Black History Month bookends

Back on Feb. 1, to kick off Black History Month, we had a lively discussion of Audre Lorde's "biomythography," Zami: A New Spelling of My Name.  A couple of you noted that Lorde mentions her admiration for Lorraine Hansberry, the black lesbian playwright best known for "A Raisin in the Sun," so I thought it only fitting to conclude the month by highlighting two Hansberry revivals. First, here are reviews in the New York Times and the Washington Post of her final play, "The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window," which is back on Broadway through March 24. Second, The Economist's 1843 Magazine reviews a production of another Hansberry play, "Les Blancs."

More from Mallon

Thomas Mallon's latest historical novel, Up With the Sun, tells the story of Dick Kallman, the closeted ex-actor who, along with his partner, was killed during a brutal robbery in their New York City home in 1980. Lee Levine, who remembers watching Kallman's TV show, "Hank," back in the 1960s, notes that the video of Mallon's recent appearance at Politics and Prose to promote the book is available on YouTube. And here are reviews of the novel in the Washington Post and New York Times. Definitely worth keeping this one in mind for our next reading list!

Romances get with the times!

In honor of Valentine's Day, CNN published this heartwarming (pun intended! :-) article about the increasing diversity of subjects and authors within the burgeoning romance publishing industry. One bookstore owner notes that over the seven years she's operated, the LGBTQ section of her store "has gone from almost all the novels being self-published to at least half being from mainstream publishers." The article references Red, White and Royal Blue, a 2019 bestseller that Amazon has filmed for release sometime this year. (For what it's worth: I nominated the book for our last list, but it didn't get enough votes to make the cut. I still highly recommend it as a fun read, however.) 

Some LGBTQ+ poetry to get to know

Continuing the tradition I started back in 2021, here are some LGBTQ-themed poems (not all by LGBTQ authors, I should note) which the American Academy of Poetry's Poem-a-Day newsletter has featured so far this winter. Enjoy! 

Elastic Love Contrapuntal                                    by Sarah Cooper

The Forest Road                                                   by Charlotte Mew

Behind Stowe                                                        by Elizabeth Bishop

Dearly Departed, Again I Dreamt about a Ship    by Camonghne Felix

Kink                                                                        by Imani Davis

When Dawn Comes to the City                                by Claude McKay

Canopy                                                                    by Arlene Keizer

Aubade: Nocturne                                                by Willie Lee Kinard III

Having a Coke with You                                        by Frank O'Hara

Fellow Travelers on TV

Richard Schaefers, who attended the Feb. 5 production of the opera based on Thomas Mallon's 2008 novel Fellow Travelers, shared some exciting news from the Q&A session afterward: Showtime is going to air an eight-part miniseries based on the book, starring openly gay actors Matt Bomer as Hawkins Fuller and Jonathan Bailey as Timothy Laughlin. The first four episodes will cover the events of the novel and opera, while the next four will trace the duo's "paths through the Vietnam War protests of the 1960s, the drug-fueled disco hedonism of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s, while facing obstacles in the world and in themselves." No release date yet, but filming wrapped in December. Stay tuned!

A Black History Month reading list

During our nearly 24 years of operation, our group has read many books by and/or about African-American members of the LGBTQ+ community. In honor of Black History Month, here is a list:

James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room and Just Above My Head

Keith Boykin, Beyond the Down Low

John D'Emilio, Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin

Samuel Delaney, Times Square Red, Times Square Blue

James Earl Hardy, B-Boy Blues

Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings

E. Lynn Harris (editor), Freedom in This Village

Audre Lorde, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name

Tarell Alvin McCraney, Choir Boy

Darryl Pinckney, Black Deutschland

Alice Walker, The Color Purple

Vincent Woodard, The Delectable Negro