Hello there! My name is Talia Franks WHOMST MAY I BE, YOU ASK?
I am an intuitive person who finds joy in creating and building community with effort and intentionality. I’ve been told I’m quirky, and I know that I bring my unique experiences and critical points of view to every table. I believe in the importance of language as something that can be used to both heal and harm, and that we need to be critical of the ways that we use language precisely because it can be weaponized in such a manner, particularly in literary and fandom spaces, which is where I have the most expertise. I’m a poet, a writer, a reader, a translator, a podcaster, and above all a creative who likes their feminism intersectional and their entertainment diverse. As an aspiring polymath (basically a nerd) I use every day as an opportunity to make real world magic a reality.
What do I value?
CREATIVITY. EQUITY. INTUITION. JOY. KNOWLEDGE. COMMUNITY.
(I tried to find a way to make that into a cute acronym, but alas, it just doesn’t work in English. Such a pity.)
In every project I undertake and in all of my writing I center these six themes. I follow my intuition, I strive for equity in all situations, I work in community with others, and I create things that bring joy to myself and to others.
What do I create?
At my core I am a writer. I’m never more comfortable than when I have a pen in hand, though I’m getting pretty good with a set of knitting needles, when I need to take some time to relax. A list of selected publications can be found on my publications and writing page, and includes writing for both Black Nerds Create and Nerdist. This page also includes a list of podcasts I’ve been featured on, recordings of panels and readings, and links to some of my featured writing on this site, which includes static pages as well as an irregular blog, which I previously posted on 1-2 times per week for about two and a half years. Previously my content had a heavy focus on book reviews and academic content, as I started the blog the summer before I started grad school while working in an internship at a publishing company in Boston. Currently I am working on The Percy Jackson Project, which is a series where I am reading through all of Rick Riordan’s books as an adult.
I also have my own podcasts! Into the Archives: A Fanfiction Podcast which features a new guest each month and each episode centers our conversation around a fanfic of my choosing, as well as light conversation about fandoms and fanfiction as a whole, which builds from episode to episode as I talk to each new guest about their experience. This podcast is currently on hiatus, but will be coming back! The Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Podcast is a retroactive, deep dive Doctor Who analysis podcast in collaboration with my friend Lucia Kelly, where we discuss Doctor Who across space and time zones and get into the nitty gritty of plot and character arcs, deconstructing how the stories of Doctor Who work and unpacking the series through our racially and queer focused feminist lenses.
Contact
I work as a freelance writer, editor, and literary translator, and am currently accepting new roles for sensitivity reading, developmental editing, book reviews, and article pitches.
