Photo Credit: Arwen Low
Blessed with an unflappable Ontarian twang, SILAS JAMES is a queer and trans writer, editor, publicist, and nightlife anthropologist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Grounded in DIY arts practices and grassroots cultural organizing, his lack of a BFA has mercifully spared the public some very specific kinds of manicured sentences.
Part unreliable socialite, part field researcher, his writing is known for its dark humour, atmospheric tension, and anthropological fascination with social performance, emotional instability, and scenes in various stages of collapse. Drawing from queer nightlife, internet subcultures and religious imagery – his fiction, criticism and essay work treat Montréal’s bars, parties, and art scenes as both fragile social ecosystems and apocalypse landscapes.
Since 2020, he has worked across Montréal’s grassroots cultural sector as an events producer, publicist, and organizer, including with Rock Camp Montréal and TransmascMTL. You may also recognize him from behind the bar at Cooperative Bar Milton-Parc, quietly plotting a better world between drink tickets. He loves crosswords, Jesus, and aperol spritzes.
★ Name: Silas
★ Fave way to chill: book browsing, parallel play crafts, bar trivia (bars generally), raving.
★ Fave MTL eats: Pho Lien babyyyyy
★ Coolest hangout: Notre Dame Des Neiges Cemetery
★ Favourite music: punk, grunge, hard techno
★ Word that best describes me: Spiky..
★ Fave colour: Green everything!
★ Career goal: i do not dream of traditional labour
★ Fave saying: what the HELL……..
Photo Credit: Rory Creelman