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For Immediate Release: May 2, 2002
Media Contact:Jim Van Buskirk (415) 557-4566
Suellen Bilow (415) 557-4282
Hormel Center of the San Francisco Public Library
Presents
Forbidden Pleasures
An Exploration and Celebration of Queer Pulp Paperbacks
Sunday May 19, 2002
San Francisco -- The twilight world of classic queer pulp paperbacks is the topic of Forbidden Pleasures,
a multi-media author presentation and theatrical performance scheduled for Sunday, May 19, 2002 from 2:00 to 4:00 pm in the Koret Auditorium on
the lower level of the San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin Street. The event is co-sponsored by the James C. Hormel Gay & Lesbian Center of the San Francisco Public Library and the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Historical Society of Northern California.
Guest speakers include authors Ann Bannon, Christopher Nealon, Susan
Stryker, and moderator Jim Van Buskirk, co-author (along with Susan Stryker)
of Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Ann Bannon, author of Beebo Brinker, Odd Girl Out, Women in the Shadows, and other landmark lesbian romances from the 1950s and '60s,
many of which are being reissued by Cleis Press, will share reminiscences about her experiences.
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Christopher Nealon, author of "The Ambivalence of Lesbian Pulp Fiction" in Foundlings: Lesbian and Gay Historical Emotion Before Stonewall, will show video clips.
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Susan Stryker, author of Queer Pulp, the Gay Pulp and Lesbian Pulp address books, and co-author of Gay by the Bay: A History of Queer Culture in the San Francisco Bay Area, will show slides and talk about her research on pulp paperback novels.
Following the discussion and slide presentations, writer/director F. Allen Sawyer will introduce an excerpt performance of his play, Lavender Lockeroom. This campy contemporary play, that recently had its world premiere at The Studio at Theatre Rhinoceros, is the last in the Hot Pants Homo trilogy of plays inspired by pulp paperbacks of the period.
The energetic cast of Lavender Lockeroom includes David Bicha, Isaac Brantner, Deena Davenport, Arturo Galster, Sandy Schlechter, and Drew Todd who use a word-for-word style to humorously subvert the classic pulp genre into a campy, affirmation of homosexuality.
During the McCarthy trials of the 1940s and early '50s, hundreds of lives were destroyed by accusations of homosexuality.
The act of taking one of these pulp paperback books off the drugstore rack and paying for it at the counter was a frightening act for many men and women attracted to members of their same sex. Guiltily tucked under mattresses, hidden in the back of bookcases,
and stored deep in closets, queer pulp paperbacks were cherished and passed from person to person in the underground community. They were also burned and thrown away out of fear of discovery. But they provided, for many gay men and lesbians, a rare source of affirmation, and are now highly prized collectibles.
All programs at the Library are free of charge and open to the public.
Books will be available for purchase following the event.
For more information, please call (415) 557-4277.
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