BIOS

Short bio:

Zena Sharman, PhD is a writer and consultant whose body of work pivots around the questions “How do we create change?” and “How do we care for each other?” She’s the author of three books, including The Care We Dream Of: Liberatory and Transformative Approaches to LGBTQ+ Health (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2021) and the Lambda Literary award-winning anthology The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Health Care (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2016). Her next book, a memoir, is forthcoming from Arsenal Pulp Press in 2025. She’s an engaging speaker who regularly gives virtual and in-person talks and workshops to audiences across North America. You can learn more about Zena and her work at https://zenasharman.com/

Long bio:

Zena Sharman, PhD is a writer and consultant whose body of work pivots around the questions “How do we create change?” and “How do we care for each other?” She’s the author of three books, including The Care We Dream Of: Liberatory and Transformative Approaches to LGBTQ+ Health (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2021). Zena edited the Lambda Literary award-winning anthology, The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Health Care (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2016) and co-edited the Lambda award-nominated anthology Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2011), which the American Library Association named as a Stonewall Honor Book. Her next book, a memoir, is forthcoming from Arsenal Pulp Press in 2025.

A seasoned leader, facilitator, and strategist, Zena has fifteen years’ experience working in leadership roles at national and provincial health research organizations in Canada. Zena’s work as a writer and LGBTQ+ health advocate is informed by her lived experiences as a queer person, her learnings from community-based activism and organizing, and her graduate training in qualitative health research. She is deeply curious about what it takes to create and sustain change at scale while working in complex systems, as well as how we might grow our capacity to dream beyond them. She is also interested in growing our capacity to be with grief and death and supports her communities through her offerings as a death doula and hospice volunteer.

Zena’s resume also includes party thrower, cabaret host, go-go dancer for a queer punk band, campus radio DJ, and elementary school public speaking champion. She lives with her family on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territories of the Quw’utsun peoples. You can learn more about Zena and her work at https://zenasharman.com/

Photos

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Photo credits: Photos #1 and #2 by www.photosbykho.com, photo #3 by https://www.sarahrace.com/

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