Events

James Earl Hardy and Stanley Bennett Clay are two of the contibutors to the tributes and novellas in Visible Lives: Three Stories in Tribute to E. Lynn
Harris (Kensington, $15 pb).

Best-selling author and literary icon E. Lynn Harris captivated millions of readers with his powerful, groundbreaking stories of black men searching for love in a taboo world. Now three outstanding writers and friends honor the late author with this trio of original novellas in the genre E. Lynn helped create—each accompanied by a special personal tribute remembering the important role he played in their lives. Evoking the hope, romance, and complexity of this gifted writer, this unique collection will serve as a living legacy for fans old and new.
“A creative way to pay homage to a writer who paved the way for so many other authors…something I’m sure E. Lynn would have appreciated.” –ZANE, New York

Times best-selling author
James Earl Hardy is the author of the best-selling novels B-Boy Blues
(praised as the first gay hip hop love story and prominently featured
in Spike Lee’s Get On the Bus), 2nd Time Around, If Only For One Nite,
The Day Eazy-E Died, Love the One You’re With, and A House Is Not a
Home. A 1993 honors graduate of Columbia University’s School of
Journalism, his byline as an award-winning cultural affairs
writer/critic/essayist has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Essence,
Newsweek, Out, The Washington Post, and Vibe.

Stanley Bennett Clay is the author of three novels: Diva, In Search of Pretty Young Black Men, and Looker. A former editor for both Black Beat and SBC Magazine, he is also an award-winning playwright and actor.

Co-sponsored by The Brothers’ Network.

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Starts
and ends at Kahn Park, 11th and Pine Sts.

Bring
noise makers, signs, flags and yourself and friend..

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$10 admission to the Festival.

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The parade starts at 13th &
Locust and ends at Penn’s Landing.

We're having a Bake Sale!  The Women's-Tranny Book Group is helping us raise money to pay for the front wall by making the goods for the bake sale.

We are in the final phases of raising the $50,000 to pay for that wall.  Donors of $50 (for a Brick) or $500 (for a Lentil) will be memorialized on a representation of that wall.  A preliminary representation will be at our table.  If you want your name associated with Giovanni's Room forever, please consider paying for a brick or two or a lentil or two.

Philip Gambone is the author of Travels in a Gay Nation: Portraits of LGBTQ Americans (U. of Wisconsin, $26.95 pb).

"This collection of interviews with gay activists and artists is like going to dinner with people you'd love to know but don't, and Phil Gambone is the perfect stand-in for the reader: impressively prepared, sympathetic, and smart."

--Andrew Holleran, author of "Grief: A Novel"

For two years, Philip Gambone traveled the length and breadth of the United States, talking candidly with LGBTQ people about their lives. In addition to interviews from David Sedaris, George Takei, Barney Frank, and Tammy Baldwin, "Travels in a Gay Nation" brings us lesser-known voices--a retired Naval officer, a transgender scholar and "drag king," a Princeton philosopher, two opera sopranos who happen to be lovers, an indie rock musician, the founder of a gay frat house, and a pair of Vermont garden designers.

In this age when contemporary gay America is still coming under attack, Gambone captures the humanity of each individual. For some, their identity as a sexual minority is crucial to their life's work; for others, it has been less so, perhaps even irrelevant. But, whether splashy or quiet, center-stage or behind the scenes, Gambone's subjects have managed--despite facing ignorance, fear, hatred, intolerance, injustice, violence, ridicule, or just plain indifference--to construct passionate, inspiring lives.

Gambone teaches writing at Harvard University.

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BRUTHAS

A NOVEL BY J.L. WHITEHEAD

Bruthas is the story
of the struggle of three brothers, each wrestling with their own issues,
demons, and battles.  (5ive Star
Publications; www.5ivestarpublications.com
March 2010; $15.00)

In a North Philadelphia neighborhood
called the Block, a sociopathic killer is unleashed, resulting in the deaths of
several women.  At the center of each
crime lies Nate Whitfield, the youngest of the three Whitfield brothers.  Having risen to one of the highest ranking
positions in the infamous Colombian drug lord, Marco Carrere's empire, Nate is
responsible for the manufacture and distribution of a combination of heroin and
crack cocaine called Cloud.  He seems to
have it all, but when he almost loses the empire that he helped build, the
price he has to pay, may ultimately be with his life.  Ryan Whitfield is the brother who has struggled with his gay
identity all his life.  Now that he has
finally met the man that he wants to share his life with, the woman that he
once loved returns, altering how he views himself.  He finally gets answers to long sought after questions that he
has been asking himself all his life, the main one being who he really is.  Men don’t come any more upright or
upstanding than the oldest brother, Jai Whitfield.  He's the man that has it all: a beautiful fiancé, a wonderful
child, and a brilliant career in one Philadelphia's top law firms.  Yet with all of this picture-perfect happiness,
the secret that he harbors about Nate’s dealings threatens to tear his family
apart.  Loaded with police corruption,
blackmail, and murder, Bruthas is full of unexpected twists and turns that will
keep you guessing until its climatic finale.

J. L. Whitehead has
been writing professionally for 11 years, initially beginning his career as a
contributing freelance columnist for "PGN, Incorporated" located in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  After
writing for the publication for a year, he published his first book of poetry
entitled "Universal Words."

Currently, releasing
his first full-length novel entitled "Bruthas"; he is looking forward
to making a successful transition from his current profession, to one of being
a full time author.

discusses Leaving Tangier, by Tahar Ben Jelloun (Penguin, $15 pb).

Thom Nickels is the
author of SPORE (StarBooks, $16.95 pb).

This Philadelphia author has set his new novel in Philadelphia's neighborhoods: Germantown, East Falls,
Vally Green (Fairmount Park), Roxborough and Center City.

After his wife leaves him on their honeymoon, Dennis begins a quest to find out who he is, why he does what he does, and how to understand it all. Thus, he begins his journey, while engaging in sexual encounters in all kinds of strange situations.

Dennis's mission is to offer proof to the world that homosexuality and bisexuality are every bit a part of "The Big Plan" as is heterosexuality. He begins his activist campaign as a "street preacher," but in so doing, he stirs up reactionary forces that want him dead. Dennis's dire warnings shake up the status quo. One warning is that people who do not act on their latent bisexual or gay desires will develop diseases cause by a spore and that religions that condemn same-sex love will not inherit the new kingdom.

Will his predictions prove right? Will he be condemned? And, what about the spores? SPORE will leave you wondering about the world you think you know.

SPORE is truly a thought-provoking novel that will leave you wondering!

Nickels is the author of eight published books, including "Gay and Lesbian Philadelphia" and "Philadelphia Architecture" (2005). In 1990, Mr. Nickels was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award and a Hugo Award for his book, Two Novellas. He was awarded the Philadelphia AIA Lewis Mumford Architecture Journalism Award in 2005 for his architectural journalism. He is the Religion Editor for the Lambda Book Report and a Contributing Writer for the Gay and Lesbian Review. He has written feature stories, celebrity interviews, and social commentary columns for The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Philadelphia Daily News, the Philadelphia Bulletin, City Paper, The Philadelphia Weekly and Philadelphia Style magazine. He is the architectural writer/critic for The Philadelphia Bulletin, a contributing editor at The Weekly Press, a feature writer for ICON magazine, and a weekly columnist for Philadelphia's STAR publications.

LIGHT REFRESHMENTS at the RECEPTION.

discusses The Hell You Say, by Josh Lanyon (MLR, $16.99 pb).