Beloved Novelist Gloria Naylor, 66, has Died
Ebony is reporting that author Gloria
Appreciations: Derrick Austin’s “Summertime”
Every month, “Appreciations” looks closely at a poem or poems from recently-published books by LGBTQ poets
Historian and LGBT Biographer Stephen Maglott, 58, has Died
Stephen Maglott, a dedicated chronicler of LGBT lives, has died
‘Another Brooklyn’ by Jacqueline Woodson
Another Brooklyn is an absorbing, lyrical, beautifully written novel, which quietly draws the reader into its story of four friends “sharing the weight of growing up girl in Brooklyn” in the 1970s
‘Not Straight, Not White: Black Gay Men from the March on Washington to the AIDS Crisis’ by Kevin J. Mumford
The book is deeply engaged in answering the question, not posed in the title, but hinted at, “What does it mean for a group of people with neither white, masculine, nor heterosexual privilege to find a political voice?”
Read an Excerpt From Joe Okonkwo’s New Novel ‘Jazz Moon’
Jazz Moon is an evocative novel that maps one character’s journey of self-discovery during the height of the Jazz Age
Darryl Pinckney: On His Novel ‘Black Deutschland’ and the Complexities of Gay Desire
“It used to be that if you told your parents that you were gay, they imagined you were living these aimless nights of danger. Now you tell your parents that you are gay, and they want to meet your boyfriend.”
‘The Collected Black Gay Boy Fantasy #1’ by Victor Hodge
Black Gay Boy Fantasy follows the story of Neil Jordan’s gay coming of age
How the Words of Nikky Finney Help Get Us Through Breaking Up & Breaking Down
Candice Iloh on how the work of the poet Nikky Finney can help us navigate through the world
“Bendova Like I Told Ya”: Big Freedia and the Healing Power of Contradiction
Ease with contradiction would appear to be a kind of puckish response to systemic disenfranchisement
‘Counternarratives’ by John Keene
The remarkable thing about this kind of book–this expansive, wide-reaching book–is that the writer expects the reader to be as well-read as they are, or to at least engage with the text in an intentional way
Kevin Coval, Quraysh Ali Lansana, and Nate Marshall: On the Queer Aspects of Hip Hop
“I think the reality of hip hop is that women and queer people and a lot of folks who we think about being in the margins have always been at the center of the culture.”
John Keene: On Hidden Histories and Why Writing Against Official Narratives is Queer
John Keene spoke with The Lambda Literary Review about his new book,Counternarratives, hidden histories, and merging fiction with reality
Writer, Actor, and LGBT Advocate Nathan ‘Seven’ Scott, 44, Has Died
Nathan ‘Seven’ Scott, a beloved LGBT advocate, writer, and multimedia artist has died
Author Craig Gidney on Illuminating Race and Diversity in Speculative Fiction
“‘Death and Two Maidens’ was my response to my research on African-descended Victorians. I wanted to write a penny dreadful story that went beyond the usual (pale-skinned) cast.”
Brontez Purnell: On His New Book ‘The Cruising Diaries,’ Silencing the Critics, and the Joys of Writing About Sex
“I like writing in a way that can sometimes be dark yet still be generous to the human condition…”
Read Jericho Brown’s Introduction to ‘Prime: Poetry & Conversation’
“For a poem to coalesce, for a character or an action to take shape, there has to be an imaginative transformation of reality which is in no way passive.”
Remembering Assotto Saint: A Fierce and Fatal Vision
“[Saint] knew he had to chronicle the black gay voices of AIDS or they would be lost. He had to collect the bits and pieces that would create a different kind of names quilt–the angry verses, the embittered stanzas, the breathy last couplets of the dying.”
Cheryl Clarke’s ‘Living as a Lesbian’: The Wherewithal to Tell It as It Is
“Clarke is a provocative poet who never asks permission to make her voice heard.”
Read an Excerpt from Alexis De Veaux’s New Book ‘Yabo’
Yabo lyrically maps the spiritual and physical borders between love, passion, sexuality, and gender.
The First Annual E. Lynn Harris Award for Excellence in Black LGBT Short Fiction
In honor of the late novelist E. Lynn Harris, author of ten bestselling novels, the E. Lynn Harris Award for Excellence in Black LGBT Short Fiction recognizes outstanding work by a Black LGBT writer under 35 whose work incorporates queer themes.
Divisions and Connections in Queerdom: A Conversation Between Rickey Laurentiis and Darrel Alejandro Holnes
In this in-depth discussion, poets Rickey Laurentiis and Darrel Alejandro Holnes examine categorization in the NYC social scene and in queer literature today.
The Poem. The Poet. The People. Queer Women Poets On The Road: Revival 2012.
“A salon-styled tour of queer women artists, The Revival, is a literary search for those people, those women like me who don’t quite fit in where we’re supposed to. With dynamic performances from poets and musicians alike, The Revival weaves a night of artistry, libations and genuine fellowship. “
Shawn C. Nabors: To Love and Be Loved
“I’ve really had to dig deep to bring to the fore situations that society may be afraid to confront like two young black men openly expressing their sexual selves on stage.”
Shawn C. Nabors is a young emerging actor, playwright and poet from Brooklyn. His first play, deliciously titled Cake, will appear Off-Broadway this summer at the American Theatre of Actors. We’ve reached out to Shawn to learn more about the play and his artistic self.
‘Black Marks on White Paper’ by Michelle Antoinette Nelson (Love the Poet)
On the page, Love’s poems remind you that rhyme is the root word for rhythm. Contemporary poetry may have long shied away from the limits of rhyme, but Love’s wordplay is refreshing, executed with precision and a clear, performable quality. All of her poems have a direct relationship with their audience, relying on a rich sense of community instead of any writer-reader barrier.
Brontez Purnell: Love, Compassion, and Rock & Roll
‘I basically wanted to do a zine that reflected what I was feeling at the time. With Fag School, I hadn’t really seen a zine or at least a personal gay zine that dealt with the difficult subject of gay sex with both humor and frank talk. It covered some real issues. Race, the condom code…”
