Arts & Culture :: Books

Online Extra: 'Allen Ginsberg and Beat Poetry' at CJM May 31

Online Extra: 'Allen Ginsberg and Beat Poetry' at CJM May 31

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • May 29, 2020

The Contemporary Jewish Museum presents an online panel talk about the gay poet who helped shape the Beat poet movement.

Interrelated fates: sexuality in 'Enter the Aardvark,' 'The Wanting Life'

Interrelated fates: sexuality in 'Enter the Aardvark,' 'The Wanting Life'

  • by Tim Pfaff
  • May 26, 2020

It's both amazing and somehow gratifying that the literary genre of the closet novel still has any juice left. Two just hit the market: Mark Rader's debut novel, 'The Wanting Life' and Jessica Anthony's 'Enter the Aardvark.'

Online Extra: Bay Area Book Festival's online author events

Online Extra: Bay Area Book Festival's online author events

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • May 19, 2020

With the cancellation of in-person events for the popular annual Bay Area Book Festival, online events continue through May and June, including a talk with acclaimed gay author Garth Greenwell.

Brando laid bare: William J. Mann's 'The Contender: The Story of Marlon Brando'

Brando laid bare: William J. Mann's 'The Contender: The Story of Marlon Brando'

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • May 12, 2020

There's little left out of William J. Mann's superb biography of Marlon Brando. In The Contender: The Story of Marlon Brando, Mann gets into the psyche of the late screen icon and lets readers know what made Brando tick.

Coming out through the years: Abigail C. Saguy explores LGBTQ and others' 'closets' conquered

Coming out through the years: Abigail C. Saguy explores LGBTQ and others' 'closets' conquered

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • May 12, 2020

In her new book, the Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies at UCLA compares LGBTQ 'coming out' with other subcultures.

Online extra: Northwest Press' queer comics postcard project

Online extra: Northwest Press' queer comics postcard project

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • May 8, 2020

Northwest Press, the Seattle-based publisher of dozens of artist's vibrant comics and graphic novels, has started a Kickstarter project with LGBTQ-themed postcards featuring artwork by five artists.

Thanks to matching offer from anonymous donor, Bay Area Reporter extends fundraising appeal

Thanks to matching offer from anonymous donor, Bay Area Reporter extends fundraising appeal

  • by Michael Yamashita
  • May 1, 2020

Thank you very much, it has been both humbling and encouraging receiving your generous support when so many are also in need of help. So far, we have raised just over $25,000 and are just 15% away from reaching our goal of $30,000.

Paradise in Provincetown - 'Later' by Paul Lisicky (Graywolf Press)

Paradise in Provincetown - 'Later' by Paul Lisicky (Graywolf Press)

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Apr 28, 2020

Acclaimed fiction writer and memoirist Paul Lisicky puts his heart on the page in a new memoir chronicling his searching youth in the 1990s while living at the very tip of eastern Massachusetts: the quaint, queer-centric seaside hamlet of Provincetown.

Best Actress: The History of Oscar Winning Women

Best Actress: The History of Oscar Winning Women

  • by Matthew Kennedy
  • Apr 21, 2020

Stephen Tapert's 'Best Actress: The History of Oscar-Winning Women' (2020, Rutgers University Press, 504 pages) is a coffee table reference book featuring the seventy-five Best Actress Academy Award winners from Janet Gaynor in 1927 to Emma Stone in 2016.

You can help support the Bay Area Reporter fundraising campaign

You can help support the Bay Area Reporter fundraising campaign

  • by Michael Yamashita
  • Apr 15, 2020

San Francisco is one of 11 US cities that is fortunate to have a legacy LGBT publication by us, for us, and about us. Help preserve the BAR as an historic and important community institution for the future.

Bedazzlers: The Cockettes in Print: Acid Drag & Sexual Anarchy 1969-1972

Bedazzlers: The Cockettes in Print: Acid Drag & Sexual Anarchy 1969-1972

  • by Jason Victor Serinus
  • Apr 15, 2020

Half a century ago, a bedazzled assortment of psychedelically-influenced, collective-living, sexually experimental, and inherently theatrical gay men and straight women forever transformed the Bay Area's cultural landscape. They were The Cockettes.

In our solitude: Fenton Johnson discusses 'At the Center of Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life'

In our solitude: Fenton Johnson discusses 'At the Center of Beauty: Solitude and the Creative Life'

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Apr 15, 2020

With shelter-in-place extended till at least May 3, Fenton Johnson's new book on what it means to be solitary, whether chosen or not, befits these days of city and state-imposed isolation.

Love, frankly: Jacqueline Wilson, noted children's book author, comes out

Love, frankly: Jacqueline Wilson, noted children's book author, comes out

  • by Victoria A. Brownworth
  • Apr 7, 2020

Best-selling and world-renowned children's book author Jacqueline Wilson proves that it's never too late to come out. Wilson, 74, is the beloved and award-winning author of more than a hundred books.

Tenderloin theatrics: William T. Vollmann's 'The Lucky Star'

Tenderloin theatrics: William T. Vollmann's 'The Lucky Star'

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Apr 7, 2020

As an accidental byproduct to an impossible situation, books are seeing an enormous resurgence as a necessary staple. San Francisco's dispossessed Tenderloin District culture gets its own 655-page homage with the new novel from William T. Vollmann.