In Process with: Brian Gresko

"Knowing what I want the piece to do from the outset, or what publication I’d like it to appear in – having a clear sense of audience and intention – focuses me."

The writer and their working space

Today’s In Process With…takes us to the desk of the indefatigable Brian Gresko.

Even when Brian is not introducing writers at reading series, or coordinating classes for Writing Co-Lab, the artist-owned teaching cooperative they co-founded, it’s hard not to feel hosted in their presence. I first met Brian shortly after arriving back in NYC, when I read at Pen Parentis, the reading series they were then hosting.

We connected quickly over the obvious overlaps of being parents and writers and discovered that we’d both gone to Oberlin at the same time (yes, another one, I think I have maybe run out of these but accept the challenge to find more!) but our connection was instantly deeper than that. From the get go, Brian put me at ease, was easy to talk to and trust; it was obvious that their investment in these avenues we all traverse as writers—readings, interviews, even teaching— went beyond giving their own work a leg up in a scramble of writers who often compete for the same opportunities into true literary citizenship. Brian telegraphed from our first interaction (me, nervous about giving a reading, digging for guidance) that there was more to the writing scene than being seen and heard, that connection is what would keep us all afloat while we waited for good publishing news and writing breakthroughs, that would be the balm when they might not arrive as we wanted.

Brian just might be the Kevin Bacon to the NYC literary scene; they seem to know everyone. (And if you don’t get that reference, then I’m following Brian’s lead and dating both of us, and so be it.) But it’s more than collecting a list of acquaintances. Brian connects and relates and gathers: they’ve profiled and interviewed some of the greatest living writers and culture makers, from Garth Greenwell to R.O. Kwon to Jonathan Lethem to Melissa Febos to David Byrne and Tori Amos. Down on planet Earth, in all the years I’ve tossed off the “oh do you know Brian Gresko?” every person who’s replied in the affirmative has done so with enthusiasm and warmth. In Brian we trust, because they are one of us: a hardworking writer with stories to tell, and want us to all get to see that in one another.

Brian’s writing takes on masculinity as a shaping force not only in their personal narrative, but in the collective one. They approach this question with nuance, joy, and vulnerability. From their latest, in The Sun, "Transvestite Freak"

Many confident, gorgeous men stare at me from the walls. They all seem to be wearing makeup. This is what a man can be too, I imagine them whispering. I’m nervous, but I want what they have.

I’ve been struck, too, by how Brian’s work shows consistent compassion for their younger self as well as for the waters we all swam in during the times when Brian’s early identity was being formed in the 1990s. There is often righteous anger, and as often, moments of humor. If you read enough of Brian’s work, which I suggest you do (favorites of mine include B is for Bastard and this one on raising an anxious child, and this powerful illustrated essay on defining our family beyond biology), you’ll get to know an extended family that is working with what they have inherited and what might be possible. What I love about Brian’s work—what I love about Brian—is how they document the endless act of becoming, which can often means an unraveling: of stories, of selves.

In addition to the links above, you can get Brian’s quarterly-ish newsletter here, follow them on Instagram here, Facebook here, and X here, and peruse their many essays, interviews, and critical pieces on their website.

If you’d like to be closer than six degrees to Brian Gresko yourself, you can find them co-running Brooklyn’s longest running reading series, Pete's Reading Series, at Pete’s Candy Store every third Thursday, or teaching online for Writing Co-Lab (try the very popular The Six Week Essay Machine or the next round of You Must Go On!) or of course, if you see them at some literary event, go on over and say hello. I’m sure Brian would love to meet you.

-Danielle

What have you been working on this week?