Brontez Purnell (born July 2, 1982) is an American writer, musician, dancer, and director based out of

Oakland, California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

. He is the author of several award-winning books, including ''Since I Laid My Burden Down'' (2017), ''100 Boyfriends'' (2022), which won a

Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation The Lambda Literary Foundation (also known as Lambda Literary) is an American LGBTQ literary organization whose mission is to ...

, and the

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

''Fag School.'' Purnell is the frontman for the

punk band Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music Rock is a Music genre, genre of popular music that originated in the United States as "rock and roll" in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of styles from the mid ...

''The Younger Lovers'' and is the founder of the Brontez Purnell Dance Company.

Early life and education

Purnell grew up in Triana, Alabama. His great-grandfather, "Hard Rock" Charlie Malone, an accomplished bottleneck guitarist who played the Chitlin' Circuit from Chattanooga to Chicago in the 1930s, was the father of the musician J.J. Malone. Purnell created his first zine, ''Schlepp Fanzine'', at the age of 14''.''

Work

After moving to Oakland at 19, he created ''Fag School'' out of "wanting there to be a '' Sassy'' for gay boys." "I hadn't really seen a zine or at least a personal gay zine that dealt with the difficult subject of gay sex with both humor and frank talk. It covered some real issues." His

electro rock Electronic rock (also known as electro rock and synth rock) is a music genre that involves a combination of rock music and electronic music, featuring instruments typically found within both genres. It originates from the late 1960s when rock b ...

band Gravy Train!!!! gained national prominence for their live shows. His punk band The Younger Lovers started in 2003 as a bedroom demo project. Purnell has created music under his own name since 2020. On July 19, 2023, Purnell released his solo album ''No Jack Swing''. When asked to describe the album, he said that "I ..allowed myself to just be a pretty Black boy making a pop record—and like, why the fuck shouldn't I?"

Awards

In 2018, Purnell was awarded a

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, ...

for fiction. In 2022, Purnell was awarded the Robert Rauschenberg Award for Performance Art/Theater, and the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Fiction. On June 1, 2021, he was named a winner of the

Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize The Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize is an American literary award, presented to two writers, one male and one female, from the LGBT community to honour their body of work. First presented by the Saints and Sinners Literary Fe ...

from the

Lambda Literary Foundation The Lambda Literary Foundation (also known as Lambda Literary) is an American LGBTQ literary organization whose mission is to nurture and advocate for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, preserve their legaci ...

.Leah Rachel Van Essen
"Announcing The Winners of the 2021 Lambda Literary Awards"
''Book Riot'', June 2, 2021.

Themes

Much of his work focuses on sex and sexuality. "In my work I try to use 'sex' or the body as this thing that does not create boundaries or separation with an audience, but instead gives my audience back their humanity." He is gay.

Bibliography

* ''The Cruising Diaries'' (2014) * ''Johnny Would You Love Me if My Dick Were Bigger'' (2015) * ''Since I Laid My Burden Down'' (2017) * ''100 Boyfriends'' (2021) * ''10 Bridges I've Burnt'' (2024)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purnell, Brontez 1982 births 21st-century American LGBTQ people African-American LGBTQ people American gay musicians American gay writers American punk rock musicians Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction winners LGBTQ people from Alabama Living people Rock musicians from Alabama Writers from Madison County, Alabama