J. K. Fowler

J. K. Fowler is the founder and executive director of Nomadic Press, a community-focused literary and arts non-profit with operations in Oakland, CA, Des Moines, IA, Philadelphia, PA, and Brooklyn, NY. He is co owner of Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore & Gallery in the heart of the Mission District in San Francisco. He has spoken to classrooms and organizations on small publishing and the art of making space all over the nation. He currently sits on City of Oakland’s Cultural Affairs Commission (where he spearheaded the launch of the first Oakland Poet Laureate Program in 2021), acted as Co-chair on the board of North Atlantic Books and Secretary on the board of the Oakland Peace Center, and previously sat on Cogswell College’s English and Humanities Professional Advisory Board. He has taught anthropology and sociology at Rutgers University Newark, and has guest lectured at Mills College. He has been published in a wide range of publications, including San Francisco Chronicle, Oakland Magazine, SF Weekly, Oakland Voices, Datebook SF, Bay Area Reporter, and elsewhere, has performed across the Bay Area, Cairo, Egypt, and Brooklyn, and has been featured in a number of radio shows and online podcasts, including shows on KPFA, KPOO, StoryCorps, and others. He is the recipient of the 2016 Alameda County Arts Leadership Award and travels the world with a Kelpie named Stella. He is busily working on a book titled Making Space, which is a wide-ranging nuts-and-bolts “how to publish” creative nonfiction text paired with the aesthetic philosophy of literally and figuratively making space on the page and stage.

*J. K. featured at the 2020 Peninsula Virtual Bookfest, hosted by the South San Francisco Public Library.