this is an author bio & a headshot

Justin Phillip Reed is an American writer and amateur bass guitarist. His preoccupations include horror cinema, ideological failure, and uses of the grotesque. His most recent book, the hybrid collection With Bloom Upon Them and Also with Blood: A Horror Miscellany, was released on Halloween 2023 and deemed a “f—ing good time” by Gulf Coast. He previously authored the poetry collections, The Malevolent Volume (winner of CLMP’s 2021 Firecracker Award for Poetry, finalist for the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, a New York Times New and Noteworthy title, and one of NPR’s Favorite Reads of 2020) and Indecency (winner of the 2018 National Book Award in Poetry, winner of the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry, and finalist for the 2019 Kate Tufts Discovery Award). Born and raised in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina, he participates in alternative rock music cultures, ogles Toyota Tacomas, and enjoys smelling like outside. He makes d-grade music under the moniker “wurstbrat,” writes online for the Nu Metal Agenda, and his favorite band is Oklahoma City’s Chat Pile. He is currently Writer-in-Residence at Clemson University, where he teaches creative writing and organizes public workshops.