M Téllez
M Téllez is a hybrid mestizx cyborg who writes and performs speculative fiction about bodies/objectification, intimacy/class, neighborhood/land/community, and the violence in relying on binaries to order the world. They were born and raised by the city of Philadelphia, built by stolen bodies on the stolen lands of the now displaced Lenni Lenape. M is frustrated/pissed with institutional legitimacy/charity, anti-blackness by white forgetting, and fixed treatments of language and identity. They serve as Minister of Crossroads and founding member of METROPOLARITY, a corner store sci-fi & action collective that uses speculative thinking as a shield and wand against standing empire. They consider the common word a handy and inexpensive tool for deconstructing oppressive world-ordering narratives.
This fall M appears in two trans speculative fiction anthologies: Meanwhile, Elsewhere (Topside Press) and Transcendent 2 (Lethe Press). They have worked and performed alongside METROPOLARITY at such institutions as the Philadelphia Free Library, LIVE at Kelly Writer’s House, Vox Populi, New York’s New Museumand Recess Gallery, among many other places of wonder and ill repute. METROPOLARITY’s debut book, Style of Attack Report (2016), was a Lambda Literary Award finalist in “LGBTQ SF/F/Horror“ They are a recipient of the Leeway Foundation’s Transformation Award (2015) and Art & Change Grant (2014). Their zines have been assigned alongside LeGuin and Butler in University of Penn English department classrooms and saints know where else. M thinks that this format of listing institutional accolades is classist, tiresome, and insulting to people everywhere with the wisdom, action, and knowledge that the institutions of capitalist empire will never honor.
Awarded Grants
2022
Window of Opportunity Grant (WOO)
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Overview
M. Téllez (ACG ’14; LTA ’15; WOO ‘22) will attend the Cascade Writers’ Three-Day Critique Workshop in Bremerton, WA. Centered around group critiques of attendees’ submissions, M. will receive direct feedback and input on their novel manuscript. Led by those working in the sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre publishing industry, this workshop will give M. the space to meet, connect, and cross-pollinate with a group of writers about how they’ve used sci-fi writing, performance, and workshops as a space for social change in Philadelphia. This grant will support with airfare and transportation costs to attend the summit.
2015
Leeway Transformation Award (LTA)
Related grantees
Overview
M Téllez is a hybrid mestiza cyborg and Philadelphia native who writes and performs speculative fiction about bodies/objectification, intimacy/class, neighborhood/land/ community, and the violence in relying on binaries to order the world. A co-founder of the Metropolarity sci-fi collective, they have enjoyed the continuing blossom of a Do-It-Yourself movement that utilizes a speculative lens for manifesting subversive and liberatory realities. Eighteen is frustrated/pissed with institutional distinction, white supremacy, and fixed treatments of language and identity. They use the spoken and written word as powerful, inexpensive tools to deconstruct oppressive narratives.
2014
Art and Change Grant (ACG)
Related grantees
Overview
M Téllez will create a paperback and audiobook collection of non-binary, queer dystopian sci-fi, comprised of pre-existing and yet-unpublished stories from the All That’s Left zine series. The project will be made available online in digital format for free and upon completion, it will be showcased with featured readings and performances. The collection seeks to fill the void of science fiction that speaks to the emotional experience of marginalized communities and allow readers to see the world through a new perspective. Maggie hopes the collection will enable readers to critique power dynamics and inspire them to re-envision our world.
