dashiell Lippman at the Swedish American Hall in San Francisco.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/10/fashion/weddings/michelle-tea-and-dashiell-lippman.html|title=Michelle Tea and Dashiell Lippman|date=2013-11-10|work=The New York Times|access-date=2020-03-21|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} In 2015, their son was born.{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2015-02-12 |title=Getting Pregnant With Michelle Tea: I Had A Baby |url=https://humanparts.medium.com/getting-pregnant-with-michelle-tea-i-had-a-baby-48d5fb4d4bfe |access-date=2020-03-21 |website=Medium |language=en}} On March 5, 2022, Tea married TJ Payne at the Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo.{{Cite web |title=Michelle Tea and TJ Payne's Wedding Website |url=https://www.zola.com/wedding/michelleandtjmarch5 |access-date=2023-06-01 |publisher=Zola |language=en}}

• The Passionate Mistakes and Intricate Corruption of One Girl in America (1998) {{ISBN|1-57027-074-0}}
• Valencia (2000) {{ISBN|1-58005-035-2}}{{Cite web |title=Against Memoir |url=https://www.feministpress.org/books-a-m/against-memoir |access-date=2020-03-21 |website=Feminist Press |language=en-US}}
• The Chelsea Whistle (2002) {{ISBN|1-58005-073-5}}
• The Beautiful (2003) {{ISBN|0-916397-89-0}}
• Rent Girl (2004) {{ISBN|0-86719-620-3}}
• Rose of No Man's Land (2006) {{ISBN|1-59692-160-9}}
• Transforming Community (2007) {{ISBN|0-9789023-4-3}}
• Coal to Diamonds: A Memoir (2013) {{ISBN|0-385525915}} (with Beth Ditto)
• Mermaid in Chelsea Creek (2013) {{ISBN|1-938073363}}{{Cite web |last=Benfer |first=Amy |date=2013-05-10 |title=Michelle Tea turns a radical eye on YA in 'Mermaid in Chelsea Creek' |url=https://www.latimes.com/books/la-xpm-2013-may-10-la-ca-jc-michelle-tea-20130512-story.html |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}
• How to Grow Up: A Memoir (2015) {{ISBN|0-142181196}}
• Girl at the Bottom of the Sea (2015) {{ISBN|1-940450004}}
• Black Wave (2016) {{ISBN|1908276908}}; And Other Stories, UK {{ISBN|9781908276902}}
• Modern Tarot: Connecting with Your Higher Self Through the Wisdom of the Cards (2017) {{ISBN|9780062682406}}
• Against Memoir: Complaints, Confessions & Criticisms (2018) {{ISBN|978-1936932184}}; And Other Stories, UK {{ISBN|978-1911508625}}
• Knocking Myself Up: A Memoir of My (In)Fertility (2022) {{ISBN|978-0063210622}}
• Modern Magic: Stories, Rituals, and Spells for Contemporary Witches (2024) {{ISBN|978-0063378193}}

;Anthologies

• Pills, Thrills, Chills, and Heartache: Adventures in the First Person (ed. with Clint Catalyst) (2004) {{ISBN|1-55583-753-0}}
• Without a Net: The Female Experience of Growing Up Working Class (ed.) (2004) {{ISBN|1-58005-103-0}}
• Baby, Remember My Name: An Anthology of New Queer Girl's Writing (ed.) (2006) {{ISBN|0-7867-1792-0}}
• Sister Spit: Writing, Rants and Reminiscence from the Road (ed.) (2012) {{ISBN|0-87286-566-5}}{{Cite web |last=Coe |first=Alexis |date=2013-01-30 |title=Read Local: 10 New and Forthcoming Books from City Lights |url=http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2013/01/read_local_top_city_lights_books.php?page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012101341/http://blogs.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2013/01/read_local_top_city_lights_books.php?page=2 |archive-date=2013-10-12 |website=SF Weekly}}

• Lesbian poetry

{{Commons category|Michelle Tea}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tea, Michelle}}

Category:1971 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American memoirists

Category:American women poets

Category:Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction winners

Category:American lesbian writers

Category:Writers from Chelsea, Massachusetts

Category:Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area

Category:American LGBTQ poets

Category:LGBTQ people from Massachusetts

Category:LGBTQ people from California

Category:American women memoirists

Category:Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award winners

Category:21st-century American poets

Category:Lesbian memoirists

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:American women founders