S. Bear Bergman has a particular talent for using hir great gift of humor to make potentially challenging subjects – like queer and trans issues – accessible to even the most reluctant listeners. Hir first book, Butch is a Noun, chronicles the pleasures and dangers of living life outside the gender binary. Bear’s latest book, The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You, is an irrevocably honest and endlessly illuminating collection of essays on gender and identity. Ze is also the creator of three award-winning solo theater shows (Monday Night in Westerbork, Clearly Marked and Ex Post Papa) as well as a collaborative theater project, Youth Acting Out, undertaken in cooperation with groups of youth or students.

"Bear Bergman writes circles around most people - circles that enclose so many identities, and so much insight about all of them, that you’re bound to see some of your own selves newly, and beautifully, reflected there."
―Carol Queen, author of Real Live Nude Girl

"Bear Bergman is an endearing, gallant, sexy fellow, the queer world's daddy, brother, and son. In Nearest Exit, he's writing it all down for us, today's transgender experience. This is a landmark book for both queer theory and literature, written by an accomplished teller of tales. It's a book that will be cherished by generations of queer youth and adults alike. My heart overflows the brim with love and pride when I read his words."
—Kate Bornstein, author of Hello, Cruel World

An observant Jew, Bear speaks extensively about how hir religious and cultural lives have shaped one another, and the intersection of identities, especially as it relates to being both Jewish and queer. In fact, ze was named Poretsky Artist in Residence at the National Havurah Committee Summer Institute 2008.

Bear is a frequent lecturer at colleges and universities regarding issues relating to gender and sexuality, and has advised the staff of numerous institutions on their policies about transgendered and transsexual students. Bear also conducts a number of workshops, readings and corporate or university trainings in addition to solo performances, class visits and/or some combination thereof. These are just a few of hir offerings:

• Lecture: Sing If You're Glad To Be Trans
• Lecture: GLBT, Tikkun Olam, and Me
• Lecture: Body Politics
• Workshop: The LGBT Edge
• Workshop: Writing With and About Gender
• Workshop: Re-Introduction To The Only-Mostly-Dead Art Of Chivalry