Natalie Zed

Supervillain.

Promiscuous wordsmith, noise lover, shit-disturber, cheese pervert.

I'm the author of DOOM: Love Poems for Supervillains (Insomniac Press, 2012) and Thumbscrews (Snare Books, 2007).

I’m a full time freelancer, working as a music writer, poet, journalist and editor based in Toronto, Ontario. I spend my days alternately damaging my liver and my hearing enjoying aggressive music, or sitting hunched in front of a computer smithing words while covered in a thin layer of cheeto dust. It is a romantic existence that doesn’t require me to put on pants very often.

I regularly contribute to National Post, Quill & Quire, Toronto Standard, HuffPost Music Canada, Canada Arts Connect, This Magazine, Hellbound, About Heavy Metal, Angry Metal Guy, Gameranx, Game Dynamo, Torontoist and Exclaim!. I Canada Arts Connect Magazine hosts my column about feminism and aggressive music, ”Girls Don’t Like Metal.” I write “Postcards” for Toronto Standard, a series of experimental, postcard-length poetic album reviews. I’m also the Reviews Editor of This Magazine, and write a regular series of individual songs from recent Canadian metal albums, “One Track Mind,” appears on the This Magazine website.

I am in the early stages of writing a novel dedicated to the plight of hench-people, the downtrodden and often expendable employees of fictional villains. I also write non-fiction essays and am constantly poking away at a magic-realist autobiography.

I’m an active and passionate member of CWILA (Canadian Women in the Literary Arts), a wonderful organization that “raises public awareness about issues of gender, race, and sexuality in Canadian literary culture by supporting our annual count of literary reviews.” I serve as their syndicated reviews editor. I am also a member of the advisory board of Meat Locker Editions, “a not-for-profit arts organization dedicated to providing opportunities for underrepresented voices in the literary arts: writers aged 18-35, with particular focus on women in the same age bracket.” Both are wonderful organizations worthy of your attention and support. I write about S&M, gastroporn, comic books, video games, combat sports, arts & culture, local politics, feminism and difficult music. I am also the Wordsmith and Promotions Wizard behind Golden Spruce Entertainment. I live in a beach cave with three psycho jungle cats, a Belgian Malinois puppy, and my partner, musician and editor Christopher Gramlich.