Jan Steckel is an Oakland, California writer, a Harvard- and Yale-trained former pediatrician (now retired due to an acquired physical disability), and an activist for bisexual and disability rights. Her debut fiction collection, Ghosts and Oceans, came out from Zeitgeist Press in 2023. Her book Like Flesh Covers Bone (Zeitgeist Press, 2018) was a finalist for poetry in the Bi Book Awards. Her first full-length poetry book, The Horizontal Poet (Zeitgeist Press, 2011), won a 2012 Lambda Literary Award. Her poetry chapbook The Underwater Hospital (Zeitgeist Press, 2006) won the Rainbow Award for lesbian and bisexual poetry. Her poetry books are available on Amazon and through the publisher at www.zeitgeist-press.com. Her fiction chapbook Mixing Tracks (Gertrude Press, 2009) won the 2008 Gertrude Press Fiction Chapbook Award. Her fiction, poetry and nonfiction have appeared in Yale Medicine, Scholastic Magazine, Bellevue Literary Review, Harrington Lesbian Literary Quarterly, Red Rock Review and elsewhere. She has won numerous awards, and her work has been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize. You can find out more about her at www.jansteckel.com.
