Friday, November 30, 2007
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
November Publishing Notes
The buzz: The comment heard ‘round the world comes courtesy this month of author J.K. Rowling. During a Q&A session for fans in New York City at Carnegie Hall, the author of the beloved Harry Potter books revealed that Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore was gay. Sneaking under the radar this month was the comment by Potter film star Daniel Radcliffe that he wants to follow in actor Rupert Everett’s footsteps and play a gay spy in the remake of Another Country. Little Ashes, a new UK-Spanish film, will depict the love affair between Salvador Dali, the eccentric master of the avant-garde, and his fellow Spaniard Federico Garcia Lorca, the doomed dramatist and poet. The cable TV channel Here! has ramped up its original programming efforts. Two new fresh cases of the Donald Strachey mystery movie franchise starring Chad Allen are in the works. The company will also film House of Usher, the second planned installment in a series of 12 movies based on Edgar Allen Poe tales. The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis will premier a new play by Tony Kushner, The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialist with a Key to the Scriptures, in 2009. In a recent issue of Venus, Charlene Cothran, the editor and publisher the publication for black lesbians, announced that she had gone straight. The 700 Club ran a profile on Cothran in June titled “A Lesbian’s Deliverance.” Over 85 deaf and hearing people share their stories in Eyes of Desire 2: A Deaf GLBT Reader, a new anthology edited by Raymond Luczak, published by Handtype Press, and a follow up to Luczak’s popular 1993 anthology. Luczak is also the publisher of the new anthology. The new press showcases literature and art created by signers, Deaf and hearing alike. Author Michael Travis Jasper turned to his local tattoo artist to design the cover for his new novel, To Be Chosen. Persona Press/Nikos Diaman Limited Editions recently published The City, a new novel by N.A. Diaman, and Following My Heart, a memoir. Gotham will publish Isaac Mizrahi’s How to Have Style, an illustrated guide to looking fabulous for all occasions. The Oscar Wilde Bookshop in New York City will celebrate its 40th birthday on November 27. A new GLBT bookstore has opened in Royal Oak, MI, Five15 Media, Mojo & More. The Gittings-Lahusen gay and lesbian book collection was donated to the Department of Special Collections and University Archives in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library at the University of Massachusetts. The collection contains approximately 1,000 titles dating from the late 1920s to the present day and represents a lifetime of collecting by two important gay rights activists, Barbara Gittings and her life partner, Kay Tobin Lahusen.
A few things to do this month: Contributors Stephen Greco, Sam J. Miller, Joseph Manera, Joel Nichols, and Don Shewey read from their funny and touching memoirs and stories about two vital obsessions—books and sex at a group reading for Sex by the Book: Gay Men's Tales of Lit and Lust, Thursday, November 15th @ 7pm at The Center, 208 W 13th St, New York, NY - (212) 620-7310. ** The Publishing Triangle sponsors Publishing 102: How to Market Your Book. Learn how to market and promote your book as a panel of publishing professionals explain the ABCs of book buzz and take your questions. A panel discussion featuring Mark Nichols, Marketing Director for the American Booksellers Association's Book Sense program; Colleen Lindsay, publicity and marketing manager for Doubleday Books, an imprint of Random House; and Felicia Luna Lemus, author of the novels Like Son and Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties. The panel will be moderated by Brent Gallenberger, senior marketing manager for trade books at Rodale. Thursday, November 15 at 8:00 p.nm. at The Center, 208 West 13th Street. Admission: $7 for Publishing Triangle members, $10 for nonmembers.
Where to spend some money: Saints and Sinners will hold their sixth annual literary festival May 8-11, 2008 in New Orleans. Organizers are seeking help in achieving a goal of raising $20,000 between now and December 31, 2007. Saints and Sinners is completely organized by unpaid volunteers. The fundraising goal would allow organizers to hire a much-needed, part-time office assistant to help with the pre-conference administrative work, and pay for general operating expenses to produce the event—venue rental, printing, advertising, etc. Donations would also go towards providing registration scholarships for individuals who otherwise might not be able to afford to register for the event. To help ensure the festival continues and grows, an “Archangel Membership Program” has been started. Details can be found on the Web site: www.sasfest.org. Donations may be mailed to: Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, Attention: Paul Willis, 938 Lafayette Street, #514, New Orleans, LA 70113.
Kudos: Joe Keenan was awarded this year’s Thurber Prize for humor for his novel My Lucky Star. Arch Brown’s GLBT Thorny Theater in Palm Springs received 20 nominations from the The Desert Theater League, including Outstanding Production of a Drama for The Shape Shifter and Anna Livia, Lucky in her Bridges. Pariah, a short film by Dee Rees, about a lesbian teenager, won the ₤25000 Iris Prize as the best entry of the three-day film festival in Cardiff, Wales. The film also won the NewFest festival award in New York earlier this year. Harper Lee is being awarded America's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for her outstanding contribution to literature. Her only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and is ranked by the Guinness Book of World Records as the top selling novel of all time. The novel has sold more than 30 million copies. This year’s San Francisco Litquake festival opened up with the first Barbary Coast Award for a Lifetime of Literary Achievement presented to Armistead Maupin. Actress Laura Linney, who was in the 1994 PBS series of Maupin’s 1976 novel Tales of the City was on hand to give Maupin the award. Litquake has grown from a one-day event in the bandstand at Golden Gate Park to a weeklong festival with 354 authors in 58 venues throughout the city, at Kepler’s in Silicon Valley and Book Passage in Marin County.
And the Nominees Are: The Publishing Triangle is now accepting nominations for its 2008 fiction, nonfiction, and poetry awards, given for books published between January 1 and December 31, 2007. Each year, the organization presents six awards to lesbian and gay authors: The Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement; the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction; the Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction; the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry; the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry; and the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction. Two additional awards, the Ferro-Grumley Awards for Lesbian and Gay Fiction, are presented at the same awards ceremony under the aegis of the Ferro-Grumley Literary Awards Inc. All of these literary prizes include honorariums: $3,000 for the Whitehead Award; $1,000 each for fiction and nonfiction; and $500 each for poetry. The deadline for nominations is December 3, 2007. Visit http://www.publishingtriangle.org/ for instructions and to download a nomination form. The awards themselves will be presented in a gala ceremony at the New School in Greenwich Village on April 28, 2008.
Open Calls: My Gender Cookbook, a gender and cooking anthology, seeks submissions of creative nonfiction essays and recipes that explore how gender and sexual identities affect our cooking choices: how we eat, what we eat, and with whom we eat. Essay submissions will not be considered without a recipe and should be between 500 and 3000 words. Please include a brief bio, e-mail contact info and your essay and recipe as word document attachments. Only previously unpublished materials will be considered. Submissions will be accepted no later than February 1st 2008. Please send submissions to mygendercookbook@gmail.com. ** Dark Scribe Press is seeking short story submissions for Unspeakable Horror, an anthology of queer horror tales. E-mail queries only. Queries can be emailed to publisher@darkscribepress.com and will be accepted through May 15, 2008. Response time to queries is 30-60 days. Once a query is greenlighted, the deadline for actual submissions is June 30, 2008. Response time to submissions is 30-60 days. Please put Query/Anthology in the subject line of all e-mails. Kindly note that queries with attachments will be deleted – do not send your story until you have queried first. The anthology is slated for fourth quarter 2008 publication. ** The Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in association with the Marigny Theatre Corporation and the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival is sponsoring their second annual playwright’s contest. The winning play will be produced by the Marigny Theatre Corporation and will premier the weekend of the 6th annual Saints and Sinners Literary Event, May 8-11, 2008. There is a $10 fee for every play submitted. Participants can enter more then once. In addition to a full production at the Festival, the winning playwright will receive a $500 cash prize and an “All-Access” Pass to the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival. Deadline for Submission is December 31, 2007. Visit the Saints and Sinners Web site for more details. ** Brad Nichols is looking for submissions for Island Boys, Tropical Gay Erotica. Length should be 2500-4000 words. Deadline is December 1, 2007. Submit original stories to alysonanthology@planetoutinc.com. Simone Thorne is editing Island Girls, Tropical Lesbian Erotica. Length should be 2500-4000 words. Deadline is December 1, 2007. Submit original stories to alysonanthology@planetoutinc.com. ** Sassafras Lowrey is editing Kicked out, an anthology which chronicles the experiences of former queer youth and current queer youth who were forced to leave home as minors because of their sexuality and/or gender identity. Submissions should be between 1,500 and 2,500 words in length and previously unpublished. Submit your piece via e-mail in .doc format to KickedOutAnthology@gmail.com. Multiple submissions per contributor are welcome. Deadline is March 1, 2008. More information can be found at: http://www.myspace.com/kickedoutanthology ** Richard Labonté and Lawrence Schimel are seeking submissions for Second Person Queer: How We Lived Our Lives – and How You Can Live Yours. Essays should be between 1,000-2,000 words and written in the second person (addressed to a "you"). Submissions can be sent to secondpersonqueer@gmail.com. Deadline is March 15, 2008. ** Notisha Massaquoi & Selly Thiam are seeking submissions for None-on-Record: Stories of Queer Africa. QLGBT Africans are invited to submit original, unpublished essays, poems, short stories, plays, creative non-fiction, and visual art. Submissions can be sent to NORsubmission@gmail.com. Deadline is March 31, 2008. More details can be found at www.myspace.com/noneonrecord.
Passages: Herbert Muschamp, the architecture critic for The New York Times from 1992 to 2004, died of lung cancer on October 3, 2007. One of the most influential critics of his generation, he frequently wrote about the central role played by gay men in New York's cultural history. ** Downtown icon and gay performing artist Dean Johnson died September 20, 2007. The six-foot-six promoter and poet was found dead in Washington, D.C. Johnson, 45, founded the weekly party Rock and Roll Fag Bar in the late eighties, and also started HomoCorps, a monthly gay music showcase at CBGB. At times a porn star and at other times a rock star (he fronted Dean and the Weenies and later the Velvet Mafia), he was always recognizable by his height (often augmented by heels) and brazen eyewear. Friends gathered in October at Rapture Café and Books in the East Village to remember a man who was rarely forgotten.
A few things to do this month: Contributors Stephen Greco, Sam J. Miller, Joseph Manera, Joel Nichols, and Don Shewey read from their funny and touching memoirs and stories about two vital obsessions—books and sex at a group reading for Sex by the Book: Gay Men's Tales of Lit and Lust, Thursday, November 15th @ 7pm at The Center, 208 W 13th St, New York, NY - (212) 620-7310. ** The Publishing Triangle sponsors Publishing 102: How to Market Your Book. Learn how to market and promote your book as a panel of publishing professionals explain the ABCs of book buzz and take your questions. A panel discussion featuring Mark Nichols, Marketing Director for the American Booksellers Association's Book Sense program; Colleen Lindsay, publicity and marketing manager for Doubleday Books, an imprint of Random House; and Felicia Luna Lemus, author of the novels Like Son and Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties. The panel will be moderated by Brent Gallenberger, senior marketing manager for trade books at Rodale. Thursday, November 15 at 8:00 p.nm. at The Center, 208 West 13th Street. Admission: $7 for Publishing Triangle members, $10 for nonmembers.
Where to spend some money: Saints and Sinners will hold their sixth annual literary festival May 8-11, 2008 in New Orleans. Organizers are seeking help in achieving a goal of raising $20,000 between now and December 31, 2007. Saints and Sinners is completely organized by unpaid volunteers. The fundraising goal would allow organizers to hire a much-needed, part-time office assistant to help with the pre-conference administrative work, and pay for general operating expenses to produce the event—venue rental, printing, advertising, etc. Donations would also go towards providing registration scholarships for individuals who otherwise might not be able to afford to register for the event. To help ensure the festival continues and grows, an “Archangel Membership Program” has been started. Details can be found on the Web site: www.sasfest.org. Donations may be mailed to: Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, Attention: Paul Willis, 938 Lafayette Street, #514, New Orleans, LA 70113.
Kudos: Joe Keenan was awarded this year’s Thurber Prize for humor for his novel My Lucky Star. Arch Brown’s GLBT Thorny Theater in Palm Springs received 20 nominations from the The Desert Theater League, including Outstanding Production of a Drama for The Shape Shifter and Anna Livia, Lucky in her Bridges. Pariah, a short film by Dee Rees, about a lesbian teenager, won the ₤25000 Iris Prize as the best entry of the three-day film festival in Cardiff, Wales. The film also won the NewFest festival award in New York earlier this year. Harper Lee is being awarded America's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for her outstanding contribution to literature. Her only novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961 and is ranked by the Guinness Book of World Records as the top selling novel of all time. The novel has sold more than 30 million copies. This year’s San Francisco Litquake festival opened up with the first Barbary Coast Award for a Lifetime of Literary Achievement presented to Armistead Maupin. Actress Laura Linney, who was in the 1994 PBS series of Maupin’s 1976 novel Tales of the City was on hand to give Maupin the award. Litquake has grown from a one-day event in the bandstand at Golden Gate Park to a weeklong festival with 354 authors in 58 venues throughout the city, at Kepler’s in Silicon Valley and Book Passage in Marin County.
And the Nominees Are: The Publishing Triangle is now accepting nominations for its 2008 fiction, nonfiction, and poetry awards, given for books published between January 1 and December 31, 2007. Each year, the organization presents six awards to lesbian and gay authors: The Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement; the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction; the Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction; the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry; the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry; and the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction. Two additional awards, the Ferro-Grumley Awards for Lesbian and Gay Fiction, are presented at the same awards ceremony under the aegis of the Ferro-Grumley Literary Awards Inc. All of these literary prizes include honorariums: $3,000 for the Whitehead Award; $1,000 each for fiction and nonfiction; and $500 each for poetry. The deadline for nominations is December 3, 2007. Visit http://www.publishingtriangle.org/ for instructions and to download a nomination form. The awards themselves will be presented in a gala ceremony at the New School in Greenwich Village on April 28, 2008.
Open Calls: My Gender Cookbook, a gender and cooking anthology, seeks submissions of creative nonfiction essays and recipes that explore how gender and sexual identities affect our cooking choices: how we eat, what we eat, and with whom we eat. Essay submissions will not be considered without a recipe and should be between 500 and 3000 words. Please include a brief bio, e-mail contact info and your essay and recipe as word document attachments. Only previously unpublished materials will be considered. Submissions will be accepted no later than February 1st 2008. Please send submissions to mygendercookbook@gmail.com. ** Dark Scribe Press is seeking short story submissions for Unspeakable Horror, an anthology of queer horror tales. E-mail queries only. Queries can be emailed to publisher@darkscribepress.com and will be accepted through May 15, 2008. Response time to queries is 30-60 days. Once a query is greenlighted, the deadline for actual submissions is June 30, 2008. Response time to submissions is 30-60 days. Please put Query/Anthology in the subject line of all e-mails. Kindly note that queries with attachments will be deleted – do not send your story until you have queried first. The anthology is slated for fourth quarter 2008 publication. ** The Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in association with the Marigny Theatre Corporation and the Tennessee Williams/New Orleans Literary Festival is sponsoring their second annual playwright’s contest. The winning play will be produced by the Marigny Theatre Corporation and will premier the weekend of the 6th annual Saints and Sinners Literary Event, May 8-11, 2008. There is a $10 fee for every play submitted. Participants can enter more then once. In addition to a full production at the Festival, the winning playwright will receive a $500 cash prize and an “All-Access” Pass to the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival. Deadline for Submission is December 31, 2007. Visit the Saints and Sinners Web site for more details. ** Brad Nichols is looking for submissions for Island Boys, Tropical Gay Erotica. Length should be 2500-4000 words. Deadline is December 1, 2007. Submit original stories to alysonanthology@planetoutinc.com. Simone Thorne is editing Island Girls, Tropical Lesbian Erotica. Length should be 2500-4000 words. Deadline is December 1, 2007. Submit original stories to alysonanthology@planetoutinc.com. ** Sassafras Lowrey is editing Kicked out, an anthology which chronicles the experiences of former queer youth and current queer youth who were forced to leave home as minors because of their sexuality and/or gender identity. Submissions should be between 1,500 and 2,500 words in length and previously unpublished. Submit your piece via e-mail in .doc format to KickedOutAnthology@gmail.com. Multiple submissions per contributor are welcome. Deadline is March 1, 2008. More information can be found at: http://www.myspace.com/kickedoutanthology ** Richard Labonté and Lawrence Schimel are seeking submissions for Second Person Queer: How We Lived Our Lives – and How You Can Live Yours. Essays should be between 1,000-2,000 words and written in the second person (addressed to a "you"). Submissions can be sent to secondpersonqueer@gmail.com. Deadline is March 15, 2008. ** Notisha Massaquoi & Selly Thiam are seeking submissions for None-on-Record: Stories of Queer Africa. QLGBT Africans are invited to submit original, unpublished essays, poems, short stories, plays, creative non-fiction, and visual art. Submissions can be sent to NORsubmission@gmail.com. Deadline is March 31, 2008. More details can be found at www.myspace.com/noneonrecord.
Passages: Herbert Muschamp, the architecture critic for The New York Times from 1992 to 2004, died of lung cancer on October 3, 2007. One of the most influential critics of his generation, he frequently wrote about the central role played by gay men in New York's cultural history. ** Downtown icon and gay performing artist Dean Johnson died September 20, 2007. The six-foot-six promoter and poet was found dead in Washington, D.C. Johnson, 45, founded the weekly party Rock and Roll Fag Bar in the late eighties, and also started HomoCorps, a monthly gay music showcase at CBGB. At times a porn star and at other times a rock star (he fronted Dean and the Weenies and later the Velvet Mafia), he was always recognizable by his height (often augmented by heels) and brazen eyewear. Friends gathered in October at Rapture Café and Books in the East Village to remember a man who was rarely forgotten.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
October Publishing Notes
The buzz: Rosie O’Donohue has made a few more headlines by deciding not to do any interviews to promote her new book Celebrity Detox. Jonathan Plummer, the man who helped author Terry McMillian find her grove and then announced his own, has had his tell-all novel, Balancing Act, banned from an Oakland, California bookstore. The new season of Project Runway, beginning in November, has four openly gay designers in the cast, one who is HIV-positive and penning his memoirs. Dale Peck’s new novel Body Surfing, a dark literary thriller about a race of demons who possess their prey, moving from body to body via sexual release, and the female hunter bent on destroying them, will be published by Atria. Pecan Grove Press has just published playwright David Brendan Hopes’ book of poetry, A Dream of Adonis. Author Dale Lazarov and illustrator Delic Van Loond have launched Fancy, a fantasy adult Web comic at Adultwebcomics.com. The Hourglass Group and New York Theater Workshop is presenting The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, adapted from the 1950s lesbian pulp novels by Ann Bannon. The production runs through October 20th in New York City at The Fourth Street Theater. San Francisco’s Theater Rhinoceros, the nation’s “longest-running professional queer theater company,” is celebrating its thirtieth season this year. The Menier Chocolate Factory Theater in London plans to revive the musical La Cage au Folles as its Christmas show. Sean Penn and Matt Damon are both attached to Gus Van Sant’s film of Harvey Milk, based on Randy Shilt’s book The Mayor of Castro Street.
Cleveland Just Got a Lot Cooler: Greg Wharton and Ian Philips, the fearless duo behind the Suspect Thoughts Press and Web site, have left the Bay Area behind and relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, where this month they are opening a bookstore at 4903 Clark Avenue. Suspect Thoughts Books will carry books from Suspect Thoughts Press as well as those from other independent and small presses. The new store will be open from 11 am to 7 pm Wednesdays through Sundays and a companion on-line bookstore has also been launched at http://www.alternaqueerbooks.com/. Greg and Ian have also launched a new editorial service to help queer writers, Leonard & Virginia Editorial. More details can be found at http://www.leonardandvirginia.com/.
Kudos: Ed Radtke’s The Speed of Life, a coming-of-age story about a group of youths who steal video cameras and make a film from the pilfered tapes, won the first Queer Lion Award from the Venice Film Festival.
And the Nominees Are: Nominations are now being accepted for the 20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards for books published during 2007. New guidelines and a nomination form are available at the Lammy Web site: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/. Deadline is December 1, 2007. The winners will be announced Thursday May 29 in West Hollywood.
Open Calls: Blair Mastbaum and Will Fabro are looking for submission for Cool Thing: Fiction by Gay Writers Under 30 to be published by Running Press in the Fall of 2008. Word limit is 10,000 words. Deadline is November 1, 2007. Send Word documents to: fictionanthology@gmail.com. ** White Crane Books is seeking essays and short fiction for Idol Thoughts: Gay Men and Their Heroes, an anthology to be edited by Bo Young and Steve Berman. Essays should be between 500-1,500 words in length. Fiction submitted should be between 1,000-3,500 words in length. Submissions can be emailed to sberman8@yahoo.com. Deadline is February 1, 2008. ** Rebel Satori Press is seeking poetry and prose for Madder Love: Queer Men and the Precincts of Surrealism. Deadline is October 31, 2007. Send submissions to: Peter Dubé, PO Box 643, Succ. Place du Parc, Montreal, Quebec H2X 4A6, Canada. ** Eric Summers is looking for submissions for Ride Me Cowboy: Erotic Tales of the West to be published by Starbooks Press. Deadline is February 15, 2008. For more details e-mail eric@starbookspress.com. Shane Allison is looking for stories for Fire Men: Hot Gay Erotic to be published by Cleis Press. Stories should be between 2,000 and 4,000 words. Deadline is February 1, 2008. For more details e-mail sdallison01@hotmail.com. The British queer literary journal Chroma is sponsoring its second International Queer Writing Competition in Poetry, Short Story, and Transfabulous categories. Deadline is September 1, 2008. For more details visit the Chroma Web site. ** Chroma is also sponsoring its first Queer Writing Residential in association with the Arvon Foundation to be held February 25 to March 1 in Devon, England. The course will be tutored by Betsy Warland and Thomas Glave and is devised to suit poets, prose-writers, and those interested in cross-genre writing. There are fourteen subsidised places. Course fees for the week will be £290 (which includes tuition, accommodation and food). For more details, see the Chroma Web site and newsletter. ** A contest called The Open Door Project, a five-day publishing introduction in New York City, is open to gay men writing fiction with queer content who have not yet published a book of fiction. Accommodations and transportation will be provided to an out of town winner. The judges include Christopher Bram, Alexander Chee, Samuel R. Delany, Dennis Cooper, Robert Gluck, E. Lynn Harris, Scott Heim, Andrew Holleran, David Leavitt, Stephen McCauley, Dale Peck, and John Weir. Submit stories or stand-alone novel excerpts of up to 8,000 words by March 1, 2008. Submissions can be mailed to: Don Weise, Open Door Project, c/o Oscar Wilde Bookshop, 15 Christopher St, New York, NY 10014. Queries can be sent to dweised@aol.com. ** The Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation Writing Competition for the Foundation’s 2007 writing grants will be for Short Stories, One-act Plays or short film or video projects. All works must present the gay and lesbian lifestyle in a positive manner and be based on, or directly inspired by, a historic person or event. All works must be unpublished, original, and in English. Adaptations or translations of other works of fiction are not acceptable. All submissions must be postmarked by midnight November 30, 2007 and can be sent to: The Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, 2500 N. Palm Canyon Drive #A4, Palm Springs, CA 92262. Visit the Web site for more details.
Cleveland Just Got a Lot Cooler: Greg Wharton and Ian Philips, the fearless duo behind the Suspect Thoughts Press and Web site, have left the Bay Area behind and relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, where this month they are opening a bookstore at 4903 Clark Avenue. Suspect Thoughts Books will carry books from Suspect Thoughts Press as well as those from other independent and small presses. The new store will be open from 11 am to 7 pm Wednesdays through Sundays and a companion on-line bookstore has also been launched at http://www.alternaqueerbooks.com/. Greg and Ian have also launched a new editorial service to help queer writers, Leonard & Virginia Editorial. More details can be found at http://www.leonardandvirginia.com/.
Kudos: Ed Radtke’s The Speed of Life, a coming-of-age story about a group of youths who steal video cameras and make a film from the pilfered tapes, won the first Queer Lion Award from the Venice Film Festival.
And the Nominees Are: Nominations are now being accepted for the 20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards for books published during 2007. New guidelines and a nomination form are available at the Lammy Web site: http://www.lambdaliterary.org/. Deadline is December 1, 2007. The winners will be announced Thursday May 29 in West Hollywood.
Open Calls: Blair Mastbaum and Will Fabro are looking for submission for Cool Thing: Fiction by Gay Writers Under 30 to be published by Running Press in the Fall of 2008. Word limit is 10,000 words. Deadline is November 1, 2007. Send Word documents to: fictionanthology@gmail.com. ** White Crane Books is seeking essays and short fiction for Idol Thoughts: Gay Men and Their Heroes, an anthology to be edited by Bo Young and Steve Berman. Essays should be between 500-1,500 words in length. Fiction submitted should be between 1,000-3,500 words in length. Submissions can be emailed to sberman8@yahoo.com. Deadline is February 1, 2008. ** Rebel Satori Press is seeking poetry and prose for Madder Love: Queer Men and the Precincts of Surrealism. Deadline is October 31, 2007. Send submissions to: Peter Dubé, PO Box 643, Succ. Place du Parc, Montreal, Quebec H2X 4A6, Canada. ** Eric Summers is looking for submissions for Ride Me Cowboy: Erotic Tales of the West to be published by Starbooks Press. Deadline is February 15, 2008. For more details e-mail eric@starbookspress.com. Shane Allison is looking for stories for Fire Men: Hot Gay Erotic to be published by Cleis Press. Stories should be between 2,000 and 4,000 words. Deadline is February 1, 2008. For more details e-mail sdallison01@hotmail.com. The British queer literary journal Chroma is sponsoring its second International Queer Writing Competition in Poetry, Short Story, and Transfabulous categories. Deadline is September 1, 2008. For more details visit the Chroma Web site. ** Chroma is also sponsoring its first Queer Writing Residential in association with the Arvon Foundation to be held February 25 to March 1 in Devon, England. The course will be tutored by Betsy Warland and Thomas Glave and is devised to suit poets, prose-writers, and those interested in cross-genre writing. There are fourteen subsidised places. Course fees for the week will be £290 (which includes tuition, accommodation and food). For more details, see the Chroma Web site and newsletter. ** A contest called The Open Door Project, a five-day publishing introduction in New York City, is open to gay men writing fiction with queer content who have not yet published a book of fiction. Accommodations and transportation will be provided to an out of town winner. The judges include Christopher Bram, Alexander Chee, Samuel R. Delany, Dennis Cooper, Robert Gluck, E. Lynn Harris, Scott Heim, Andrew Holleran, David Leavitt, Stephen McCauley, Dale Peck, and John Weir. Submit stories or stand-alone novel excerpts of up to 8,000 words by March 1, 2008. Submissions can be mailed to: Don Weise, Open Door Project, c/o Oscar Wilde Bookshop, 15 Christopher St, New York, NY 10014. Queries can be sent to dweised@aol.com. ** The Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation Writing Competition for the Foundation’s 2007 writing grants will be for Short Stories, One-act Plays or short film or video projects. All works must present the gay and lesbian lifestyle in a positive manner and be based on, or directly inspired by, a historic person or event. All works must be unpublished, original, and in English. Adaptations or translations of other works of fiction are not acceptable. All submissions must be postmarked by midnight November 30, 2007 and can be sent to: The Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, 2500 N. Palm Canyon Drive #A4, Palm Springs, CA 92262. Visit the Web site for more details.
Friday, August 31, 2007
September Publishing Notes
The buzz: Haworth Press, the parent company of the GLBT imprint Harrington Park Press, has been purchased by Taylor & Francis, pending approval by regulatory authorities in the U.S. and Europe. According to a report from Shelf Awareness, most of the Harrington Park Press nonfiction will be published and distributed by Taylor & Francis, but all fiction titles and some trade titles will be divested to another publishing house. Publicity and advertising for the imprint’s new fiction titles have been temporarily suspended and some fiction titles in the publishing pipeline have been halted. You can find the Lambda Literary Foundation’s "In Memoriam" tribute to LGBT literary figures who died during the last 18 months now up on YouTube. And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson and illustrated by Henry Cole, is at the top of the American Library Association’s annual list of most challenged books by parents. The award-winning children’s book is based on the true story of two New York Zoo male penguins who raise a baby penguin. The 2008 edition of Best American Erotica will celebrate the series 15th anniversary and will also be Susie Bright’s last turn as editor. This fall, Susie will announce her new literary endeavor. Author Michael Luongo is teaching a travel writing class, the Global Traveler, this fall at NYU. Among the worthy new blogs that have been recently launched is Worth the Trip, about queer books for kids and teens. Atria will publish Thom Filicia Style: Inspired Ideas for Creating Rooms You’ll Love. The cast of Rikki Beadle-Blair’s play Stonewall, about the 1969 Stonewall riots, was nominated for a best ensemble award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Mike Jones, who authored the memoir I Had To Say Something, about his tryst with Ted Haggard, appeared in Porridge, a new play by Brian Bauman at the Boulder International Fringe Festival in August. Ganymede Arts in Washington, D.C. (formerly Actors Theater of Washington) will be performing David Brendan Hope’s new play The Loves of Mr. Lincoln, in October as part of their GLBT festival. Arch Brown’s Thorny Theater in Palm Springs has announced their new season. Among the plays being offered are: News Boy by Arch Brown, Who Killed Zachary Morgan? by Harriett Weise, The Goddess Tour by Carolyn Gage, 108 Waverly by Dan Clancy and Lynn Portas, Cloud 9 by Caryl Churchill, The Bombay Trunk by Felice Picano, and Frank Lee, My Dear and Ships That Piss In the Night both by Arch Brown. And Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, two of the producing forces behind the film versions of Chicago and Hairspray, are planning to create a new television version of Peter Pan.
Scissors Uncut: Augusten Burroughs and St. Martin’s Press have agreed to change a characterization of Burroughs’s Running with Scissors in the author’s note from “memoir” to just “book,” as part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Turcotte family. Burroughs will also alter the author’s note in the book to indicate: “I recognize that their memories of the events described in this book are different than my own. They are each fine, decent, and hard-working people. The book was not intended to hurt the family. Both my publisher and I regret any unintentional harm resulting from the publishing and marketing of Running with Scissors.” In a statement released by St. Martin’s Press, the publisher noted that the book could still be described as a “memoir” on the cover and elsewhere. Burroughs also said in the statement in part: “Running With Scissors is still called a memoir. It always has been a memoir, and the family expressly agreed that it will continue to be called one.... Not one word of the actual memoir itself has been changed or altered in any way. The text is exactly as I wrote it, intended it, and lived it.” He defended his work as “entirely accurate.” “I consider this [settlement] not only a personal victory but a victory for all memoirists,” Burroughs also stated. “I still maintain that the book is an entirely accurate memoir, and that it was not fictionalized or sensationalized in any way. I did not embellish or invent elements. We had a very strong case because I had the truth on my side.”
Kudos: Author Joe Keenan was named one of three finalists for the annual Thurber Prize for American Humor for his novel My Lucky Star. The winner will be announced in October. The Gold Crown Literary Society, a non-profit that supports authors, publishers and distributors of lesbian fiction, presented their awards at their third annual conference in Atlanta in June. Winners and photos are posted on their Web site. Nu Nu Yi, an author from Myanmar who writes under the name Inwa, was nominated along with 22 other authors from around Asia for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize, for her novel about a gay spirit medium, Smile as they bow; Laugh as they bow.
Open Calls: Editors Lawrence Schimel and Linda Alvarez are accepting submissions for the 2008 editions Best Gay Poetry and Best Lesbian Poetry, to be published by A Midsummer Night’s Press. Poems can have appeared in print or online magazines, journals, or anthologies first published in 2007; or from books or chapbooks first published in 2007, even if the poem was originally published previously in periodicals, so long as the poet has the right to reprint the poem. Submissions from individual poets or queries should be sent by e-mail in .doc format to one of the following addresses, as appropriate: BestGayPoetry@gmail.com or BestLesbianPoetry@gmail.com. Please title documents with the poet’s surname. Include contact information (both street and email address), bio, and previous publication history within the document, as documents will be read separately from the e-mails. Deadline is December 1, 2007. Books and journals for review can be sent to the attention of the appropriate editor at: A Midsummer Night’s Press, 16 West 36th Street, 2nd Floor, New York NY 10018. ** Editors Connie Griffin and David Hooks are seeking nonfiction for Coming Out in the South. Deadline is February 15, 2008. Submission guidelines can be found at http://www.comingoutinthesouth.com/. ** Editor Nicole Foster is looking for lesbian erotica for Wetter, to be published by Alyson in 2008. Submissions can be sent to alysonanthology@planetoutinc.com along with name and pseudonym, as well as contact info and a short bio. In the subject line, add the name of the anthology for which your story is intended. Deadline: Sept 15, 2007.
Scissors Uncut: Augusten Burroughs and St. Martin’s Press have agreed to change a characterization of Burroughs’s Running with Scissors in the author’s note from “memoir” to just “book,” as part of the settlement of a lawsuit filed by the Turcotte family. Burroughs will also alter the author’s note in the book to indicate: “I recognize that their memories of the events described in this book are different than my own. They are each fine, decent, and hard-working people. The book was not intended to hurt the family. Both my publisher and I regret any unintentional harm resulting from the publishing and marketing of Running with Scissors.” In a statement released by St. Martin’s Press, the publisher noted that the book could still be described as a “memoir” on the cover and elsewhere. Burroughs also said in the statement in part: “Running With Scissors is still called a memoir. It always has been a memoir, and the family expressly agreed that it will continue to be called one.... Not one word of the actual memoir itself has been changed or altered in any way. The text is exactly as I wrote it, intended it, and lived it.” He defended his work as “entirely accurate.” “I consider this [settlement] not only a personal victory but a victory for all memoirists,” Burroughs also stated. “I still maintain that the book is an entirely accurate memoir, and that it was not fictionalized or sensationalized in any way. I did not embellish or invent elements. We had a very strong case because I had the truth on my side.”
Kudos: Author Joe Keenan was named one of three finalists for the annual Thurber Prize for American Humor for his novel My Lucky Star. The winner will be announced in October. The Gold Crown Literary Society, a non-profit that supports authors, publishers and distributors of lesbian fiction, presented their awards at their third annual conference in Atlanta in June. Winners and photos are posted on their Web site. Nu Nu Yi, an author from Myanmar who writes under the name Inwa, was nominated along with 22 other authors from around Asia for the inaugural Man Asian Literary Prize, for her novel about a gay spirit medium, Smile as they bow; Laugh as they bow.
Open Calls: Editors Lawrence Schimel and Linda Alvarez are accepting submissions for the 2008 editions Best Gay Poetry and Best Lesbian Poetry, to be published by A Midsummer Night’s Press. Poems can have appeared in print or online magazines, journals, or anthologies first published in 2007; or from books or chapbooks first published in 2007, even if the poem was originally published previously in periodicals, so long as the poet has the right to reprint the poem. Submissions from individual poets or queries should be sent by e-mail in .doc format to one of the following addresses, as appropriate: BestGayPoetry@gmail.com or BestLesbianPoetry@gmail.com. Please title documents with the poet’s surname. Include contact information (both street and email address), bio, and previous publication history within the document, as documents will be read separately from the e-mails. Deadline is December 1, 2007. Books and journals for review can be sent to the attention of the appropriate editor at: A Midsummer Night’s Press, 16 West 36th Street, 2nd Floor, New York NY 10018. ** Editors Connie Griffin and David Hooks are seeking nonfiction for Coming Out in the South. Deadline is February 15, 2008. Submission guidelines can be found at http://www.comingoutinthesouth.com/. ** Editor Nicole Foster is looking for lesbian erotica for Wetter, to be published by Alyson in 2008. Submissions can be sent to alysonanthology@planetoutinc.com along with name and pseudonym, as well as contact info and a short bio. In the subject line, add the name of the anthology for which your story is intended. Deadline: Sept 15, 2007.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Saturday, June 30, 2007
July Publishing Notes
The buzz: Diana Rigg will star in the London stage adaptation of Pedro Almodovar’s All About My Mother. Terrence McNally’s The Ritz will return to Broadway this fall with Rosie Perez and Kevin Chamberlain. Faith Prince, Tom Wopat, and Harvey Fierstein will star in A Catered Affair, a new musical by Fierstein and composer John Bucchino planned for Broadway next spring, based on a teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky and a 1956 movie. Towleroad reported that Gore Vidal is unhappy with the characters in Edmund White’s new play Terre Haute, which is said to be based on an imagined series of conversations between Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and Vidal. Gus Van Sant is attached to the film version of Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Test. Jim Carrey will play a Texas convict who falls in love with his cellmate in the comedy I Love You Phillip Morris, based on the book by Steve McVicker. Rosie O’Donnell promised the folks at the recent BookExpo that her new book, Celebrity Detox, out this fall, will not be vindictive or mean-spirited. Rita Mae Brown's next three books in the Mrs. Murphy mystery series are forthcoming from Bantam Dell. Oprah’s new book club pick is Jeffrey Eugenides 2003 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Middlesex, the story of a Greek-American girl who becomes boy. Frontiers in Los Angeles launched Summer Book, a citywide reading program for gay L.A, selecting Christopher Rice’s Light Before Day as the first read. Mayor Gavin Newson proclaimed June 12, 2007 as “Michael Tolliver Day” in San Francisco in honor of Michael “Mouse” Tolliver, one of the main characters of Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City series and the narrator of Maupin’s new book, Michael Tolliver Lives. Former London police officer Brian Paddick has signed a six-figure deal with Simon & Schuster to publish his memoir. Author Perry Brass has released a new novel, Carnal Sacraments. Dale Peck’s new novel, The Garden of Lost and Found, about a young Midwesterner who moves to New York on the eve of 9/11, has been withdrawn at the request of the author and agent from the Carroll & Graf fall list due to the reorganization of new owner Perseus Book Group. A New York civil court jury found writer Laura Albert, who created the alter-ego JT Leroy, acted fraudulently and ordered her to pay $116,500 to Antidote International Films, which in 2003, signed an option contract with JT Leroy to make a feature film of the novel Sarah. The Oak Park Public Library, a suburban Chicago library, received a $3000 grant from the Illinois State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State, enabling it to develop the country’s first transgender resource collection. Writer and editor Stephen Greco, who runs the Ferro-Grumley Foundation, has been named as executive director of Dance Theater Workshop. The Norfolk, Virginia branch of Lambda Rising bookstore closed at the end of June. Two new blogs covering the GLBT literary universe have arrived: the anonymously authored Best Gay Books, and poet Christopher Matthew Hennessy's areyououtsidethelines.blogspot.com.
Open Calls: Jeremy Halinen and Brett Ortler are editing of a new print literary magazine called Knockout and welcomes LGBT submissions. The first issue will arrive in September 2007. The editors are now reading submissions for the second issue, and request submissions of 3-6 unpublished poems, sent all in one file, as an MS Word document, to the following two email addresses: knockoutpoetry@gmail.com and jeremyhalinen@yahoo.com. Deadline is August 15, 2007. The editors are not considering unsolicited fiction or nonfiction submissions at this time.
Open Calls: Jeremy Halinen and Brett Ortler are editing of a new print literary magazine called Knockout and welcomes LGBT submissions. The first issue will arrive in September 2007. The editors are now reading submissions for the second issue, and request submissions of 3-6 unpublished poems, sent all in one file, as an MS Word document, to the following two email addresses: knockoutpoetry@gmail.com and jeremyhalinen@yahoo.com. Deadline is August 15, 2007. The editors are not considering unsolicited fiction or nonfiction submissions at this time.
Friday, June 01, 2007
June Publishing Notes
The buzz: Bertelsmann, which recently acquired Bookspan, is overhauling the book club business. Bookspan will close eight book clubs, including the popular GLBT Insightout Books. Former Insightout editor David Rosen is now Editor-in-Chief at a soon-to-be-launched Progressive Book Club, which hopes to continue ISO’s queer literary outreach. Perseus Books Group, which recently acquired Avalon Publishing Group, is eliminating the Avalon imprints Thunder’s Mouth and Carroll and Graf. Among the 24 positions eliminated in the downsizing was senior editor Don Weise. Winton Shoemaker & Co LLC has acquired Soft Skull Press. Beacon Press in Boston is launching Queer Action/Queer Ideas, a trade series edited by Michael Bronski. The first two books in the series will be Come Out and Win: Organizing Yourself, Your Community, and Your World by activist Sue Hyde and Out Law: What LGBT Youth Should Know about Their Legal Rights by journalist Lisa Keen. Floricanto Press is launching a new line of GLBT-themed books, with Carlos T. Mock as series editor. Up first are Papi Chulo: A Legend, A Novel, and the Puerto Rican Identity by Mock and Leo Cabranes-Grant's The Chat Room and Other Plays-a Puerto Rican Anthology. Emanuel Xavier will edit The First Modern Anthology of Latino GLBT Poetry-Mariposas for a Summer 2008 release. Winston Leyland has re-launched Gay Sunshine and Leyland Publications imprints. Lawrence Schimel has re-launched A Midsummer Night's Press. Founded in 1991, the press now publishes commercially-printed chapbooks under three imprints including Body Language: devoted to texts exploring questions of gender and sexual identity. The first title from this imprint will be a collection of poems by Lambda Literary Award-winner Achy Obejas. Toni Amato is the editor and publisher of a new literary journal, Concrete, published by Sideshow Press. Mystery writer Michael Nava, who is also an attorney, is being considered for a seat on San Francisco’s 1st District Court of Appeal. If chosen, he would become California’s first openly gay appellate justice. Edmund White’s play Terre Haute was recently performed in London. Disturbia screenwriter Christopher Landon will write the psychological thriller The Flock for Warner Independent Pictures. The movie will revolve around three teens accused of practicing witchcraft. Bryan Singer and Gus Van Sant are each eyeing separate projects about Harvey Milk. TLA has acquired the distribution rights to the upcoming film version of the hit off-Broadway musical Naked Boys Singing, headed into cinemas this fall.
Upcoming Readings: Contributors to Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys will read June 13 at A Different Light in Los Angeles, June 5th at the KGB Bar in Manhattan, June 19th at Borders Columbus Circle in Manhattan, and July 21 at Book Hampton in East Hampton. Lawrence Schimel will read from Fairy Tales for Writers June 3rd at Bluestockings Bookstore in New York City and will celebrate the release of The Mammoth Book of New Gay Erotica June 6th in Manhattan with Will Clark Presents Porno Bingo!
Kudos: Winners of the Arch and Bruce Brown Awards in Full-length fiction are: First Prize: Myrlin A. Hermes of Portland, Oregon for The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet. Second Place Award: Joy Shayne Laughter of Seattle, Washington for Yu and Dick Wagenaar of Newburgh, New York for Koryo. Third Place Award: M.M. DeVoe of New York, New York for Burn in Our Hearts. Moises Kaufman received the Immigration Equality’s Global Vision Award at the Safe Havens Awards in New York City, which is produced as a means to increase awareness of immigration issues for gay families. Among this year’s recipients of fellowships from New York Foundation for the Arts were Clifford Chase and Aaron Smith.
Publishing Triangle Awards: Andrew Holleran received the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Publishing Triangle’s annual awards ceremony in New York City. Justin Chin, author of Gutted, won the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry. Jennifer Rose, author of Hometown for an Hour, won the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry. Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home, won the Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction. Kenji Yoshino, author Covering, won the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction. Martin Hyatt, author of A Scarecrow's Bible, won the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction. Nancy Bereano won a special Leadership award in recognition of her long and distinguished service to GLBT literature, especially while the head of Firebrand Books. Lisa Carey, author of Every Visible Thing, won the Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction. Christopher Bram, author of Exiles in America, won the Ferro-Grumley Award for Gay Fiction. The Robert Chesley Foundation Award for playwriting was shared by Eric Bentley (Lifetime Achievement Award) and Chris Weikel (Emerging Artist).
Lambda Literary Awards: The Lambda Literary Awards were presented May 31, 2007 in Manhattan. The winners are: Anthology: Love, Bourbon Street, edited by Greg Herren & Paul J. Willis. Arts & Culture: GAY L.A. by Lillian Faderman & Stuart Timmons. Bisexual: The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe by Nicole Kristal & Michael Szymanski. Children’s/Young Adult (tie): Full Spectrum, edited by David Levithan & Billy Merrell and Between Mom & Jo by Julie Anne Peters. Drama/Theater: 1001 Beds by Tim Miller. Humor: My Lucky Star by Joe Keenan. LGBT Nonfiction (tie): GAY L.A. by Lillian Faderman & Stuart Timmons and Different Daughters by Marcia M. Gallo. LGBT Studies: Their Own Receive Them Not by Horace L. Griffin. Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror: Izzy and Eve by Neal Drinnan. Spirituality: The After-Death Room by Michael McColly. Transgender: The Transgender Studies Reader, edited by Susan Stryker & Stephen Whittle. Lesbian Fiction: The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. Lesbian Romance: Fresh Tracks by Georgia Beers. Lesbian Mystery: The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King. Lesbian Poetry: Lemon Hound by Sina Queyras. Lesbian Memoir/Biography: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Lesbian Erotica: Walk Like a Man by Laurinda D. Brown. Lesbian Debut Fiction: The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery. Gay Fiction: Suspension by Robert Westfield. Gay Romance: When the Stars Come Out by Rob Byrnes. Gay Mystery: The Lucky Elephant Restaurant by Garry Ryan. Gay Poetry: A History of My Tattoo by Jim Elledge. Gay Memoir/Biography: The Bill From My Father by Bernard Cooper. Gay Erotica: A History of Barbed Wire by Jeff Mann. Gay Debut Fiction: Suspension by Robert Westfield.
Passages: Terry Ryan, author of the memoir The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, later turned into a movie starring Julianne Moore, about how her mother kept the family financially afloat by winning jingle contests, died May 16, 2007, of cancer. She was 61. Ryan was the sixth of ten children. She was born on July 14, 1946, in Defiance, Ohio. Growing up in the middle, with five brothers, she earned the nickname “Tuff.” In the late ‘60s, she earned her bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and moved to Chicago and later to San Francisco. She worked there as a writer and cartoonist and also reviewed books and wrote poetry. She wrote her mother’s life story after her death at the age of 85 in 1998. She is survived by editor Pat Holt, her partner of nearly a quarter century, and five brothers and four sisters.
Upcoming Readings: Contributors to Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys will read June 13 at A Different Light in Los Angeles, June 5th at the KGB Bar in Manhattan, June 19th at Borders Columbus Circle in Manhattan, and July 21 at Book Hampton in East Hampton. Lawrence Schimel will read from Fairy Tales for Writers June 3rd at Bluestockings Bookstore in New York City and will celebrate the release of The Mammoth Book of New Gay Erotica June 6th in Manhattan with Will Clark Presents Porno Bingo!
Kudos: Winners of the Arch and Bruce Brown Awards in Full-length fiction are: First Prize: Myrlin A. Hermes of Portland, Oregon for The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet. Second Place Award: Joy Shayne Laughter of Seattle, Washington for Yu and Dick Wagenaar of Newburgh, New York for Koryo. Third Place Award: M.M. DeVoe of New York, New York for Burn in Our Hearts. Moises Kaufman received the Immigration Equality’s Global Vision Award at the Safe Havens Awards in New York City, which is produced as a means to increase awareness of immigration issues for gay families. Among this year’s recipients of fellowships from New York Foundation for the Arts were Clifford Chase and Aaron Smith.
Publishing Triangle Awards: Andrew Holleran received the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement at the Publishing Triangle’s annual awards ceremony in New York City. Justin Chin, author of Gutted, won the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry. Jennifer Rose, author of Hometown for an Hour, won the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry. Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home, won the Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction. Kenji Yoshino, author Covering, won the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction. Martin Hyatt, author of A Scarecrow's Bible, won the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction. Nancy Bereano won a special Leadership award in recognition of her long and distinguished service to GLBT literature, especially while the head of Firebrand Books. Lisa Carey, author of Every Visible Thing, won the Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction. Christopher Bram, author of Exiles in America, won the Ferro-Grumley Award for Gay Fiction. The Robert Chesley Foundation Award for playwriting was shared by Eric Bentley (Lifetime Achievement Award) and Chris Weikel (Emerging Artist).
Lambda Literary Awards: The Lambda Literary Awards were presented May 31, 2007 in Manhattan. The winners are: Anthology: Love, Bourbon Street, edited by Greg Herren & Paul J. Willis. Arts & Culture: GAY L.A. by Lillian Faderman & Stuart Timmons. Bisexual: The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe by Nicole Kristal & Michael Szymanski. Children’s/Young Adult (tie): Full Spectrum, edited by David Levithan & Billy Merrell and Between Mom & Jo by Julie Anne Peters. Drama/Theater: 1001 Beds by Tim Miller. Humor: My Lucky Star by Joe Keenan. LGBT Nonfiction (tie): GAY L.A. by Lillian Faderman & Stuart Timmons and Different Daughters by Marcia M. Gallo. LGBT Studies: Their Own Receive Them Not by Horace L. Griffin. Sci-fi/Fantasy/Horror: Izzy and Eve by Neal Drinnan. Spirituality: The After-Death Room by Michael McColly. Transgender: The Transgender Studies Reader, edited by Susan Stryker & Stephen Whittle. Lesbian Fiction: The Night Watch by Sarah Waters. Lesbian Romance: Fresh Tracks by Georgia Beers. Lesbian Mystery: The Art of Detection by Laurie R. King. Lesbian Poetry: Lemon Hound by Sina Queyras. Lesbian Memoir/Biography: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel. Lesbian Erotica: Walk Like a Man by Laurinda D. Brown. Lesbian Debut Fiction: The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery. Gay Fiction: Suspension by Robert Westfield. Gay Romance: When the Stars Come Out by Rob Byrnes. Gay Mystery: The Lucky Elephant Restaurant by Garry Ryan. Gay Poetry: A History of My Tattoo by Jim Elledge. Gay Memoir/Biography: The Bill From My Father by Bernard Cooper. Gay Erotica: A History of Barbed Wire by Jeff Mann. Gay Debut Fiction: Suspension by Robert Westfield.
Passages: Terry Ryan, author of the memoir The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio, later turned into a movie starring Julianne Moore, about how her mother kept the family financially afloat by winning jingle contests, died May 16, 2007, of cancer. She was 61. Ryan was the sixth of ten children. She was born on July 14, 1946, in Defiance, Ohio. Growing up in the middle, with five brothers, she earned the nickname “Tuff.” In the late ‘60s, she earned her bachelor’s degree from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and moved to Chicago and later to San Francisco. She worked there as a writer and cartoonist and also reviewed books and wrote poetry. She wrote her mother’s life story after her death at the age of 85 in 1998. She is survived by editor Pat Holt, her partner of nearly a quarter century, and five brothers and four sisters.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
May Publishing Notes
The buzz: Disabled author Peggy Munson’s omission from the Lambda Literary Awards reading in San Francisco created a wave of e-mails, blogs, accusations, apologies, and articles, with Heather Cassell of the Bay Area Reporter filing a recent article in the weekly paper. Munson, the author of the novel Origami Striptease, nominated in the Lesbian Debut Fiction category, had been scheduled to appear via DVD when she was omitted from the event. Author Hanif Kureishi (My Beautiful Launderette) accused the BBC of censorship after Radio 4 dropped a broadcast of his short story “Weddings and Beheadings,” describing the work of a cameraman who films the executions of western captives in Iraq. Author David Sedaris weathered assertions in the New Republic that he has fictionalized his nonfiction. Author Robert Marshall filed an investigative report for Salon.com on how Carlos Castaneda passed off ten novels as works of nonfiction. Frontiers magazine has launched a series of audio walking tours of the gay and lesbian history of Los Angeles. Audio is available through the magazine’s Web site or iTunes. A plea for help on the myspace page for Chicago’s Women And Children First bookstore saved it from shutting down. Carol Seajay of Books to Watch Out For, a monthly subscription e-mail service about feminist, lesbian and gay books, has moved to England to be president and CEO of Mslexia, a quarterly magazine for women in the UK who write. A major archive of letters, photographs, handbills, manuscripts, publications and other materials gathered by activist, editor, and writer Barbara Gittings and her partner photojournalist and author Kay Tobin Lahusen have has been acquired by the New York Public Library. The Barbara Gittings and Kay Tobin Lahusen Gay History Papers and Photographs will be housed at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library’s manuscripts and archives division on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street.
The Gay Cannon: Gay.com/UK reported that Hal Gladfelder from the School of Arts, Histories, and Cultures of the University of Manchester has uncovered excerpts from a 258-year-old book written by Thomas Cannon, an Englishman thought to be the first advocate for gay rights. Gladfelder learned of the previously unnoticed tract while doing research at the British National Archive in Kew, outside London. The 3- by 5-foot scroll is a handwritten court indictment of the printer of a book titled Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplified. Written by Cannon in 1749 and suppressed immediately after publication, the book is an anthology of stories and philosophical texts in defense of male homosexuality. Gladfelder said, "This must be the first substantial treatment of homosexuality ever in English. The only other discussions of homosexuality were contained in violently moralistic and homophobic attacks or in trial reports for the crime of sodomy up to and beyond 1750." Gladfelder came across the scroll in a box of uncatalogued legal documents from 1750. No copies of the book itself are known, but the indictment scroll contained long extracts.
Nothing Routine About This: Amy Sorrell, 30, an Allen County, Indiana teacher for eight years, was put on paid leave in March following the publication of a pro-gay tolerance essay by sophomore Megan Chase in the Woodlan Junior-Senior High School Tomahawk (which Sorrell supervised). Following a warning for “insubordination” by the school’s principal, Sorrell was suspended from teaching and put under “investigation.” A recent report in the Indianapolis Star stated that Sorrell would be “transferred to another school and barred from teaching journalism for three years.” The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported that as part of the settlement reached with the county school officials, Sorrell, who had to issue an apology stating that she did not intend her actions or comments over the last three months to suggest that administrators were intolerant towards homosexuality, was also given a written reprimand for neglect of duty and insubordination. Administrators also stated by taking the issue to the media, it also inflamed what would have been just a routine personnel matter, turning it into a national story. District administrators have heard from people across the country on the issue in recent months, many who chastised and ridiculed them. At the recent Ball State University J-Day for student journalists, Sorrell’s students won the most awards in the district. The awards included a superior award for sophomore Megan Chase for the column that sparked the controversy.
Filed Under Missing: The Advocate reported that a man in Bentonville, Arkansas, the father of two teenage boys, aged 14 and 16, wanted $20,000 from the city after his sons found The Whole Lesbian Sex Book by Felice Newman on a public library bookshelf. The man also requested that the library director be fired. He stated that finding the books “greatly disturbed” his sons and that the book caused “many sleepless nights in our house.” The boys were reported searching for material on military academies. The man faxed a letter to the mayor of Bentonville, Bob McCaslin, which stated that the book is “patently offensive and lacks any artistic, literary, or scientific value.” The maximum amount that can be paid in damages for obscenity under Arkansas is $10,000 per victim. According to a report by KOCO TV in Oklahoma City, city attorney Camille Thompson dismissed the man’s claim as baseless because the book is not pornographic. "There is not a valid legal concern here," Thompson said. "In fact, [the request for money] made me question his motivation." Since the incident the library’s board voted to remove the book from circulation, with one board member saying the library would replace it with one that takes a more clinical approach. According to the article, the book has been deemed appropriate for public libraries by the trade publication Library Journal, which the Bentonville library consults to stock its stacks. The man wrote in an e-mail to KOCO TV that he would fight any effort to put the book back in circulation, threatening “legal action and protests from the Christian community.”
Kudos: Gore Vidal was the recipient of the PEN/Borders Literary Service Award. Allan Gurganus was recently inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Author Fenton Johnson received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Nonfiction. Marijane Meaker and Martin Duberman will receive the Pioneer Awards at the Lambda Literary Awards event on May 31, 2007 in New York City.
Open calls: Jesse Grant is seeking stories of up to 4000 words for Ultimate Gay Erotica 2008. Deadline is June 1, 2007 and stories can be e-mailed to alysonanthology@planetoutinc.com. Nicole Foster is editing the 2008 edition of Ultimate Lesbian Erotica. Deadline is June 1, 2007. Submissions can be sent to alysonanthology@planetoutinc.com. Dusk Peterson has started a subscription news and market report covering the growing markets of Original Slash, Femslash, Yaoi and Yuri titled The Slash Skinny. Visit the Web site http://www.duskpeterson.com/ for more details.
Passages: Writer, artist and gender activist kari edwards was honored at a memorial on Friday, April 27, 2007, at the San Francisco campus of the California College of the Arts, co-sponsored by the MFA Writing Program of CCA and by Small Press Traffic Literary Arts Center. A recent article in The Bay Area Reporter noted that edwards died on her 52nd birthday, December 2, 2006, of a pulmonary embolism. She had been seeking treatment for unexplained shortness of breath since October of last year; examinations revealed an enlarged heart but no known cause, and the blood clot was not evident in early X-rays. She was the author of obedience (Factory School, 2005), iduna (O Books, 2003), a day in the life of p. (subpress collective, 2002), a diary of lies – Belladonna #27 (Belladonna Books, 2002), and post/(pink) (Scarlet Press, 2000), and the forthcoming Having Been Blue for Charity (Blazebox press) and Bharat Jiva, a collection of her writings from her nine-month stay in India. Ms. edwards’s work can also be found in Scribner's The Best American Poetry (Scribner, 2004), Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action (Coffee House Press, 2004), Biting the Error: Writers Explore Narrative (Coach House, Toronto, 2004), and Bisexuality and Transgenderism: InterSEXions of the Others (Haworth Press, 2004). She was a winner of Small Press Traffic’s Book of the Year Award in 2004, and was a recipient of New Langton Art's Bay Area Award in literature in 2002. Born in Illinois and raised in Westfield, New York, edwards studied art and creativity, became a sculptural artist, and taught for many years in the art department at Denver University in Denver, Colorado. She left DU and began to transition to female in the early 1990s, then enrolled in the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado to pursue an advanced degree in psychology. She and her life partner Frances Blau moved to San Francisco in 2002. Edwards worked for New Leaf: Services for Our Community, as an intake coordinator, and was active in the local poetry community while doing transgender education for Bay Area agencies and schools. She also published the popular Transdada blog. In addition to Blau, edwards is survived by her parents, Bud and Marlene (Loomis) Robbins of Westfield, New York; her brother Scott Robbins, his wife Laurie, and their children, Katie and Andrew of Westfield.
The Gay Cannon: Gay.com/UK reported that Hal Gladfelder from the School of Arts, Histories, and Cultures of the University of Manchester has uncovered excerpts from a 258-year-old book written by Thomas Cannon, an Englishman thought to be the first advocate for gay rights. Gladfelder learned of the previously unnoticed tract while doing research at the British National Archive in Kew, outside London. The 3- by 5-foot scroll is a handwritten court indictment of the printer of a book titled Ancient and Modern Pederasty Investigated and Exemplified. Written by Cannon in 1749 and suppressed immediately after publication, the book is an anthology of stories and philosophical texts in defense of male homosexuality. Gladfelder said, "This must be the first substantial treatment of homosexuality ever in English. The only other discussions of homosexuality were contained in violently moralistic and homophobic attacks or in trial reports for the crime of sodomy up to and beyond 1750." Gladfelder came across the scroll in a box of uncatalogued legal documents from 1750. No copies of the book itself are known, but the indictment scroll contained long extracts.
Nothing Routine About This: Amy Sorrell, 30, an Allen County, Indiana teacher for eight years, was put on paid leave in March following the publication of a pro-gay tolerance essay by sophomore Megan Chase in the Woodlan Junior-Senior High School Tomahawk (which Sorrell supervised). Following a warning for “insubordination” by the school’s principal, Sorrell was suspended from teaching and put under “investigation.” A recent report in the Indianapolis Star stated that Sorrell would be “transferred to another school and barred from teaching journalism for three years.” The Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reported that as part of the settlement reached with the county school officials, Sorrell, who had to issue an apology stating that she did not intend her actions or comments over the last three months to suggest that administrators were intolerant towards homosexuality, was also given a written reprimand for neglect of duty and insubordination. Administrators also stated by taking the issue to the media, it also inflamed what would have been just a routine personnel matter, turning it into a national story. District administrators have heard from people across the country on the issue in recent months, many who chastised and ridiculed them. At the recent Ball State University J-Day for student journalists, Sorrell’s students won the most awards in the district. The awards included a superior award for sophomore Megan Chase for the column that sparked the controversy.
Filed Under Missing: The Advocate reported that a man in Bentonville, Arkansas, the father of two teenage boys, aged 14 and 16, wanted $20,000 from the city after his sons found The Whole Lesbian Sex Book by Felice Newman on a public library bookshelf. The man also requested that the library director be fired. He stated that finding the books “greatly disturbed” his sons and that the book caused “many sleepless nights in our house.” The boys were reported searching for material on military academies. The man faxed a letter to the mayor of Bentonville, Bob McCaslin, which stated that the book is “patently offensive and lacks any artistic, literary, or scientific value.” The maximum amount that can be paid in damages for obscenity under Arkansas is $10,000 per victim. According to a report by KOCO TV in Oklahoma City, city attorney Camille Thompson dismissed the man’s claim as baseless because the book is not pornographic. "There is not a valid legal concern here," Thompson said. "In fact, [the request for money] made me question his motivation." Since the incident the library’s board voted to remove the book from circulation, with one board member saying the library would replace it with one that takes a more clinical approach. According to the article, the book has been deemed appropriate for public libraries by the trade publication Library Journal, which the Bentonville library consults to stock its stacks. The man wrote in an e-mail to KOCO TV that he would fight any effort to put the book back in circulation, threatening “legal action and protests from the Christian community.”
Kudos: Gore Vidal was the recipient of the PEN/Borders Literary Service Award. Allan Gurganus was recently inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Author Fenton Johnson received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Nonfiction. Marijane Meaker and Martin Duberman will receive the Pioneer Awards at the Lambda Literary Awards event on May 31, 2007 in New York City.
Open calls: Jesse Grant is seeking stories of up to 4000 words for Ultimate Gay Erotica 2008. Deadline is June 1, 2007 and stories can be e-mailed to alysonanthology@planetoutinc.com. Nicole Foster is editing the 2008 edition of Ultimate Lesbian Erotica. Deadline is June 1, 2007. Submissions can be sent to alysonanthology@planetoutinc.com. Dusk Peterson has started a subscription news and market report covering the growing markets of Original Slash, Femslash, Yaoi and Yuri titled The Slash Skinny. Visit the Web site http://www.duskpeterson.com/ for more details.
Passages: Writer, artist and gender activist kari edwards was honored at a memorial on Friday, April 27, 2007, at the San Francisco campus of the California College of the Arts, co-sponsored by the MFA Writing Program of CCA and by Small Press Traffic Literary Arts Center. A recent article in The Bay Area Reporter noted that edwards died on her 52nd birthday, December 2, 2006, of a pulmonary embolism. She had been seeking treatment for unexplained shortness of breath since October of last year; examinations revealed an enlarged heart but no known cause, and the blood clot was not evident in early X-rays. She was the author of obedience (Factory School, 2005), iduna (O Books, 2003), a day in the life of p. (subpress collective, 2002), a diary of lies – Belladonna #27 (Belladonna Books, 2002), and post/(pink) (Scarlet Press, 2000), and the forthcoming Having Been Blue for Charity (Blazebox press) and Bharat Jiva, a collection of her writings from her nine-month stay in India. Ms. edwards’s work can also be found in Scribner's The Best American Poetry (Scribner, 2004), Civil Disobediences: Poetics and Politics in Action (Coffee House Press, 2004), Biting the Error: Writers Explore Narrative (Coach House, Toronto, 2004), and Bisexuality and Transgenderism: InterSEXions of the Others (Haworth Press, 2004). She was a winner of Small Press Traffic’s Book of the Year Award in 2004, and was a recipient of New Langton Art's Bay Area Award in literature in 2002. Born in Illinois and raised in Westfield, New York, edwards studied art and creativity, became a sculptural artist, and taught for many years in the art department at Denver University in Denver, Colorado. She left DU and began to transition to female in the early 1990s, then enrolled in the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado to pursue an advanced degree in psychology. She and her life partner Frances Blau moved to San Francisco in 2002. Edwards worked for New Leaf: Services for Our Community, as an intake coordinator, and was active in the local poetry community while doing transgender education for Bay Area agencies and schools. She also published the popular Transdada blog. In addition to Blau, edwards is survived by her parents, Bud and Marlene (Loomis) Robbins of Westfield, New York; her brother Scott Robbins, his wife Laurie, and their children, Katie and Andrew of Westfield.
Friday, March 30, 2007
April Publishing Notes
The buzz: The Outfest Legacy Project for LGBT Film Preservation—a joint effort between the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles gay and lesbian film festival, Outfest—received more than 1,500 films and 3,000 videos from One National Gay and Lesbian Archives, one of the oldest LGBT organizations in the Western Hemisphere. The films and videos include lectures of Malcom Boyd, Harry Hay, Evelyn Hooker, Morris Kight, and Steve Schulte. Jean Genet’s only film, Un Chant d’amour (1950), has been released on DVD from Cult Epics. The 25-minute silent film portrays a young hustler in prison. Alan Cumming will play the Scarecrow in the upcoming $19 million Sci Fi Channel miniseries The Tin Man, an adaptation of the L. Frank Baum story. Choreographer Matthew Bourne plans to give Romeo a male lover in his new ballet, Romeo, Romeo. Fifty-five year old author Terry McMillan is suing thirty-two year old former husband Jonathan Plummer for $40 million, alleging that he tried to smear her reputation during their highly publicized divorce. Perseus Books Group is launching a new imprint, Basic Ideas. One of their first titles up will be by Gary Indiana. Simon Spotlight will publish Lance Bass’s candid book about his life, Out of Sync, in October 2007. Henry Alford’s new, untitled book has been picked up by Twelve, an imprint of the Hachette Book Group. Carroll & Graf will issue a new novel by Dale Peck in September, The Garden of Lost and Found. Farrar, Straus & Giroux will issue a new young adult novel by Peter Cameron, SomedayThis Pain Will Be Useful to You. And Fun Home by Alison Bechdel has been returned to the shelves of the Marshall, Missouri public library after it was removed when local residents deemed it offensive at a public hearing.
Gay’s The Word: PinkNews.co.uk reported that London’s gay bookstore, Gay’s The Word, is facing closure unless it can raise £20,000 to pay back rent. The shop, located in the Bloomsbury district, first opened its doors in 1979. In an attempt to raise funds, the shop is offering people the chance to sponsor a shelf for £100. “It’s a case of use us or lose us. We are on the verge of closing. It’s tough trading for all independents,” manager Jim MacSweeney told The Times of London. “People came to us when we were the only shop selling gay literature. But times have changed.” To sponsor a shelf, send a cheque (payable to GTW), e-mail your card details or call 0207 278 7654. Your name/organization will be listed in-store as an official Friend of Gay’s The Word and sponsor. For more info e-mail ‘Cash for Honours’ to sales@gaystheword.co.uk.
Kudos: In May, The Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans will present their first “Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists’ Prizes” for LGBT writers. The inaugural honorees are Dorothy Allison and Jim Grimsley. Nighthawks by Evan Guilford Bates is the winner of the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival Playwright’s Contest. Dorothy Allison is also the recipient of the 2007 Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction and has been selected for membership in the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Julia Philips won the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography for James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon. Daniel Mendelsohn won for memoir/autobiography for The Lost. The Night Watch by Sara Waters was a finalist in the British Book of the Year Awards. The 19th Annual Triangle Awards will be presented on May 7 at the Tishman Auditorium of the New School for Social Research (66 West 12th Street in New York City) from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m, with a reception to follow. Andrew Holleran is the 2007 recipient of the Publishing Triangle’s Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement. Finalists for the Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction are: Fun Home by Alison Bechtel, Hit by a Farm by Catherine Friend, and Different Daughters by Marcia M. Gallo. Finalists for the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction are The Bill from My Father by Bernard Cooper, Butterfly Boy by Rigoberto González, and Covering by Kenji Yoshino. Finalists for the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry are The Domain of Perfect Affection by Robin Becker, Sleeping Upside Down by Kate Lynn Hibbard, and Hometown for an Hour by Jennifer Rose. Finalists for the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry are Gutted by Justin Chin, A History of My Tattoo by Jim Elledge, and The Eros Conspiracy by Greg Hewett. Finalists for the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction are A Scarecrow’s Bible by Martin Hyatt, The Zookeeper by Alex McLennan, and Tomorrow They Will Kiss by Eduardo Santiago. Finalists for the Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction are The Last Time I Saw You by Rebecca Brown, Every Visible Thing by Lisa Carey, and Bow Grip by Ivan E. Coyote. Finalists for the Ferro-Grumley Award for Gay Fiction are Exiles in America by Christopher Bram, A Scarecrow’s Bible by Martin Hyatt, and Alternatives to Sex by Stephen McCauley. This year’s co-winners of the Robert Chesley Foundation Awards are Eric Bentley (Lifetime Achievement Award) and Chris Weikel (Emerging Artist).
Open calls: Editor J.A. Deveaux is looking for stories for his anthology of queer-themed fantasy Touched, to be published by Haworth Press. Deadline is June 15, 2007. Stories should be between 3,000 to 5,000 words and should be mailed to Jeff Deveaux, Box 501, 1514 Bellevue Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122. ** Editor Sacchi Green is looking for stories for Time Well Bent: Queer Alternate History, an anthology of speculative fiction in the sub-genre of alternate history, to be published by Haworth Press. Deadline is June 30, 2007. Stories may be submitted to sacchi@sff.net.
Warning: Editorializing Ahead: Bravo to the national gay cable network Here! for withdrawing their support as a major sponsor of the recent GLAAD’s Media Awards and citing the organization’s failure to include and recognize gay programming in their nominations. Here! sent a letter to GLAAD saying that GLAAD’s policy is “archaic, short-sighted and ghettoizing,” and added “in the absence of strategic change from GLAAD, the organization’s largest event is on the verge of becoming irrelevant.” GLAAD, which was founded in 1985, has long served as a “watchdog” for the mainstream media depiction of GLBT characters and issues, and has achieved many significant strides in their notable history, including guiding The New York Times and other national news outlets in their editorial use of the word gay and including same-sex union announcements alongside other wedding listings. And GLAADD continues to express outrage and issue calls to action over the irresponsible comments of media darlings such as Ann Coulter. But in recent years the organization has gained more notoriety for its celebrity galas than for its policing efforts. While GLAAD has made several upgrades in their award recognitions and nominations in the past couple of years, including adding Spanish language categories, it still continues to ignore programs that have aired on a gay network and the gay media cannot submit programs for consideration. While the organization champions and awards the achievements in comic books and the theater, including off-off-Broadway theater, GLAAD has also continued to ignore the achievements of the GLBT press and queer publishing industry on both a local and national level, as if GLBT newspapers and queer books and lesbian novels and gay memoirs are not part of the larger media family (and this in an era where many gay newspapers and gay bookstores, part of our community’s greatest assets, are shuttering and closing their doors.) In its defense, GLAAD has created a catch-all category, a special award to honor the LGBT media — the Barbara Gittings Award — to recognize those who have made substantial contributions to the development of LGBT media. Among the past honorees were Logo, here!, Q Television, The Advocate, PlanetOut, and In the Life. Hopefully this year’s outcry over their narrow policies and exclusive awards will serve as a wake-up call to GLAAD to re-organize and re-envision itself to better serve and reflect the current GLBT community, though the future seems a bit dim if you regard a press release issued by the organization on March 23, 2007. The statement, issued by GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano, indicated that “for a short time in the late 1990s, GLAAD nominated and presented GLAAD Media Awards in LGBT media categories. This created significant tension in GLAAD’s relationship with LGBT media outlets. Many of the outlets believed that GLAAD shouldn’t be in the business of monitoring, evaluating and judging their work. That criticism, combined with the fact that the vast majority of LGBT outlets did not submit material for nomination, resulted in a decision to discontinue those awards in 1999. GLAAD reviewed this issue in mid-2006, and after consultation with a wide group of stakeholders — including representatives from LGBT broadcast media outlets — the GLAAD Board of Directors chose not to amend the existing position with regard to the GLAAD Media Awards program. This was communicated to all who were consulted in that process by August of 2006.” At the most recent GLAAD awards event in New York, 26 awards were handed out in 42 media categories. (Additional west coast awards ceremonies are planned for April in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and a May event is scheduled for Miami.) Honored in Manhattan were Patti LaBelle, Tom Ford, Kate Clinton, The Los Angeles Times, Frank Rich, and Project Runway. Rosie O’Donnell’s HBO documentary All Aboard! Rosie’s Family Cruise was honored as outstanding documentary and Details was also cited for its magazine coverage.
Gay’s The Word: PinkNews.co.uk reported that London’s gay bookstore, Gay’s The Word, is facing closure unless it can raise £20,000 to pay back rent. The shop, located in the Bloomsbury district, first opened its doors in 1979. In an attempt to raise funds, the shop is offering people the chance to sponsor a shelf for £100. “It’s a case of use us or lose us. We are on the verge of closing. It’s tough trading for all independents,” manager Jim MacSweeney told The Times of London. “People came to us when we were the only shop selling gay literature. But times have changed.” To sponsor a shelf, send a cheque (payable to GTW), e-mail your card details or call 0207 278 7654. Your name/organization will be listed in-store as an official Friend of Gay’s The Word and sponsor. For more info e-mail ‘Cash for Honours’ to sales@gaystheword.co.uk.
Kudos: In May, The Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans will present their first “Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists’ Prizes” for LGBT writers. The inaugural honorees are Dorothy Allison and Jim Grimsley. Nighthawks by Evan Guilford Bates is the winner of the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival Playwright’s Contest. Dorothy Allison is also the recipient of the 2007 Robert Penn Warren Award for Fiction and has been selected for membership in the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Julia Philips won the National Book Critics Circle Award in biography for James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon. Daniel Mendelsohn won for memoir/autobiography for The Lost. The Night Watch by Sara Waters was a finalist in the British Book of the Year Awards. The 19th Annual Triangle Awards will be presented on May 7 at the Tishman Auditorium of the New School for Social Research (66 West 12th Street in New York City) from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m, with a reception to follow. Andrew Holleran is the 2007 recipient of the Publishing Triangle’s Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement. Finalists for the Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction are: Fun Home by Alison Bechtel, Hit by a Farm by Catherine Friend, and Different Daughters by Marcia M. Gallo. Finalists for the Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction are The Bill from My Father by Bernard Cooper, Butterfly Boy by Rigoberto González, and Covering by Kenji Yoshino. Finalists for the Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry are The Domain of Perfect Affection by Robin Becker, Sleeping Upside Down by Kate Lynn Hibbard, and Hometown for an Hour by Jennifer Rose. Finalists for the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry are Gutted by Justin Chin, A History of My Tattoo by Jim Elledge, and The Eros Conspiracy by Greg Hewett. Finalists for the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction are A Scarecrow’s Bible by Martin Hyatt, The Zookeeper by Alex McLennan, and Tomorrow They Will Kiss by Eduardo Santiago. Finalists for the Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction are The Last Time I Saw You by Rebecca Brown, Every Visible Thing by Lisa Carey, and Bow Grip by Ivan E. Coyote. Finalists for the Ferro-Grumley Award for Gay Fiction are Exiles in America by Christopher Bram, A Scarecrow’s Bible by Martin Hyatt, and Alternatives to Sex by Stephen McCauley. This year’s co-winners of the Robert Chesley Foundation Awards are Eric Bentley (Lifetime Achievement Award) and Chris Weikel (Emerging Artist).
Open calls: Editor J.A. Deveaux is looking for stories for his anthology of queer-themed fantasy Touched, to be published by Haworth Press. Deadline is June 15, 2007. Stories should be between 3,000 to 5,000 words and should be mailed to Jeff Deveaux, Box 501, 1514 Bellevue Avenue, Seattle, WA 98122. ** Editor Sacchi Green is looking for stories for Time Well Bent: Queer Alternate History, an anthology of speculative fiction in the sub-genre of alternate history, to be published by Haworth Press. Deadline is June 30, 2007. Stories may be submitted to sacchi@sff.net.
Warning: Editorializing Ahead: Bravo to the national gay cable network Here! for withdrawing their support as a major sponsor of the recent GLAAD’s Media Awards and citing the organization’s failure to include and recognize gay programming in their nominations. Here! sent a letter to GLAAD saying that GLAAD’s policy is “archaic, short-sighted and ghettoizing,” and added “in the absence of strategic change from GLAAD, the organization’s largest event is on the verge of becoming irrelevant.” GLAAD, which was founded in 1985, has long served as a “watchdog” for the mainstream media depiction of GLBT characters and issues, and has achieved many significant strides in their notable history, including guiding The New York Times and other national news outlets in their editorial use of the word gay and including same-sex union announcements alongside other wedding listings. And GLAADD continues to express outrage and issue calls to action over the irresponsible comments of media darlings such as Ann Coulter. But in recent years the organization has gained more notoriety for its celebrity galas than for its policing efforts. While GLAAD has made several upgrades in their award recognitions and nominations in the past couple of years, including adding Spanish language categories, it still continues to ignore programs that have aired on a gay network and the gay media cannot submit programs for consideration. While the organization champions and awards the achievements in comic books and the theater, including off-off-Broadway theater, GLAAD has also continued to ignore the achievements of the GLBT press and queer publishing industry on both a local and national level, as if GLBT newspapers and queer books and lesbian novels and gay memoirs are not part of the larger media family (and this in an era where many gay newspapers and gay bookstores, part of our community’s greatest assets, are shuttering and closing their doors.) In its defense, GLAAD has created a catch-all category, a special award to honor the LGBT media — the Barbara Gittings Award — to recognize those who have made substantial contributions to the development of LGBT media. Among the past honorees were Logo, here!, Q Television, The Advocate, PlanetOut, and In the Life. Hopefully this year’s outcry over their narrow policies and exclusive awards will serve as a wake-up call to GLAAD to re-organize and re-envision itself to better serve and reflect the current GLBT community, though the future seems a bit dim if you regard a press release issued by the organization on March 23, 2007. The statement, issued by GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano, indicated that “for a short time in the late 1990s, GLAAD nominated and presented GLAAD Media Awards in LGBT media categories. This created significant tension in GLAAD’s relationship with LGBT media outlets. Many of the outlets believed that GLAAD shouldn’t be in the business of monitoring, evaluating and judging their work. That criticism, combined with the fact that the vast majority of LGBT outlets did not submit material for nomination, resulted in a decision to discontinue those awards in 1999. GLAAD reviewed this issue in mid-2006, and after consultation with a wide group of stakeholders — including representatives from LGBT broadcast media outlets — the GLAAD Board of Directors chose not to amend the existing position with regard to the GLAAD Media Awards program. This was communicated to all who were consulted in that process by August of 2006.” At the most recent GLAAD awards event in New York, 26 awards were handed out in 42 media categories. (Additional west coast awards ceremonies are planned for April in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and a May event is scheduled for Miami.) Honored in Manhattan were Patti LaBelle, Tom Ford, Kate Clinton, The Los Angeles Times, Frank Rich, and Project Runway. Rosie O’Donnell’s HBO documentary All Aboard! Rosie’s Family Cruise was honored as outstanding documentary and Details was also cited for its magazine coverage.
Friday, March 02, 2007
Thursday, January 25, 2007
February Publishing Notes
The buzz: The New York Daily News reported Elton John is interested in bringing an Australian stage musical version of the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to Broadway and London theaters. Tea and Sympathy, the Robert Anderson play about a lonely, misunderstood boarding-school boy that opened on Broadway in 1953, will be revived for a limited engagement run by the off-Broadway Keen Company in March. Author and actor Alan Cumming married his American boyfriend, illustrator Grant Shaffer, in a civil ceremony in London in January. Lily Tomlin will star in a comedy series for HBO titled 12 Miles of Bad Road, which will also feature author and actor Leslie Jordan as Tomlin’s cousin. The cable channel Logo is releasing a full-length theatrical film based on its hit series Noah's Arc. Author and blogger Andrew Sullivan has left the Time building and is now blogging for The Atlantic, where he is also now a senior editor. Dina Matos McGreevey, the estranged wife of former New Jersey governor James E. McGreevey, is writing a memoir titled Silent Partner, scheduled to be published this spring by Hyperion Books. STARbooks Press will be carving an erotic horror niche with two upcoming books by new gay authors: The Werewolves of Central Park by Tom Cardamone and Closet Monsters by Daniel W. Kelly. Author Kirk Read will be blogging about his adventures with the 31-city tour of the Sex Workers Art Show at http://www.queercity.com/news/columnists/details/9. Bantam Dell has acquired Eden Bradley's The Principles of Lust, about a sociology professor who teaches a course in Alternative Sexuality, but never dares to explore her own desires until she begins an affair with one of her students; along with Exotica: Seven Days of Kama Sutra & Nine Days of Arabian Nights, about two women who reaffirm an old friendship while they each explore their most secret desires at an exclusive fantasy resort for women And in the wake of the AMS bankruptcy filing, Avalon Publishing Group, which includes Carroll & Graf, will be acquired by the Perseus Book Group. Perseus is also offering distribution deals to the former PGW clients, several of which are independent GLBT publishers.
Kudos: Naomi Alderman was a finalist for the new $100,000 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, administered by the Jewish Book Council, for her novel Disobedience. Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Robert Trachetenberg, Esera Tuaolo, Wayne Hoffman, and Kate Bornstein made the “Favorite Authors List” of Derek & Romaine’s Queer Favorite Awards on Sirius satellite radio’s GLBT station OutQ. Raymond Luczak is the winner of the Project QueerLit II contest for his novel Men with Their Hands. The finalists were My Hero: A Wild Boy’s Tale by Tristram Burden, Initiate’s Rise by Debra Hyde, Mono No Aware (The Sorrow of Things) by Bianca Jarvis, The Fluidity of Angels by Jeff Leavell, and Loop by Scott Waller. Louis Bayard has been nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Novel by the Mystery Writers of America for The Pale Blue Eye. Among the National Book Critics Circle finalists for Memoir/Autobiography are Alison Bechdel for Fun Home, Daniel Mendelsohn for The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, and Teri Jentz for Strange Piece of Paradise. Bruce Bawer was nominated in the Criticism category for While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West From Within. The American Library Association Stonewall Book Awards are: Barbara Gittings Literature Award: Andrew Holleran, Grief; Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award: Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic; The Stonewall honor books in literature are: The Manny Files by Christian Burch, The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, Rose of No Man's Land: A Novel by Michelle Tea, A Scarecrow's Bible by Martin Hyatt. The Stonewall honor books in non-fiction are: Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights by Kenji Yoshino, Gay Power: An American Revolution by David Eisenbach, Male-Male Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic Friendships by William Benemann, Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir by Kevin Jennings. And Melissa Etheridge is an Oscar nominee for the song “I Need to Wake Up” from the documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
Open calls: Brad Nichols is editing the next edition of Alyson’s Best Gay Love Stories. The theme is “Summer Flings.” Length is 4000 words. Deadline is March 15, 2007. Submit all original stories as a Word document attachment to lovestories@alyson.com. ** Simone Thorne is editing Alyson’s Best Lesbian Love Stories. The theme is also “Summer Flings.” Deadline is March 15, 2007 and submissions should be sent to lovestories@alyson.com. ** Editor Sassafras Lowrey is looking for submissions for BIG & little: An Anthology of Age Play Dynamics, to be published by Nazca Plains Corporation. Word limit is 2500 words. Deadline is May 1, 2007. E-mail submissions to: BIGandlittle_anthology@yahoo.com. ** Submissions are being sought for the anthology ’Tinting the Lens’ in "Trans" Communities to be published by Homofacturs Press. Deadline is May 1, 2007. Submissions can be sent to meforreal@homofactuspress.com. ** Jim McDonough, who runs the Web site http://www.queerwriters.com/, has begun posting links of GLBT writers and writing resources. E-mail him your URL at info@queerwriters.com to post. ** Deadline for the Rauxa Prize is August 15, 2007. The prize honors the best erotic short story published between August 2006 and July 2007. To nominate stories, e-mail submissions to: rauxaprize@yahoo.com.
Book drive: Waltham House, an LGBT group home for youth ages 14-18 in Boston is in need of books. They are looking specifically for books by, about and/or for intersex, transgender, and LGB folks. This includes fiction and non-fiction, chapbooks, biographies, how-to, magazines, comics, zines, films (can only be G, PG or PG-13), cds (spoken word and music). They welcome everything from art and photography books to sex manuals. Contact: Ariel Berman, aberman@thehome.org.
Kudos: Naomi Alderman was a finalist for the new $100,000 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, administered by the Jewish Book Council, for her novel Disobedience. Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Robert Trachetenberg, Esera Tuaolo, Wayne Hoffman, and Kate Bornstein made the “Favorite Authors List” of Derek & Romaine’s Queer Favorite Awards on Sirius satellite radio’s GLBT station OutQ. Raymond Luczak is the winner of the Project QueerLit II contest for his novel Men with Their Hands. The finalists were My Hero: A Wild Boy’s Tale by Tristram Burden, Initiate’s Rise by Debra Hyde, Mono No Aware (The Sorrow of Things) by Bianca Jarvis, The Fluidity of Angels by Jeff Leavell, and Loop by Scott Waller. Louis Bayard has been nominated for an Edgar Award for Best Novel by the Mystery Writers of America for The Pale Blue Eye. Among the National Book Critics Circle finalists for Memoir/Autobiography are Alison Bechdel for Fun Home, Daniel Mendelsohn for The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, and Teri Jentz for Strange Piece of Paradise. Bruce Bawer was nominated in the Criticism category for While Europe Slept: How Radical Islam Is Destroying the West From Within. The American Library Association Stonewall Book Awards are: Barbara Gittings Literature Award: Andrew Holleran, Grief; Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award: Alison Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic; The Stonewall honor books in literature are: The Manny Files by Christian Burch, The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, Rose of No Man's Land: A Novel by Michelle Tea, A Scarecrow's Bible by Martin Hyatt. The Stonewall honor books in non-fiction are: Covering: The Hidden Assault on Our Civil Rights by Kenji Yoshino, Gay Power: An American Revolution by David Eisenbach, Male-Male Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic Friendships by William Benemann, Mama's Boy, Preacher's Son: A Memoir by Kevin Jennings. And Melissa Etheridge is an Oscar nominee for the song “I Need to Wake Up” from the documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
Open calls: Brad Nichols is editing the next edition of Alyson’s Best Gay Love Stories. The theme is “Summer Flings.” Length is 4000 words. Deadline is March 15, 2007. Submit all original stories as a Word document attachment to lovestories@alyson.com. ** Simone Thorne is editing Alyson’s Best Lesbian Love Stories. The theme is also “Summer Flings.” Deadline is March 15, 2007 and submissions should be sent to lovestories@alyson.com. ** Editor Sassafras Lowrey is looking for submissions for BIG & little: An Anthology of Age Play Dynamics, to be published by Nazca Plains Corporation. Word limit is 2500 words. Deadline is May 1, 2007. E-mail submissions to: BIGandlittle_anthology@yahoo.com. ** Submissions are being sought for the anthology ’Tinting the Lens’ in "Trans" Communities to be published by Homofacturs Press. Deadline is May 1, 2007. Submissions can be sent to meforreal@homofactuspress.com. ** Jim McDonough, who runs the Web site http://www.queerwriters.com/, has begun posting links of GLBT writers and writing resources. E-mail him your URL at info@queerwriters.com to post. ** Deadline for the Rauxa Prize is August 15, 2007. The prize honors the best erotic short story published between August 2006 and July 2007. To nominate stories, e-mail submissions to: rauxaprize@yahoo.com.
Book drive: Waltham House, an LGBT group home for youth ages 14-18 in Boston is in need of books. They are looking specifically for books by, about and/or for intersex, transgender, and LGB folks. This includes fiction and non-fiction, chapbooks, biographies, how-to, magazines, comics, zines, films (can only be G, PG or PG-13), cds (spoken word and music). They welcome everything from art and photography books to sex manuals. Contact: Ariel Berman, aberman@thehome.org.
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