Fifty Gay and Lesbian Books Everybody Must Read (Alyson Books)

New writing from LGBT writers, curated and hosted by our staffer Noel Alumit.

This month, we're hosting a launch party for the new anthology Fifty Gay and Lesbian Books Everybody Must Read, a collection of 50 essays by critics, public figures, and authors about the LGBT titles that have meant a lot to them, and why everyone (of any and all sexualities) should read them, too.

Our event will feature contributors Felice Picano, Fenton Johnson, Matias Viegner, and Promising Series host and curator Noel Alumit.

Felice Picano is the author of 19 books, including the international bestsellers The Book of Lies and Like People in History. He also wrote the acclaimed literary memoirs Ambidextrous, Men Who Loved Me, and A House on the Ocean, A House on the Bay. He has been nominated for a PEN/Hemingway award, several Lambda Literary Awards, and is a recipient of the Ferro-Grumley award for fiction.

Fenton Johnson is the author of two novels, Crossing the River and Scissors, Paper, Rock as well as Geography of the Heart: A Memoir. His most recent book is Keeping Faith: A Skeptic's Journey among Christian and Buddhist Monks. Johnson has served as a regular contributor to Harper's Magazine and the New York Times Magazine. His stories and essays have appeared in many literary quarterlies and have received numerous awards, among them a James Michener Fellowship from the Iowa Writers Workshop and National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Fellowships in both fiction and creative nonfiction.

Matias Viegner is a Los Angeles based writer, artist and critic who works alone and collaboratively in writing, video, installation and performance art. He has shown solo work or performed at The Whitney Museum, The Kitchen and The Drawing Center in New York, LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions), New Langton Arts in San Francisco, Beyond Baroque, Machine Project, the L.A. Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), The Silver Lake Film Festival, and the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art.

Noël Alumit wrote the novels Letters to Montgomery Clift and Talking to the Moon. His solo shows are The Rice Room: Scenes from a Bar and Master of the (Miss) Universe. www.thelastnoel.blogspot.com

50 Gay and Lesbian Books Everybody Must Read (Paperback)

By Richard Canning

$16.95

ISBN-13: 9781593501198
Availability: In the Warehouse (Usually ships to store or customer in 2-7 days. Call for time-sensitive orders)
Published: Alyson Books, 11/2009

Gay topics have been central to most national literary traditions, whether in fiction, memoir, drama, or verse. Yet "crossover" success stories are remarkably few, as are works of literature about gay subjects, written by heterosexual authors. Furthermore, openly gay-themed books tend to get passed over in favor of works more evidently addressing "universal" or "mainstream" concerns. No longer: Here's the book that cues you in to the essential titles in the gay and lesbian literary canon. Edited by Richard Canning, with a foreword from renowned literary critic Harold Bloom, this volume contains fifty succinct essays by critics, public figures, and authors. They illuminate works by fifty men and women that everybody should read. Canning tackles important themes, issues of regional and cultural diversity, political aspects, and analyses of that old chestnut: What makes a work of literature gay or lesbian? Don't expect a definitive answer. Do expect to learn why these titles are must-reads. Rearrange your shelves, book-club lists, and expectations. Whether your preference is for Ginsberg or Woolf or Melville, this is one volume no bookworm--straight or gay--should miss out on.

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