About
Image of a brown babe, sitting in jeans and a maroon shirt, smiling and looking away. Behind them. they have a backdrop of trees. Image credit - @photosbykho.
Mary Ann Thomas is the queer brown daughter of Malayali immigrant parents, a Critical Care nurse, bicyclist, and writer. They bicycled over 10,000 miles in the last five years: in 2014, they bicycled solo from San Diego to Montreal; in 2017, they biked across India from the Himalayas to Kerala, at the tip of the subcontinent where their family is from. Their writing has been featured in literary and travel platforms, such as The Rumpus, The Temper, On She Goes, Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel, and She Explores. They are currently working on a memoir about biking across India towards homeland, queerness, and sobriety, as well as hosting the Intro to Land Trauma Course and the Land as Pleasure Workshop Series.
Publications
Unrest: Biking Through A Pandemic and Global Uprising: “Dear Susi,” 2020.
Did You Eat?: “Pudi,” 2020, featured in the Weisman Art Museum online collection.
The Temper: “How Rough Sex Changed for Me After I Got Sober,” 2019.
Catapult: “As a Nurse and Writer, I Work Towards a Culture of Care,” 2019.
Autostraddle:
“Bicycling Across India, Learning About Queerness and Intimacy Along the Way,” 2018;
“Food and Water, Silence and Solitude: The Bike Trip that Returned Me to Myself,” 2018;
“Unlikely Hikers: Creating Space for Everyone on the Trail, One Hike at a Time,” 2019;
“The Bad Domme,” 2020;
“How Many Knuckles In a Fist,” 2020;
“I Want to Buy You a Matte Black Audi,” 2020;
“Can Two Switches Have Sex,” 2020;
“Femme Top Revolution,” 2020;
“Always a Fistee, Never a Fister,” 2020;
Daily Xtra: “Walking the Queer Tightrope with Janelle Monáe,” 2018.
She Explores:
“Bike Touring: An Obsession,” 2018;
“Road Trip in a Red State,” 2017;
“On Preparation,” 2017;
“Social Media as a Tool for Travel,” 2018.
On She Goes:
Luna Luna Magazine: “Today, I Fly,” 2017.
Panorama: The Journal of Intelligent Travel:
“Rules of the Northern Lights,” 2017;
“Every 100 Kilometres, A New Country: Bicycling Across India,” 2018.
Alaska Women Speak: “The Ice Beneath My Feet,” 2017.
Matador Network: “Nine Ways a Brown Jersey Girl Stands Out in Alaska,” 2017.
The Rumpus: “The Practice of Forgetting,” 2016.
Superstition Review: “Pedal Strokes in the Dark,” 2016.
Word Riot: “August on the Haul Road,” 2016.
Readings / Appearances/Performances
Curator, Quiet Lightning, “Literary Mixtape,” Online, 2021.
Podcast Feature, She Explores, “Taking Your Period Outdoors,” Online, 2020.
Radio Feature, WGVU, “Safe, Outdoor Recreation During Pandemic,” Grand Rapids, MI, 2020.
Facilitator, WTF Bikexplorers Summit, Writing Workshop, Portland, OR, 2019.
Panelist, TravelCon, LGBTQ Panel, MA, June 2019.
Podcast Feature, Un/rooted, “Movement,” Online, 2019.
Storyteller, Fuck Impossible Road Trip, 2018: After the release of Asking for Elephants, traveled to New York City, Columbus OH, Missoula MT, Whitefish MT, Anchorage AK, Portland OR, Seattle WA, Chicago IL, Detroit MI, Minneapolis, MN, Lander, WY, Madison, WI for a multi-media storytelling presentation showcasing my 2017 bike ride in India, given in bookstores, outdoors shops, bike stores, and queer spaces.
Podcast Feature, Real Talk Radio, “Mary Ann Thomas on Long-Distance Cycling, Vulnerability, and Giving Yourself What You Need,” Online, 2018.
Podcast Feature, She Explores, “Bike Touring is About More than Just Bikes,” Online, 2018.
Panelist, WTF Bikexplorers Summit, QTPOC Panel, Whitefish, MT, 2018.
Podcast Feature, The Ethical Traveler, “With Christina Brobby and Mary Ann Thomas,” Online, 2018.
Featured Reader, Lyrics and Dirges, San Francisco, CA, 2018.
Podcast Feature, Musafir Stories, “Cycling Across India,” Online, 2017.
Podcast Feature, The Dirtbag Diaries, “Pedal Strokes and Perspective,” Online, 2017.