jj carey

About

Leeds, 2026

JJ Carey makes queer art that wishes it was post-capitalist.

They have been complicit in the exploitation of their life force as an online fashion entrepreneur, dance instructor, actor, alto, pianist, bassist, french horn operator, insurance manager, haberdasher, toxicology software designer, visual artist, web developer, operational design consultant, student, tech support, quizmaster, drunk, amateur therapist and balloon race operator. 

They respect their peers who write poetry for the melancholic sex, but they do it for the money.

They dropped out of an MBA for emotional reasons.

A cryptic headshot of the writer. Image features the back of a white person's head, their arms raised up, forearms crossed and resting on their head. They're heavily tattooed, with tattooes of flying swallows on the back of their head, a turtle, seahorse, bull, diver, flowers and queers kissing on the top of their arms, Their hair is shaved into a high fade, there's some short brown hair visible. They have a pierced helix at the top of their left ear. The background is too dark to make any detail out.
Photography by D Clements, All Rights Reserved

the jarring affair of poems and hierarchy

The Tempest prize

Winner, 2025
Finalist, 2024

Oxford poetry prize

Finalist, 2024

Banyon Review poetry prize

Runner up, 2024

collaborate

I want to imagine and write about the world we’re creating beyond capital with other queers, perverts, dreamers, workers, crips and agitators. Giz a shout.