Jamila Rowser is an American writer and publisher. She created the blog Girl Gone Geek (2010–2016), which was devoted to "

nerd culture A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted, or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly t ...

" topics like

cosplay Cosplay, a blend word of "costume play", is an activity and performance art in which participants called cosplayers wear costumes and Fashion accessory, fashion accessories to represent a specific Character (arts), character. Cosplayers often i ...

, video games, and

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

. Rowser founded Black Josei Press as a publishing platform for Black and Brown women comic writers. Her graphic novel '' Wash Day Diaries'' (2022) won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel/Comics.

Early life and education

Rowser's mother was in the

Air Force An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviati ...

, which required their family move around frequently. Rowser was born in England, and lived for short periods in several locales including the Netherlands, Germany, Hawaii, California, and New York. Her father was a teacher. She is Afro-Latina, and of African American, Dominican, and Puerto Rican descent. She received her bachelor's degree in communication from

New York Institute of Technology The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT or New York Tech) is a Private university, private research university, research university founded in 1955. It has two main campuses in New York (state), New York—one in Old Westbury, on Long I ...

, after which she moved to

Boca Raton Boca Raton ( ; ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton Address, ...

to be near her mother in 2016.

Career

Rowser created the blog Girl Gone Geek in 2010 to discuss her passions like video games, ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'', and ''

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

'', because she had few real life friends who were interested in them. She developed an international meetup group called Geek Girl Brunch with her friends Rachel and Yissel to create a space for women and

non-binary people Non-binary or genderqueer gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gender that is differ ...

to connect about nerd culture. She also developed Straight Outta Gotham, a

Tumblr Tumblr (pronounced "tumbler") is a microblogging and Social networking service, social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and is owned by American company Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content ...

that examines the intersection of hip hop and geek culture. She runs the site with Jemar Souza. Rowser created the publishing platform Black Josei Press to publish comics and merchandise by Black and Brown women creatives. She was inspired by ''josei'' manga to create the platform because she admires the scope of comics represented within this subtype of manga. In 2018 she wrote and published ''Wash Day a''nd ''Wobbledy 3000'', illustrated by Sabii Borno, a sci-fi comic about an extraterrestrial named Latoya who finds

twerking Twerking (; possibly from 'to work') is a type of African-American dance, dance to popular music in a sexually provocative manner involving Pelvic thrusting, throwing or thrusting the hips back or shaking the buttocks, often in a Partial squat, ...

difficult. In 2020, Rowser co-edited ''Sun and Sand'', an anthology of ten comics by South Florida-based artists with Neil Brideau, who approached her to help develop the project to be released on

Free Comic Book Day Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) is an annual promotional effort by the North American comic book industry to attract new readers to independent comic book stores. It usually takes place on the first Saturday of May and has historically been cross ...

(May 2). She wrote a comic included in the collection, ''As Above, So Below''. Rowser was hired as a comics outreach consultant at

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

in August 2021. She resigned from the position a few months later in December, citing the company's new

blockchain The blockchain is a distributed ledger with growing lists of Record (computer science), records (''blocks'') that are securely linked together via Cryptographic hash function, cryptographic hashes. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of th ...

protocol.

''Wash Day Diaries''

In 2018 Rowser published her debut comic, ''Wash Day'', under Black Josei Press, the first from the company. The book was illustrated by

Robyn Smith Robyn Smith Astaire (born August 14, 1944) is an American retired jockey. Active from 1969 to 1980, Smith accumulated 247 wins in California and New York race tracks, and became the first female jockey to win a stakes race in 1973. Early life ...

and follows 26-year-old Kimana's Sunday morning hair washing routine. To fundraise for the book, Rowser created a

campaign with a $5,000 goal that eventually exceeded $16,000 in donations by closing. She again collaborated with Smith for '' Wash Day Diaries'', a graphic novel centering the hair care journeys of four Black women. The book was published July 2022 by

Chronicle Books Chronicle Books is a San Francisco–based American publishing company that publishes books for both adults and children. History The company was established in 1967 by Phelps Dewey, an executive with Chronicle Publishing Company, then-publish ...

and won the 2023 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel/Comics and the 2023

Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...

for Outstanding Story.

Personal life

Rowser resides in

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

Works

* ''Wash Day'' (2018) , Black Josei Press * ''Wobbledy 3000'' (2018) , Black Josei Press * ''As Above, So Below'' (2020) from ''Sun and Sand'', Black Josei Press *''Ode to Keisha'' (2021) , Black Josei Press *'' Wash Day Diaries'' (2022) ,

Accolades

* 2018 − Best Comics of 2018, ''

The Comics Journal ''The Comics Journal'', often abbreviated ''TCJ'', is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels. Known for its lengthy interviews with comic creators, pointed editorials and scathing r ...

'' (for ''Wash Day)'' * 2018 − DiNKy award, Floppy Category, Denver Independent Comics & Art (for ''Wash Day)'' *2021 − Creative 100 Honoree, '' Adweek'' * 2021 − Best Writer,

Broken Frontier ''Broken Frontier'' is a web-magazine which publishes news, interviews, and essays about the comic book industry, with a focus on the British small press scene. It was founded by Frederik Hautain in 2002. In 2017 the site came under the ownershi ...

Awards (for ''Ode to Keisha)'' * 2021 − Very Best Comics of 2021,

Nerdist Nerdist Industries, LLC (also simply known as Nerdist) is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast ( The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a net ...

(for ''Ode to Keisha)'' * 2023 − Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Graphic Novel/Comics (for '' Wash Day Diaries'') * 2023 −

for Outstanding Story (for ''Wash Day Diaries'')

References

External links

Official website

Black Josei Press
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowser, Jamila Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American comics writers American female comics writers African-American founders American founders 21st-century American women writers American people of Dominican Republic descent 21st-century Puerto Rican women writers 21st-century Puerto Rican writers New York Institute of Technology alumni Hispanic and Latino American artists 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers African-American comics writers American publishers (people) DC Comics people Ignatz Award winners