Pl Burston's top 10 gay fictn books | Books | The Guardian

Contents:

• 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL GAY AUTHORS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
• 10 OF THE BT MORN NOVELS WRTEN BY LGBTQ WRERS LGBTQ HEADG | © DANIELLE BRISENO/FLICKR JW MCCORMACK 01 DECEMBER 2017 COPY LK FACEBOOK EMAIL TWTER PTERT NO LIST OF LGBTQ WRERS N CLAIM TO BE EXHSTIVE, AS THE HISTORY OF QUEER WRG IS THE STORY OF LERATURE SELF, OM THE VERY FIRST NOVEL, SATYRIN BY PETRONI, BEG A MASTERPIECE OF GAY THEM. SUCCSORS CLU EVERYONE OM JEAN GE AND WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS TO ARMISTEAD MP’S TAL OF THE CY AND E.M. FORSTER, WHOSE MRICE HAD TO WA TO BE PUBLISHED POSTHUMOLY 1971. BUT EVEN THE MORN VANGUARD OF LGBTQ THORS HAS HAD TO NTEND WH CHANGG SOCIAL MOR, CENSORSHIP, AND EVEN ATH UNTRI WHERE HOMOSEXUALY IS STILL ILLEGAL OR OTHERWISE DANGERO. THE NTEMPORARY WORKS GIVE A TASTE OF THE RICHNS AND SOCIAL RELEVANCE OF MORN LGBTQ LERATURE BY WRERS WHO HAVE BORNE THEIR SOULS, SOMETIM AT GREAT PERSONAL RISK, RULTG ONE OF THE MOST IMMEDIATE BODI OF LERATURE THE WORLD TODAY. VIEW ALL TRIPS INFILS BY ABLLAH TAïA A LEADG WRER OF THE ARAB WORLD, MOROCN-BORN ABLLAH TAïA HAS CHALLENGED THE PREJUDIC OF HIS HOME UNTRY AS BOTH WRER AND FILM DIRECTOR. INFILS SCRIB THE GRADUAL RADILIZATN OF A PROSTUTE’S SON WHO FDS LOVE THE MLIM WORLD. FOR THE TIME BEG, MAY WELL BE HIS MASTERPIECE, PECIALLY IMPRSIVE GIVEN THAT SAME-SEX LOVE HAS BEEN ILLEGAL MOROC SCE 1962. TAKE A SP TO FD YOUR PERFECT SMALL-GROUP TRIP STATN PASSPORTS READY? YOUR NEXT STATN IS... VIEW TRIP SP ICELAND THAILAND SOUTH AI CROATIA MEXI EGYPT GREECE ECUADOR MOROC TURKEY JAPAN BALI SPA INDIA COURTY OF SEVEN STORI PRS THE WALK- CLOSET BY ABDI NAZEMIAN BORN IRAN, ADBI NAZEMIAN NOW WORKS AS A SCREENWRER L.A., BUT NTU TO RETURN TO PERSIAN THEM, AS THE LAMBDA LERARY AWARD-WNG THE WALK- CLOSET OM 2015, WHICH A WOMAN POS AS HER GAY BT IEND’S GIRLIEND. ONE OF THE FIRST NOVELS OM IRAN TO AL EXPLICLY WH GAY THEM, IS A TREASURE OF A NOVEL AND A TTAMENT TO THE URAGE OF S THOR, WHOSE HOME UNTRY ALS HARSHLY WH S HOMOSEXUAL POPULATN, THE VERY EXISTENCE OF WHICH WAS NIED BY PRINT MAHMOUD AHMADEJAD 2007. COURTY OF CURTIS BROWN DIGAL A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD BY MICHAEL CUNNGHAM MA TO A FILM WH COL FERRELL 2004, A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD IS THE PRECSOR OF MICHAEL CUNNGHAM’S PULZER PRIZE-WNG THE HOURS. IT ALS WH AN AD-HOC FAY PRISED OF BOBBY AND JONATHAN, TWO CLEVELAND OH-BORN MEN, AND CLARE, THE MOTHER OF BOBBY’S CHILD. ALL THREE CI TO LIVE AS A THREOME A UNTRY HOME OUTSI OF NEW YORK, CHALLENGG TRADNAL NOTNS OF THE FAY THROUGH THEIR LOVG, POLYAMORO RELATNSHIP. EPIC MOROCCO FROM ANCIENT CI TO THE SAHARA, EMBRACE CULTURAL RICH AND ENCHANTG LANDSP NORTH AI. VIEW TRIP COURTY OF PIDOR FUN HOME BY ALISON BECHL AN TOBGRAPHIL GRAPHIC NOVEL THAT WON ALISON BECHL A MACARTHUR GENI GRANT AND THE BASIS OF A BROADWAY MIL, FUN HOME IS THE STORY OF THE CHILDREN OF A FUNERAL DIRECTOR FATHER, HIMSELF A CLOSETED HOMOSEXUAL, AND THE YOUNG ALISON’S OWN STGGL WH SEXUAL INTY. IF THAT’S NOT ENOUGH, BECHL IS ALSO THE ORIGATOR OF THE “BECHL TT,” APPLIED TO WORKS OF FICTN WHERE TWO WOMEN TALK ABOUT SOMETHG OTHER THAN A MAN. COURTY OF MARER BOOKS MUNDO CEL BY LUIS NEGRóN LUIS NEGRóN’S STORY LLECTN MUNDO CEL ADDRS THE TIGHT-KN WORLD OF PUERTO RIN GAY CULTURE. TRANSGRSIVE AND SPARSE, S STORI ADD UP TO A POSE PORTRA OF AN UNRREPRENTED BUT VIBRANT MOGRAPHIC AND THEIR STGGL WH PREJUDICE. NEGRóN HAS GONE ON TO NTRIBUTE TO THE VISIBILY OF QUEERNS HIS HOME UNTRY AS -EDOR OF THE ANTHOLOGY LOS OTROS CUERPOS. BEE A CULTURE TRIPPER! SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER TO SAVE UP TO 40% ON OUR UNIQUE TRIPS. SIGN UP SEE PRIVACY POLICY. COURTY OF SEVEN STORI PRS FGERSMH BY SARAH WATERS SARAH WATERS HAS DONE AN ENORMO SERVICE TO LERATURE, GAY AND OTHERWISE, WH HER EXPLORATNS OF LBIAN LOVE VICTORIAN SOCIETY. PERHAPS THE BT OF THE IS FGERSMH, A RIVETG HISTORIL ADVENTURE NOVEL OF TWO WOMEN WHO REBEL AGAST THEIR STRICT SOCIETY, MEMORABLY ADAPTED TO THE SOUTH KOREAN FEATURE FILM THE HANDMAIN 2016. COURTY OF RIVERHEAD BOOKS EXQUISE CORPSE BY POPPY Z. BRE PROOF THAT QUEER NOVELS KNOW NO GENRE NSTRATS, TRANSMAN BILLY MART WROTE THE EROTIC HORROR NOVEL EXQUISE CORPSE AS POPPY Z. BRE. THE STORY OF A SERIAL KILLER REMBLG REAL-LIFE KILLER JEFEY DAHMER WHO FALLS LOVE WH AN HIV-POSIVE RAD HOSE. CHALLENGG AND VLENT, AL EXPLICLY WH THE QUTNS OF VICTIMHOOD RAISED BY SAN SONTAG HER LANDMARK AIDS AND ITS METAPHORS. COURTY OF TOUCHSTONE ORANG ARE NOT THE ONLY F BY JEATE WTERSON IT’S HARD TO CHOOSE A FAVORE AMONG JEATE WTERSON’S ENERGIZG OVRE, EQUENTLY NCERNED WH LBIAN ROMANCE, BUT HER FIRST, THE TOBGRAPHIL NOVEL ORANG ARE NOT THE ONLY F, GETS HIGH MARKS FOR S PORTRA OF A RELIGLY-RAISED YOUNG GIRL’S FIRST BSH WH LOVE AND HER REBELLN AGAST THE MUNY THAT THREATENS TO SUFFOTE BOTH HER ARTISTIC AMBNS—THROUGH METHODS WHICH CLU EXORCISM—AND HER YEARNGS FOR OTHER WOMEN. COURTY OF GROVE PRS VALENCIA BY MICHELLE TEA MICHELLE TEA IS A PROLIFIC AND BELOVED THOR WHO HAS WRTEN EXTENSIVELY ON BLUE-LLAR QUEER THEM. BUT HER BREAKTHROUGH, ARGUABLY, MAY BE 2000’S VALENCIA, WHICH BRGS TO LIFE SAN FRANCIS’S THRIVG GAY SUBCULTURE, PICTG SADO-MASOCHISM AND G-OF-AGE STORI THROUGH TWENTY-ONE VIGTE-LIKE CHAPTERS WHERE WE MEET SUCH CHARACTERS AS THE TROSPECTIVE POET WILLA AND IRIS, A SOUTHERN-RAISED BUTCH ADAPTG TO LIFE THE CY. COURTY OF SEAL PRS SPHX BY ANNE GARRéTA ORIGALLY PUBLISHED FRANCE 1986 AND TRANSLATED TO ENGLISH 2015, SPHX IS A RAVISHG EXPERIMENTAL NOVEL WRTEN WH AN GEN SELF-IMPOSED RTRAT: THE GENR OF THE PRCIPAL CHARACTERS IS NEVER DISCLOSED, REFERRED TO ONLY AS “I” AND A***. THE RULT IS A TOUR FORCE OF STYLE AND AN EXQUISE, MOVG ROMANCE STORY. COURTY OF DEEP VELLUM PUBLISHG VOLNIC ICELAND EPIC TRIP MEET OUR LOL INSIR HANNA HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A GUIDE? 2 YEARS. WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB? IT'S THE PERSONAL NTACT, THE PERSONAL EXPERIENC. I LOVE MEETG PEOPLE OM ALL OVER THE WORLD... I REALLY LIKE GETTG TO KNOW EVERYONE AND FEELG LIKE I'M TRAVELG WH A GROUP OF IENDS. WHAT DESTINATION IS ON YOUR TRAVEL BUCKET-LIST? I HAVE SO MANY PLAC ON MY LIST, BUT I WOULD REALLY LOBE TO GO TO AI. I NSIR MYSELF AN “ADVENTURE GIRL” AND AI FEELS LIKE THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE! EVERY CULTURE TRIP SMALL-GROUP ADVENTURE IS LED BY A LOL INSIR JT LIKE HANNA. SEE OUR CULTURE TRIPS KEEN TO EXPLORE THE WORLD?
• PL BURSTON'S TOP 10 GAY FICTN BOOKS
• CLASSIC GAY MALE LERATURE

25 MOST INFLUENTIAL GAY AUTHORS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

Their varly humane and hilar portras of queerns and same-sex love and lt—and the everyday liv of those who experience them—are illumatg, whether you’re gay, straight, or somewhere between.

Meticuloly rearched and ttly plotted, books such as The Last of the We (1956) and The Persian Boy (1972) naturalistilly pict gay love agast a vivid, betifully renred backdrop of war and polil BaldwJam BaldwUPI/Bettmann ArchiveBaldw’s semal novel Gvanni’s Room (1956), about a tragic love affair between a nfed Amerin man and his Italian boyiend Paris, unflchgly exam the societal prejudic that kept (and ntue to keep) many people om acknowledgg their sexual AokiAoki is an Amerin wrer of Japane scent who is bt known for her llectns, cludg Seasonal Veloci (2012) and Why Dt Shall Never Settle upon This Soul (2015), and her novels, cludg He Mele a Hilo (2014) and Light om Unmon Stars (2021). Michael ChabonChabon has long had a gay followg due to his 1988 novel The Mysteri of Ptsburgh, which featur a protagonist who has both homosexual and heterosexual enunters. Many of his later works feature gay characters, though their sexualy is ambient rather than LorLor’s wrg reflects her experience as a Black lbian and a mother.

10 OF THE BT MORN NOVELS WRTEN BY LGBTQ WRERS LGBTQ HEADG | © DANIELLE BRISENO/FLICKR JW MCCORMACK 01 DECEMBER 2017 COPY LK FACEBOOK EMAIL TWTER PTERT NO LIST OF LGBTQ WRERS N CLAIM TO BE EXHSTIVE, AS THE HISTORY OF QUEER WRG IS THE STORY OF LERATURE SELF, OM THE VERY FIRST NOVEL, SATYRIN BY PETRONI, BEG A MASTERPIECE OF GAY THEM. SUCCSORS CLU EVERYONE OM JEAN GE AND WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS TO ARMISTEAD MP’S TAL OF THE CY AND E.M. FORSTER, WHOSE MRICE HAD TO WA TO BE PUBLISHED POSTHUMOLY 1971. BUT EVEN THE MORN VANGUARD OF LGBTQ THORS HAS HAD TO NTEND WH CHANGG SOCIAL MOR, CENSORSHIP, AND EVEN ATH UNTRI WHERE HOMOSEXUALY IS STILL ILLEGAL OR OTHERWISE DANGERO. THE NTEMPORARY WORKS GIVE A TASTE OF THE RICHNS AND SOCIAL RELEVANCE OF MORN LGBTQ LERATURE BY WRERS WHO HAVE BORNE THEIR SOULS, SOMETIM AT GREAT PERSONAL RISK, RULTG ONE OF THE MOST IMMEDIATE BODI OF LERATURE THE WORLD TODAY. VIEW ALL TRIPS INFILS BY ABLLAH TAïA A LEADG WRER OF THE ARAB WORLD, MOROCN-BORN ABLLAH TAïA HAS CHALLENGED THE PREJUDIC OF HIS HOME UNTRY AS BOTH WRER AND FILM DIRECTOR. INFILS SCRIB THE GRADUAL RADILIZATN OF A PROSTUTE’S SON WHO FDS LOVE THE MLIM WORLD. FOR THE TIME BEG, MAY WELL BE HIS MASTERPIECE, PECIALLY IMPRSIVE GIVEN THAT SAME-SEX LOVE HAS BEEN ILLEGAL MOROC SCE 1962. TAKE A SP TO FD YOUR PERFECT SMALL-GROUP TRIP STATN PASSPORTS READY? YOUR NEXT STATN IS... VIEW TRIP SP ICELAND THAILAND SOUTH AI CROATIA MEXI EGYPT GREECE ECUADOR MOROC TURKEY JAPAN BALI SPA INDIA COURTY OF SEVEN STORI PRS THE WALK- CLOSET BY ABDI NAZEMIAN BORN IRAN, ADBI NAZEMIAN NOW WORKS AS A SCREENWRER L.A., BUT NTU TO RETURN TO PERSIAN THEM, AS THE LAMBDA LERARY AWARD-WNG THE WALK- CLOSET OM 2015, WHICH A WOMAN POS AS HER GAY BT IEND’S GIRLIEND. ONE OF THE FIRST NOVELS OM IRAN TO AL EXPLICLY WH GAY THEM, IS A TREASURE OF A NOVEL AND A TTAMENT TO THE URAGE OF S THOR, WHOSE HOME UNTRY ALS HARSHLY WH S HOMOSEXUAL POPULATN, THE VERY EXISTENCE OF WHICH WAS NIED BY PRINT MAHMOUD AHMADEJAD 2007. COURTY OF CURTIS BROWN DIGAL A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD BY MICHAEL CUNNGHAM MA TO A FILM WH COL FERRELL 2004, A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD IS THE PRECSOR OF MICHAEL CUNNGHAM’S PULZER PRIZE-WNG THE HOURS. IT ALS WH AN AD-HOC FAY PRISED OF BOBBY AND JONATHAN, TWO CLEVELAND OH-BORN MEN, AND CLARE, THE MOTHER OF BOBBY’S CHILD. ALL THREE CI TO LIVE AS A THREOME A UNTRY HOME OUTSI OF NEW YORK, CHALLENGG TRADNAL NOTNS OF THE FAY THROUGH THEIR LOVG, POLYAMORO RELATNSHIP. EPIC MOROCCO FROM ANCIENT CI TO THE SAHARA, EMBRACE CULTURAL RICH AND ENCHANTG LANDSP NORTH AI. VIEW TRIP COURTY OF PIDOR FUN HOME BY ALISON BECHL AN TOBGRAPHIL GRAPHIC NOVEL THAT WON ALISON BECHL A MACARTHUR GENI GRANT AND THE BASIS OF A BROADWAY MIL, FUN HOME IS THE STORY OF THE CHILDREN OF A FUNERAL DIRECTOR FATHER, HIMSELF A CLOSETED HOMOSEXUAL, AND THE YOUNG ALISON’S OWN STGGL WH SEXUAL INTY. IF THAT’S NOT ENOUGH, BECHL IS ALSO THE ORIGATOR OF THE “BECHL TT,” APPLIED TO WORKS OF FICTN WHERE TWO WOMEN TALK ABOUT SOMETHG OTHER THAN A MAN. COURTY OF MARER BOOKS MUNDO CEL BY LUIS NEGRóN LUIS NEGRóN’S STORY LLECTN MUNDO CEL ADDRS THE TIGHT-KN WORLD OF PUERTO RIN GAY CULTURE. TRANSGRSIVE AND SPARSE, S STORI ADD UP TO A POSE PORTRA OF AN UNRREPRENTED BUT VIBRANT MOGRAPHIC AND THEIR STGGL WH PREJUDICE. NEGRóN HAS GONE ON TO NTRIBUTE TO THE VISIBILY OF QUEERNS HIS HOME UNTRY AS -EDOR OF THE ANTHOLOGY LOS OTROS CUERPOS. BEE A CULTURE TRIPPER! SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER TO SAVE UP TO 40% ON OUR UNIQUE TRIPS. SIGN UP SEE PRIVACY POLICY. COURTY OF SEVEN STORI PRS FGERSMH BY SARAH WATERS SARAH WATERS HAS DONE AN ENORMO SERVICE TO LERATURE, GAY AND OTHERWISE, WH HER EXPLORATNS OF LBIAN LOVE VICTORIAN SOCIETY. PERHAPS THE BT OF THE IS FGERSMH, A RIVETG HISTORIL ADVENTURE NOVEL OF TWO WOMEN WHO REBEL AGAST THEIR STRICT SOCIETY, MEMORABLY ADAPTED TO THE SOUTH KOREAN FEATURE FILM THE HANDMAIN 2016. COURTY OF RIVERHEAD BOOKS EXQUISE CORPSE BY POPPY Z. BRE PROOF THAT QUEER NOVELS KNOW NO GENRE NSTRATS, TRANSMAN BILLY MART WROTE THE EROTIC HORROR NOVEL EXQUISE CORPSE AS POPPY Z. BRE. THE STORY OF A SERIAL KILLER REMBLG REAL-LIFE KILLER JEFEY DAHMER WHO FALLS LOVE WH AN HIV-POSIVE RAD HOSE. CHALLENGG AND VLENT, AL EXPLICLY WH THE QUTNS OF VICTIMHOOD RAISED BY SAN SONTAG HER LANDMARK AIDS AND ITS METAPHORS. COURTY OF TOUCHSTONE ORANG ARE NOT THE ONLY F BY JEATE WTERSON IT’S HARD TO CHOOSE A FAVORE AMONG JEATE WTERSON’S ENERGIZG OVRE, EQUENTLY NCERNED WH LBIAN ROMANCE, BUT HER FIRST, THE TOBGRAPHIL NOVEL ORANG ARE NOT THE ONLY F, GETS HIGH MARKS FOR S PORTRA OF A RELIGLY-RAISED YOUNG GIRL’S FIRST BSH WH LOVE AND HER REBELLN AGAST THE MUNY THAT THREATENS TO SUFFOTE BOTH HER ARTISTIC AMBNS—THROUGH METHODS WHICH CLU EXORCISM—AND HER YEARNGS FOR OTHER WOMEN. COURTY OF GROVE PRS VALENCIA BY MICHELLE TEA MICHELLE TEA IS A PROLIFIC AND BELOVED THOR WHO HAS WRTEN EXTENSIVELY ON BLUE-LLAR QUEER THEM. BUT HER BREAKTHROUGH, ARGUABLY, MAY BE 2000’S VALENCIA, WHICH BRGS TO LIFE SAN FRANCIS’S THRIVG GAY SUBCULTURE, PICTG SADO-MASOCHISM AND G-OF-AGE STORI THROUGH TWENTY-ONE VIGTE-LIKE CHAPTERS WHERE WE MEET SUCH CHARACTERS AS THE TROSPECTIVE POET WILLA AND IRIS, A SOUTHERN-RAISED BUTCH ADAPTG TO LIFE THE CY. COURTY OF SEAL PRS SPHX BY ANNE GARRéTA ORIGALLY PUBLISHED FRANCE 1986 AND TRANSLATED TO ENGLISH 2015, SPHX IS A RAVISHG EXPERIMENTAL NOVEL WRTEN WH AN GEN SELF-IMPOSED RTRAT: THE GENR OF THE PRCIPAL CHARACTERS IS NEVER DISCLOSED, REFERRED TO ONLY AS “I” AND A***. THE RULT IS A TOUR FORCE OF STYLE AND AN EXQUISE, MOVG ROMANCE STORY. COURTY OF DEEP VELLUM PUBLISHG VOLNIC ICELAND EPIC TRIP MEET OUR LOL INSIR HANNA HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A GUIDE? 2 YEARS. WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR JOB? IT'S THE PERSONAL NTACT, THE PERSONAL EXPERIENC. I LOVE MEETG PEOPLE OM ALL OVER THE WORLD... I REALLY LIKE GETTG TO KNOW EVERYONE AND FEELG LIKE I'M TRAVELG WH A GROUP OF IENDS. WHAT DESTINATION IS ON YOUR TRAVEL BUCKET-LIST? I HAVE SO MANY PLAC ON MY LIST, BUT I WOULD REALLY LOBE TO GO TO AI. I NSIR MYSELF AN “ADVENTURE GIRL” AND AI FEELS LIKE THE ULTIMATE ADVENTURE! EVERY CULTURE TRIP SMALL-GROUP ADVENTURE IS LED BY A LOL INSIR JT LIKE HANNA. SEE OUR CULTURE TRIPS KEEN TO EXPLORE THE WORLD?

The closens of the iendship between the two young men hts at homosexualy.

Christopher IsherwoodIsherwood, 1966Camera Prs/Pictorial ParaIsherwood’s 1964 novel A Sgle Man follows a gay man grievg for his lover over the urse of a day. Armistead MpMp’s effervcent novels about gay life San Francis, startg wh Tal of the Cy (1978), brought to life a i foreign to much of the JordanJordan primarily wrote through the lens of bisexualy and racial jtice.

Shared among gay iends, we uld celebrate our growg nfince and visibily wh new work om Alan Hollghurst and Jeate Wterson, velop a mp sensibily by quotg to each other l om EF Benson and Ronald Firbank, image that London uld bee the queer Ardia picted Armistead Mp’s Tal of the we moved towards assiatn the 1990s, Dennis Cooper’s Gee Mil novel cycle was a remr that sexualy was still transgrsive, that sire remaed a dark and disptive force. It’s a such a tenr moment and a remr of the kdns and nnectn that is possible between all of MenzAuthor of Rabow MilkCeremoni by Essex Hemphill (Pengu)The hugely fluential gay Ain Amerin poet Essex Hemphill died of Aids-related plitns 1995, aged 38, jt one month before the lnch of protease hibors – early antiretrovirals – which might have saved or at least prolonged his life.

PL BURSTON'S TOP 10 GAY FICTN BOOKS

In the wrgs and radil cema he left behd – cludg llaboratns wh Marlon Riggs Tongu Untied (1989) and Isaac Julien Lookg for Langston (1989) – he provid subsequent generatns wh evince that we lived and loved, and of our fight agast the effects of tersectg whe supremacy, racism, homophobia and heterosexism.

Gay Amerin men had barely one ’s grace between the liberatn movement and the begng of the Aids crisis, which Hemphill wrote about as vally as anyone. There is an element of dullns and ordars about them that is unual a novel of that time that has homosexualy at the foreont. Although homosexualy was illegal Ireland then, the ps tend to leave gay people alone.

Brorick’s novel is an important document that dramatis hidn gay liv the Dubl of 40 years CreweDebut novel The New Life was published this yearFrank Sargon’s Collected Stori, 1935-1963 (Pengu)Frank Sargon’s short stori are nversatnal.

CLASSIC GAY MALE LERATURE

In 1929 Sargon had been nvicted of mtg homosexual acts, and he wrote unr an assumed name (he was born Norris Davey 1903) to avoid beg nnected wh his past. ”Neil BartlettTheatre director, playwright and thor of novels cludg Ready to Catch Him Should He Fall and Addrs BookNocturn for the Kg of Napl by Edmund Whe (Pidor)In 1980, when I was livg a beds and “gay” was a word still largely spoken between ntemptuo verted mas, a chanced-upon newspaper review alerted me to the existence of an unknown Amerin wrer whose third book had jt ma to the UK.

Simply, had never occurred to me that gay life uld be this betiful, or this real. I very much look forward to her follow-up Brawyrms later the KayAward-wng Makar (Natnal Poet for Stland) and thor of fictn and nonfictn cludg Red Dt Road, Tmpet and Bsie SmhSister Outsir by Audre Lor (Pengu Classics)In an terview Ada Gay Griff and Michelle Parkerson’s 1995 documentary about her life, A Lany for Survival (the name of one of Lor’s semal poems), Audre Lor said prciently: “What I leave behd has a life of s own.

He was the epome of the upright, public-spired, homosexual expat, nductg a distguished reer om Alexandria and Athens – two of his bt novels are about life Alexandria, wh illic passn throbbg unr the rtraed surface. I thk only a gay man would have had the patience to observe all the character typ, and renr them wh such unfettable, tty Atherton LEssayist and thor of Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, which won the Natnal Book Crics Circle award for tobgraphyReady to Catch Him Should He Fall by Neil Bartlett (Serpent’s Tail, available on worldoarebooks)So often, boy-meets-boy narrativ take place some remote manor or tent, as if romance only occurs far om the maddg gay crowd.