Arts & Culture :: Books

Best Side Story: an interview with Rita Moreno

Best Side Story: an interview with Rita Moreno

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Jun 15, 2021

An award-winning actress, writer, activist, dancer, mother, singer, feminist, Latina and EGOT, Rita Moreno discusses her recent memoir and the new documentary about her amazing life.

Pride 2021 nonfiction reading list

Pride 2021 nonfiction reading list

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Jun 8, 2021

Pride festivities for 2021 still seem to be up in the air or not taking place. Nevertheless, there are other ways of displaying your pride in being a member of the LGBTQ+ community, including reading a book by a queer writer or ally.

Pride 2021 fiction reading list

Pride 2021 fiction reading list

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Jun 8, 2021

Consider the wide variety of LGBTQ fiction books published this year that showcase our diverse lives, and our diverse forms of storytelling, from mysteries to Young Adult, fantasy and classics rereleased.

Maria Konner tells all: Bay Area musician and host's revealing memoir

Maria Konner tells all: Bay Area musician and host's revealing memoir

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • May 31, 2021

In her new book, 'Girl Shock', Maria Konner lets it all hang out. A TV host, musician, activist and sexual adventurer, Konner has lived a colorful life and has had a great time doing so.

Creepy queers: 'Unburied: A Collection of Queer Dark Fiction'

Creepy queers: 'Unburied: A Collection of Queer Dark Fiction'

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • May 30, 2021

In 'Unburied: A Collection of Queer Dark Fiction,' Editor Rebecca Rowland has selected a diverse array of spooky stories, from the short and sweet to longer ruminative tales by some accomplished authors.

CA summer reading program to kick off with LGBTQ children's book

CA summer reading program to kick off with LGBTQ children's book

  • by Matthew S. Bajko
  • May 26, 2021

California first partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom will launch her 10-week Summer Book Club early in Pride Month with an LGBTQ children's book.

Linda Simpson's retro drag scrapbook 'Drag Explosion' recalls NYC's nightlife yesteryears

Linda Simpson's retro drag scrapbook 'Drag Explosion' recalls NYC's nightlife yesteryears

  • by Jim Piechota
  • May 25, 2021

Linda Simpson's epic pictorial stroll down Drag Queen Memory Lane captures that golden age of nightclub culture occupying the 1980s and '90s where creativity and fierceness combined in kaleidoscopic ways.

Out in the Bay: Steven Rowley's 'The Guncle' heals grief with humor

Out in the Bay: Steven Rowley's 'The Guncle' heals grief with humor

  • by Eric Jansen
  • May 21, 2021

What's the role of a gay uncle? "The Guncle" suggests possibilities, dishing out lots of laughs as a guncle, his niece, and nephew deal with deep past and current grief.

Thoroughly 'Modern' - actor, comedian & poet Catherine Cohen

Thoroughly 'Modern' - actor, comedian & poet Catherine Cohen

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • May 18, 2021

Cohen's debut poetry collection 'God I Feel Modern Tonight: Poems from a Gal About Town' strikes a careful balance between the poetic ("I love sex and I love before it—/the double vodka soda leg touch") and the playful.

Michael Nava's 'Lies With Man' brings back the mystery

Michael Nava's 'Lies With Man' brings back the mystery

  • by Jim Piechota
  • May 18, 2021

Attorney and prolific author Michael Nava's impressive, engrossing ninth mystery novel in his Henry Rios detective series flashes back to the 1980s where big hair ruled, neon lit up the night, and the dark storm clouds of the AIDS epidemic began.

Flower of Iowa playwright Lance Ringel imagines male intimacy during WWI

Flower of Iowa playwright Lance Ringel imagines male intimacy during WWI

  • by Mark William Norby
  • May 18, 2021

Lance Ringel's expansive novel 'Flower of Iowa' centers on native 18-year old Tommy Flowers, who was raised in rural Iowa and sent to France by the U.S. Military in June 1918, the final months of World War I.

AIDS activism by the book: 'Let the Record Show' captures a movement's rise and decline

AIDS activism by the book: 'Let the Record Show' captures a movement's rise and decline

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • May 11, 2021

In the lengthy 'Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993,' author Sarah Schulman documents and analyzes the ideals, actions, successes and failures of the people who made up the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power.

Drawn out: Cartoon Art Museum's Queer Comics Expo's online May 15 & 16

Drawn out: Cartoon Art Museum's Queer Comics Expo's online May 15 & 16

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • May 9, 2021

Meet your favorite artists, hang out with fans and attend comics-themed chats at the 2021 Queer Comics Expo. Although online this year, the two-day gathering will still provide illustrative fun for attendees.

Sisters cookbook serves up dishes and drag

Sisters cookbook serves up dishes and drag

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • May 4, 2021

Whip up some tasty dishes while supporting LGBT teen education with the new Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence's cookbook fundraiser for The Point Foundation.