A WRITER'S WIT |
MY BOOK WORLD
Christopher Street is a place, a street that is at the heart of gay life in New York City. Christopher Street was also a gay publication that opened up life for its gay subscribers. This book is a compendium of essays that Denneny wrote for CS, or speeches he made for various organizations from the 1970s to the 1990s (mostly). Denneny was the first openly gay editor to be hired at a major publishing house: Stonewall Editions at St. Martin’s Press. During his tenure there he was responsible for publishing over one hundred titles by gay authors.
Why is this book important? For someone my age (in 1987 Denneny read a novel MS of mine and recommended to me that I should pursue the small presses—whatever that may have meant), it is a good review of history that I lived through (though not in New York). For gay people under the age of forty, it is a history from which they could learn where their gay privileges today come from. Without the courageous acts of civil disobedience in 1969, there would be no Grindr, few LGBTQIA+ films or books. No marriage. Those brave people also taught us that we must remain alert and keep fighting. There are those on SCOTUS and in Congress who would still deprive our hard-won community of its rights. In some sense, unless we at last develop a more inclusive society, there will always be a Stonewall rebellion in the offing. We should be prepared to bear arms at any time.
Coming Next:
TUES: A Writer's Wit | Garth Greenwell
WEDS: A Writer's Wit | Emily Giffin
THURS: A Writer's Wit | Thomas Frank
FRI: My Book World | Ethan Canin, A Doubter's Almanac