Sim Kern

Sim Kern is an environmental journalist, speculative fiction writer, and activist based in Houston, Texas.

Early life Kern grew up in the Midwestern United States. Kern's father is Jewish, and they identify as Jewish. They attended Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and initially studied environmental science before graduating with a bachelor's degree in English and Creative Writing. After college, in 2007, Kern moved to Houston and got hired by a nonprofit to teach marine biology to elementary schoolers. During their early 20s, Kern performed in a punk band and was involved with Occupy Houston, an offshoot of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Writing Kern has published four works of fiction and one work of non-fiction. They have also reported on environmental harms caused by the petrochemical industry and the privatization of space exploration by billionaires.

Recurring themes in Kern's fiction include climate change, species extinction, rebellion, reproductive rights, class inequality, abuse, gender, and sexual orientation.

Activism Kern has been a vocal advocate for environmental justice, transgender rights, and Palestinian rights. They have developed a sizable social media following on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, where they have more than 500,000 combined followers.

In March 2023, Kern kicked off a fundraising readathon called #TransRightsReadathon. Kern planned the readathon in response to a wave of anti-trans legislation sweeping statehouses across the country, and they used the opportunity to spotlight books by transgender writers and to raise money for transgender causes. The readathon has become an annual fundraising event.

After the October 7 attacks in 2023, Kern, who is Jewish, became a prominent anti-Zionist Jewish voice on social media. Kern used their platform to draw attention to Palestinian writers, promote the #ReadPalestine social media movement, and to discuss the history of the conflict. Kern raised more than $500,000 in direct aid for families in Gaza affected by the war. Kern's April 2025 non-fiction book, Genocide Bad: Notes on Palestine, Jewish History, and Collective Liberation, is published by Interlink Books, the only Palestinian-owned book publishing company in the United States. The book will be distributed by Simon & Schuster. The film discusses the Free Palestine movement and references Kern's nonfiction book, Genocide Bad: Notes on Palestine, Jewish History, and Collective Liberation.

Kern shared that after the publication of Depart, Depart! in 2020, a Wyoming Red Cross staff member who read the book reached out to them. The novella, which follows a young transgender man in Houston trying to survive in the immediate aftermath of a devastating hurricane, inspired the Red Cross worker to design more LGBTQ-inclusive disaster response protocols in their state.

The cover art of Kern's book, The Free People's Village, was designed by Egyptian artist Ganzeer, whose art provided a prominent backdrop to the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Ganzeer was forced into exile after the revolution and settled in Houston, where Kern met him.