Golden

Golden is a gender-nonconforming American poet and artist who uses they/them pronouns. Their poetry collections A Dead Name That Learned How to Live and Reprise were finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry in 2023 and 2026.

Early life and education Golden was raised in Hampton, Virginia. They hold a BFA in photography and imaging from New York University.

Career

Poetry Golden's debut poetry collection, A Dead Name That Learned How to Live, was published by Game Over Books in 2022. The collection was a finalist for the 2023 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry. It was a finalist for the 2026 Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry.

Golden was a Neighborhood Salon Luminaries fellow at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. In In These Times, Golden said that a later Gardner Museum commission responded to Boston's Apollo, an exhibition about John Singer Sargent and Thomas McKeller. During the residency, they proposed a public mural honoring Rita Hester, a Black transgender woman from Allston. The City of Boston commissioned artist Rixy to create the mural, Rita's Spotlight, which was installed in 2022. In 2023, Golden's exhibition I'm Never Alone was shown at Brookline Arts Center's Beacon Street Gallery.

Selected art On Learning How to Live, photographic series. I'm Never Alone, exhibition, Brookline Arts Center, 2023–2024.

Awards 2023: Finalist, Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry, for A Dead Name That Learned How to Live 2026: Finalist, Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Poetry, for Reprise: Poems and Photographs