Max-Arthur Mantle

Max-Arthur Mantle is a Jamaican-born American author, photographer and filmmaker. His work is centered around highlighting, celebrating and elevating Black and Brown, LGBTQ+ and Caribbean, particularly Jamaican narratives. He studied Journalism and Photography at Howard University (Washington, DC) and served in the US military (Navy).

His debut novel Batty Bwoy, self-published in 2015 is the coming of age story of Mark Palmer, a black, gay, Jamaican where “Boom bye bye inna batty bwoy head” (meaning, gunshot to gay men) has replaced the island’s motto “Out of many one people.” The son of an overbearing neglectful mother, he is thrust in an environment that requires a thick skin from torments and socio-economic disparities. Suppressing his “gay tendencies” to detract being bashed or murdered, he migrates to America and breaks free from the closet to a world where he is marginalized. As his life spirals from bad choices, he clings to desperate measures and finds hope.

In photography, Mantle worked as a freelance fashion photographer in Miami Beach and New York City in the early 2000 shooting portfolios for agency represented models and garnering fashion editorials and covers for US and international fashion magazine. He in known for shooting the last cover of BLUE+66 magazine (Australia's premiere photo art high-end magazine) and a 2012 photo book "Beach Boys" published by Bruno Gmunder (Berlin, Germany).

In film, Mantle directed and produced the groundbreaking documentary VISIBLE: The LGBTQ Caribbean Diaspora (2023), which features 30 participants who deconstruct what it means to be Caribbean, LGBTQ and living in North America. He is currently developing his first narrative feature BATTY BWOY! inspired by the novel and a slate of film projects.

SELECTED PRESS:

The Word (San Diego, CA)

https://youtu.be/pR-JgRV2Tyw?si=G1jEV0eYdfAK3JSQ

GLAAD

https://glaad.org/author-and-filmmaker-max-arthur-mantle-celebrates-caribbean-lgbtq-narratives-this-pride-month-and-caribbean-heritage-month/

Miami Herald Newspaper (Miami, FL)

https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/article47624020.html

Dartmouth College Graduate Student Council

https://gsc.dartmouth.edu/events-list/visible-the-lgbtq-caribbean-diaspora-screening-and-discussion

Penn State College of the Liberal Arts

https://events.la.psu.edu/event/visible-with-max-arthur-mantle/

Black Alphabet Film Festival (Chicago, IL)