After a brutal winter, made even more difficult by the pandemic and killer storms, the Spring Equinox and warmer weather days are in sight. The following new poetry titles are another way to welcome the change in seasons. As I said in my blurb for Lambda Literary Award-winning lesbian poet and memoirist Maureen Seaton’s Undersea (JackLeg Press, 2021), her “sun- and sea-drenched poetry collection combines all of her strengths: teacher, lover, observer, seeker, reporter, tour guide, singer, naturalist, rover, sibling, and wordsmith. Seaton invites readers to a faulty but irresistible paradise, complete with detailed instructions, and we’d be foolish not to accept. […]
Phil Stamper’s Releases Coming-of-Age Story: As Far As You’ll Take Me
Author Phil Stamper has recently released his sophomore novel, As Far As You’ll Take Me to the delight of readers everywhere. In As Far As You’ll Take Me, Marty escapes his small homophobic town and flies to London, to play music, travel and really be himself for the first time. Stamper recently chatted with Baltimore OUTloud regarding the recent book release. Frankie Kujawa: In your own words, how would you describe your book for audiences? Phil Stamper: As Far As You’ll Take Me is a coming-of-age story that follows Marty as he leaves an unwelcoming life in Kentucky to live […]
Suggested reading: Winter 2021 non-fiction
So far, it’s been refreshing to President who knows the difference between truth and lies. If you’re the kind of reader who enjoys their prose with a healthy dose of truth, consider these new non-fiction titles to pass the winter days. Let Me Tell You What I Mean (Knopf, 2021) by celebrated writer Joan Didion opens with a lengthy intro by gay writer Hilton Als, before delighting readers with previously uncollected essays written between 20 and 50 years ago on topics as timely as ever, including college admissions stress, addiction programs, the state of journalism, as well as one on […]
The Poetry Section
Depending on whether you are a glass half full or half empty kind of person, National Poetry Month was either six or so months ago or is coming up in less than six months. Either way, there is much to be savored in that literary genre right now. Edited by Richard Blanco, Caridad Moro, Nikki Moustaki & Elisa Albo, Grabbed: Poets & Writers on Sexual Assault, Empowerment and Healing (Beacon Press, 2020) arrives at a turning point in our history. With a foreword by Joyce Maynard and an afterword by Anita Hill, this substantial anthology includes works by a variety […]
Fall 2020 reading list
Fiction shelf Not meant to be read on an empty stomach, or even if you’re the slightest bit hungry (there’s a lot of cooking and eating!), Memorial (Riverhead, 2020) the debut novel by Bryan Washington (author of the acclaimed 2019 short story collection Lot) introduces us to Benson and Mike, a mixed race (one Black and one Japanese) gay couple negotiating their fragile and strained romantic connection while also trying to maintain relationships with their complicated families. The must-read book of the season. Finding Tulsa (Palm Drive Publishing, 2020), the new novel by Lammy Award-winning novelist and longtime journalist Jim […]
Confessing Our Desires
I Confess! Constructing the Sexual Self in the Internet Age – edited by Thomas Waugh and Brandon Arroyo (McGill-Queens University Press, 2019, 624 pages) The era post-World War 1 saw a wave of sexual modernization and reform – from gender-expansive Flappers to women’s suffrage to campaigns (born pre-term) for homosexual rights and birth control. Let’s call that the First Sexual Revolution. Post-World War 2 came Kinsey’s bombshell empirical sex research and the homophile movement, constituting a Second Sexual Revolution and setting the stage for the late 1960s “Cambrian explosion” of sexual liberation. Despite phases of right-wing revanchism starting in the […]
Author Spotlight: Baltimore’s Kirkland Hamill
Baltimore resident Kirkland Hamill’s memoir, Filthy Beasts, hits the bookshelves on Tuesday, July 14th. A tender and heart-wrenching memoir about a family’s fall from grace, a mother’s inner demons and a son’s blind allegiance, Filthy Beasts is a fascinating window into the life of extreme privilege and a powerful story of self-acceptance. The book recounts Hamill’s unforgettable journey through luxury hotels and charity stores, private enclaves and public shame as he confronts his family’s many imperfections, accepts his unconventional childhood, and finally comes to terms with his own hidden secrets. Hamill recently chatted with Baltimore OUTloud regarding his upcoming book, […]
2020 Pride all summer long reading list
Whether you’re sitting out the Pride season by keeping your observances at a social distance or you’re taking it to the streets in honor of the 50th anniversary of the first Pride march, having reading materials on hand to augment the celebration is always a good idea. The following books are some worthwhile suggestions. Young readers October may be a few months away, but it’s never too early to start thinking about Halloween (considered by some to be one of the gay national holidays). In Christopher Pumpkin (Little, Brown, 2020) by Sue Hendra and Paul Linnet with illustrations by Nick […]
Your 2020 quarantine reading list
True stories In 1988, shortly before his death, disco legend Sylvester did an interview in which he talked about working with legendary record producer Tommy LiPuma. That record never came to be, but LiPuma did work with countless other music icons including Barbra Streisand, Randy Newman, Patti Austin, Jennifer Holliday, Diana Krall, Brenda Russell and Paul McCartney and you can read all about LiPuma in The Ballad of Tommy LiPuma (Nardis, 2020) by Ben Sidran. Now available in paperback, Mama’s Boy: A Story from Our America (Vintage, 2019/2020) is the memoir by Dustin Lance Black, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Milk, […]
National Poetry Month 2020 Reading List
April is National Poetry Month. In April 2020, readers are fortunate to have an exceptional selection of titles from which to choose. Read one or read them all, you wont be disappointed. Selected by Ocean Vuong as the winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry, Your New Feeling is the Artifact of a Bygone Era (Sarabande Books, 2020) is the stunning debut poetry collection by Chad Bennett, an associate professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin. A 2020 Lannan Literary Selection, 13th Balloon (Copper Canyon Press, 2020) by Mark Bibbins is a moving and groundbreaking […]