NOS Magazine, the go-to magazine for neurodiversity culture and news, has released its annual list of the 50+ autistic people you should know, and we are happy to see that most of Autonomous Press’s partnership has made the list, including:
- Dani Alexis Ryskamp, our legal partner. They edited Spoon Knife 2: Test Chamber, which is now available in ebook and will shortly be available in paperback too. Dani also contributed to The Spoon Knife Anthology last year, and they run Autistic Academic on the new Neurodiversity Matters blog network. Dani also writes as Verity Reynolds, and will be releasing their first novel Nantais under that name in late spring or early summer.
- Nick Walker, the coordinating editor for Autonomous Press and the blogger at Neurocosmopolitanism. Nick also co-writes the Weird Luck webcomic, and his work has been featured in both Spoon Knife volumes.
- The Teselecta Multiverse, of which N.I. Nicholson, the coordinating editor of neuroqueer books, is a member. He edited The Spoon Knife Anthology, and the whole Multiverse blog at Neurodiversity Matters, where the literary journal Barking Sycamores has also found its home. N.I. Nicholson founded Barking Sycamores with his partner.
- The Puzzlebox Collective, of which Athena Lynn Michaels-Dillon is a member and spokesperson. Athena was AutPress’s production coordinator for almost two years before the board voted to make her Chief Operating Officer in February. Athena has published 5 books under the name Michael Scott Monje, Jr., including The US Book, which was co-written by the rest of the collective. She also wrote the Lambda Literary finalist Defiant.
AutPress Authors from Spoon Knife 2: Test Chamber
On the NOS Magazine list, you will also find several AutPress authors, including Sparrow Rose Jones, the author of The ABCs of Autism Acceptance. Sparrow also contributed to Spoon Knife 2, and so did the following members of the list:
- The Teselecta Multiverse’s N.I. Nicholson
- Every member of the Puzzlebox Collective: Athena Lynn writing as Michael Scott Monje Jr., Athena the Architect, Lynn Vargas, Monday Dillon, and Clay Dillon
- Dani Alexis Ryskamp, writing as Dani and as Verity Reynolds
- Amy Sequenzia, who also edited Typed Words Loud Voices
- Nick Walker
- Alyssa Hillary
Collectively, these writers are responsible for more than half the word count of the book, so if you discovered them through the article about autistics you should know, this book gives you a one-shot chance to get a taste for all their writing styles, and since many of them have also authored or edited full books on their own, this volume is a great introduction to a highly influential body of work by a cadre of autistic writers who have worked together for half a decade to develop the conversation around neurodiversity and representation in the media.
AutPress Authors Who Did Not Appear in Spoon Knife 2
Morénike Giwa-Onaiwu also made the list, and we would be remiss if we did not mention her good works in the activist community as well as her contribution to The Real Experts: Readings for Parents of Autistic Children. She blogs at Who Needs “Normalcy” Anyway, and we hope to see more work from her at the press in the near future.
Congratulations to All Our Autonomous Press Authors
We want to give a warm and hearty congratulations to all of our Press authors, both those who made this list and those who did not, for helping to contribute to the development of our company. The partners and authors who did make this list might have been on it without these accomplishments and contributions, but there would most definitely have been fewer of them. We owe it to everyone who helped build this company that so many of our partners and writers made the list, and we also owe it to our readers to remind them that while we have strong autistic representation, we are not an all-autistic press. Spoon Knife 2 and its predecessor also feature a wide range of allistic neurodivergent voices, to help make sure the conversation is as inclusive as possible.