1st Annual Gay and Lesbian Literary Arts Festival

I'll be returning to south Florida again in 2009, to appear at this new literary arts festival!

The first annual Gay and Lesbian Literary Arts Festival is scheduled for April 24-25 2009, and will take place at ArtServe and Stonewall Library & Archives, at 1350 East Sunrise Blvd in Fort Lauderdale, in the Auditorium and auxiliary conference rooms. The festival will feature at least 5 current and prominent GLBT literary arts figures, with an opening reception with the artists, readings, book signings, discussion panels, presentations, workshops, exhibits and social functions.

The festival organizers have put together a great video to promote the event:

Lebian Genre Fiction Tour: September 16 & 17, 2008

The Lesbian GenFic Tour will be reading (and always ready to answer questions) back-to-back in San Francisco this month. The tour members are:

• Jaime Clevenger
• Gabrielle Goldsby
• Karin Kallmaker
• JLee Meyer
• Diane & Jacob Anderson-Minshall
• Anna Furtado
• Ursula Steck
  

Tuesday, September 16: Jaime, Karin , JLee, Diane, Anna and Ursula @ A Different Light Books

489 Castro St.San Francisco, 415-431-0891

Wednesday, September 17: Karin and JLee @ Betty's List Book Club.

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM - Duboce Park Cafe
Corner Duboce & Sanchez Streets,
(The Castro), San FranciscoCo-Chair by Dr. Betty L. Sullivan, Professor Cynthia Katona

GCLS 2008 - Phoenix!

It's the only by lesbians, about lesbian fiction event of its kind.

And it's my favorite literary event of the year. The organizers have selected a beautiful resort with rooms costing no more than the last two years, and one of my sheroes, Katherine Forrest, is the keynote speaker. She will also be doing an extensive lecture on what editors are looking for in submissions.

It also means I'll get to talk to readers and hug all old friends, make new friends (I'll hug them too) and explore the Phoenix area-- it's been years since I visited. I am hoping to include a pilgrimage to Taliesen West. It was a visit there that inspired me to make Jackie in Painted Moon an architect.

If you love lesbian lit and want a great vacation--this is it. It's one of those all-lesbian theme cruises, well, without the sea sickness.

News about the site, speakers, programs, fun, frivolity, awards gala and attending writers, editors and publishers is released almost daily.

Check out the registration and resort information and mark your calendar.

Betty's List Book Club

This Bay Area reader's group has invited me to their every third Wednesday book club. I'll attend on WEDNESDAY, July 16, and am looking forward to such involved readers. This is a link to the Betty's List book club blog, which recaps past events. Photos and such can be found here.

Betty's List is a longstanding Bay Area LGBT listserv and web site that provides community announcements and ads, organized by Betty Sullivan.

The Betty's List Book Club meets at:

6:30 PM - 8:00 PM - Duboce Park Cafe

Corner Duboce & Sanchez Streets, (The Castro), San Francisco
Co-Chair by Dr. Betty L. Sullivan, Professor Cynthia Katona Host: Rachel Herbert, Duboce Park Cafe.

Come early to join in for dinner and relaxing conversation before the event. I will read from The Kiss That Counted.

Stonewall Library and Archives

After event note: This was a wonderful evening, with standing room only. I had a marvelous time making a few comments and reading from several different books. Photos here, and video here.

It's a pleasure and an honor to announce that I'll be participating in the 2008 Stonewall Library and Archive's Distinguished Author Series. From their material about the 2007 series:

"As part of this public program, Stonewall hosts lectures and book signings by prominent LGBT authors or by authors who have written books of particular interest to the LGBT community. During 2007, our roster of acclaimed writers included James Sears, Lillian Faderman, Gypsey Teague, John McNeill, Alison Bechdel, Richard McCann and Felice Picano."

This year's series begins with historians Michael Sherry and Richard Leopold, followed by Andrew Holleran in February. I will appear on March 19. The lecture is a combination of reading, remarks and Q&A and begins at 7 p.m. I'm planning to include in my comments my sincere belief that genre fiction, especially romance, is the literary representation of our every day emotional and sexual lives, and the validation of our human hopes and dreams as lived out as queer (using the big umbrella word) people. This event is free and made possible by donors to Stonewall.

I hope that those of you in the South Florida area will be able to join me for the evening!

www.stonewall-library.org

Stonewall, 1717 North Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale.(954) 763-8565

Hayward Main Library

After event note: We had a great reading and post-reading discussion. My photos here. The Hayward Public Library's photos here.


Thanks to the organization of Jake Anderson-Minshall, the LGFBAT will be reading at two libraries in the next couple of months. The tour members are:

Gabrielle Goldsby
JLee Meyer
Diane & Jacob Anderson-Minshall
Anna Furtado
Ursula Steck
And moi, of course

On Saturday, March 15, we’ll be at the Hayward Main Library, starting at 2 p.m. Given the afternoon timeframe, it seems like a G-rated reading from the new edition of Christabel is in order. I haven’t ever read from Christabel, so I’m really looking forward to it.


Breaking news: Jaime Clevenger will be joining the tour for the Hayward Library reading, reading from All Bets Off!

San Francisco Public Library Main

Wow! A great turn out for this event. After a long work day and in the middle of the week about 30 or so avid fans of lesbian fiction turned out to hear our group read. Photos from the event are at Flickr. (As always, no log in is required to view or comment on the photos.)

Unfortunately, unexpected events kept Anna Furtado and JLee Meyer from joining us, and they were very much missed.

Reading at this event therefore were:
Gabrielle Goldsby read from Such a Pretty Face
Diane & Jacob Anderson-Minshall each read from Blind Leap
Ursula Steck read from Laura's War

I read the short story "Filled to Overflowing" from In Deep Waters 1. A reader in the audience was kind enough to film my portion of the event. You can watch the video at YouTube, including the out take of me looking for my glasses.