True Blues
Maggie Estep
R.I.P. Maggie Estep, Spoken-word Star of the Gen-X Age
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"Emotional Idiocy is obviously a theme close to my heart since I seem to use the phrase in novels and CDs alike.
My friend and mentor of sorts, Andrew Vachss, upon hearing me read a
rendition of this poem, stated that it ought to be the theme song for
borderline personality disorder. He's right." "My friend and mentor Andrew Vachss used to say that men's tastes for curves and flesh on women were directly proportionate to income. That working class men like some bounce on their women. The rich, not so much." For her views on PROTECT, America's first political lobby for child protection, and pit bulls, read Maggie's column "The Vocal Minority." |
Maggie Estep is a writer living in New York City. She grew up moving all over the place with her eccentric parents, then moved to New York at age 17 and began a succession of menial jobs until, to her shock, she began to earn a living reading poems, sometimes solo, sometimes with musical accompaniment.
She has published six books, including Hex, a New York Times Notable Book of 2003, and Diary of an Emotional Idiot, her 1997 debut. Her work has appeared in many magazines and anthologies including: Brooklyn Noir, QueensNoir, Aloud: Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Café, The Best American Erotica, and The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. She has performed her work in a wide variety of venues ranging from Lincoln Center to Lollapalooza, Charlie Rose, and HBO's Def Poetry Jam. She lives in Woodstock, New York. She has two CDs, "No More Mr. Nice Girl" on Imago Records (1994), and "Love Is A Dog From Hell" on Mouth Almighty / Mercury Records (1997).
Her 2009 novel, Alice Fantastic (Akashic Books), according to The New York Times, "has vitality and a spirit of rebellion, giving us hope for the future of all those bad girls with dirty faces and bad boys on bikes." Felow author Jonathan Ames says, "Maggie Estep is the bastard daughter of Raymond Chandler and Anaïs Nin. Her prose is hard-boiled and sexy; she turns a good phrase and shows some leg."
Maggie continues to write songs about some of her favorite topics: carnivals, love, surgery, death, birth and existential confusion. She is also making a series of charcoal sketches to illustrate some of the more graphic points of her novels, and has recorded an audio performance of the Andrew Vachss short story "Reaching Back." (Be patient, it's a large file. It'll take a minute to start once you've clicked the link.) She has her own website, so check it out!
