Mae Kleiman

she/her

First Ever Contest winner, Writing Challenge Champion, zine contributor

Mae Kleiman is a trans poet and prose writer based in Los Angeles, CA.

Mae's writing journey started with spoken word poetry in high school. She describes her past self as a closed, insecure teen, and this was an avenue to express the chaos within in a way that felt not just acceptable, but celebrated by her teachers. She loved the ability to meticulously plan what she wanted to say, how she wanted to sound, as opposed to her "usual stumbling over words." Since then, it’s helped her gain much confidence in her oratory abilities.

Poetry and prose are her main mediums, and she usually writes about anything related to the trans experience, and/or what it means to be witnessed and consequently defined. She has been heavily inspired by the works of Walt Whitman, Robert Kurvitz, the Shelleys, and, of course, Sappho.

Her past work includes a thesis in order to complete her English major - it was an examination of the political influences in Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein,” detailing her clear inspirations from Rousseau’s Enlightenment philosophy, to her father’s proto-anarchist views. She has also written a portfolio containing much of the poetry she developed throughout her college experience, under the guidance of poets Jerry Harp and Mary Szybist.

Mae is currently working on preparing herself for the approaching storm that is NaNoWriMo. She has been yearning to write a longer work dedicated to the transfemmes of her generation, those who emerged from the womb with phones in hand, blue lights penetrating our eyes from the moment of our first tears.

You can find out more about her on Instagram.