Whedon and Rowling don’t get to lay claim to the stories we wrote, whether they were in fan fiction, on forums, or even just in our own, quiet thoughts. We own the narratives that give us meaning.
In Magnified, Minnie Bruce Pratt meditates on “the eternal time of death, the short intense time of work, and the focused, magnified time of the intimacy” shared with her beloved, the late trans lesbian activist Leslie Feinberg.
We’re delighted to be able to share an exclusive EXTENDED excerpt of A Desolation Called Peace in honor of its launch.
Black people are the future, creating some of the most beautiful and challenging art we have seen, forging a way out of the past while being entirely cognizant of it. As the editors state in the introduction, time is not linear, we are always in conversation with the past, present, and future. Black Futures as a collection is keenly aware of this.
“The goal, especially in 2020, has not been to feel better or feel my best, but it’s to feel less shitty than I did five minutes ago.” Marlee Grace’s Getting to Center is the tender, lesbian self-help book to start this year off right. We interview her about the book, internet addiction, higher powers, and the moon’s creative potential.
Like so many others, I’ve been chirping about the end of 2020, as if the transition from one year to the next will somehow magically suture our open wounds.
I’m sharing part of a scene from the book that captures the essence of why I love to write fiction: so I can write the fantasy dates with girls I adore, whether or not they happened quite that way.
Six contributors to Best Lesbian Erotica Volume 5 tell us about how they think about erotica as queer writers. The book came out on Dec 8, so can get your personal and gift copies in time for the holidays.
It has felt hard to state how much I’ve been missing my family lately. But Audre Lorde and Pat Parker’s relationship is a testament to the life-affirming power of queer kinship. Their enduring love attests to the power and beauty of Black queer sisterhood.
A look into the history — and present! — of mid-century lesbian pulp fiction.
To be Black in this world is to be intimate with a kind of living death. It’s an intimacy no one craves, and yet Black people know better than most that Audre Lorde speaks truth to power when she says “we were never meant to survive.”
The first time I encountered a book with queer characters must have been James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room. At the time I remember feeling afraid of its intensity. Now it’s one of my most returned-to books along with Lydia Davis’ The End of the Story.
Ultimately, Zigzags was fueled by the nostalgia of all the places I’ve loved and left and missed. There’s a lot of flirting and parties and witty banter, but it’s very much about the necessary and heartbreaking recognition of when it’s time to move on.
I am safe nowhere, the Black women in my family of origin and family of choice are safe nowhere. It’s a fact we’ve known but one that feels all the more threatening in the wake of continuing violent injustice for Black women.
Zaina Arafat’s You Exist Too Much is the bi Arab romance novel l didn’t know I needed. We chat about the book, first-gen traumas, sexual ambiguity and Arab parents.
The first draft of The Ship We Built was intended as a valentine for one person. Six and a half years later, The Ship We Built has been released as a novel with Penguin Random House and continues to be a valentine – now for anybody who picks it up.
The public library is in the unique position to pick up where public education leaves off—to succeed where public education fails. It’s time we start rethinking what a library can be.
In my own myth, New York has been the cornerstone of what shaped me, finally allowing myself to be in my queerness. While the New York I inhabited and the one of Audre Lorde’s life looked radically different, Lorde’s relationships and the women she loves and lusts for each leave her fuller than before.
I’m still angry. Breonna Taylor’s murderers still walk free. Let’s be real, they’re probably running around without masks. Audre Lorde’s sense of restlessness and barely concealed fury are evident. But so, too, is her unwavering belief in our magic.
When someone I know is dealing with a difficult situation, I typically feel extremely “Put me in, coach!!!” But when I am the one in a difficult spot? Well, then, thanks so much for offering but I’m perfectly fine to handle this on my own!!! The fact is, asking for/accepting help is incredibly difficult for a lot of us—even those of us who know, logically, that no one can get through life alone.