Arts & Culture :: Culture

To hell and back: Sean Hewitt's 'All Down Darkness Wide' makes literature of the memoir

To hell and back: Sean Hewitt's 'All Down Darkness Wide' makes literature of the memoir

  • by Tim Pfaff
  • Jul 19, 2022

Getting lost in a relationship; people do it all the time, and it's the matter of some of our greatest literature. Rarer is the chronicle of making it back out, which is both the engine and the heart of Sean Hewitt's luminous new memoir.

D. L. Forbes and 'the unique individual'

D. L. Forbes and 'the unique individual'

  • by Charles Steiner
  • Jul 19, 2022

"Wittgenstein's Son and U. G. Krishnamurti: Ducks or Rabbits" is a deserved subject for discussion as it sums up the Forbes' life, fully and un-ordinarily, in San Francisco while focusing on two major influences.

SF Gay Men's Chorus' 44 years: touching timeline traces nearly half a century

SF Gay Men's Chorus' 44 years: touching timeline traces nearly half a century

  • by Jim Provenzano
  • Jul 18, 2022

The history of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus gets a new update from historian Tom Burtch with a 48-minute collection of video and audio clips, news clipping and poster montages, and commentary.

Cultural exchange: S.W. Leicher's 'Acts of Atonement'

Cultural exchange: S.W. Leicher's 'Acts of Atonement'

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Jul 12, 2022

S.W. Leicher's second novel, "Acts of Atonement," picks up where her debut, 2018's "Acts of Assumption," left off, featuring Serach and Paloma, two women from disparate cultural backgrounds who embark upon a loving lesbian relationship against all odds.

Zain Khalid's novel "Brother Alive" is bracing magical realism

Zain Khalid's novel "Brother Alive" is bracing magical realism

  • by Timothy Pfaff
  • Jul 12, 2022

"Uncategorizable" is the flavor of the month in gay literary fiction. Even in as genre-free a landscape as that, Zain Khalid's much-anticipated first novel, "Brother Alive," stakes out new territory.

Sea change: Julia Armfield's 'Our Wives Under the Sea'

Sea change: Julia Armfield's 'Our Wives Under the Sea'

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Jul 5, 2022

Julia Armfield explores a watery metamorphosis from the deep murky depths in her debut novel involving a lesbian married couple whose longtime relationship buckles beneath the weight of one partner's eventual mental and physical disfigurement.

Shola von Reinhold's 'Lote' - a literary tour de force

Shola von Reinhold's 'Lote' - a literary tour de force

  • by Laura Moreno
  • Jul 5, 2022

In author Shola von Reinhold's first book, "Lote," which is a tour de force, the luscious, textured writing is astonishingly good.

Andrew Holleran's postcard from Florida

Andrew Holleran's postcard from Florida

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Jun 28, 2022

Andrew Holleran's new novel, the Florida-set 'The Kingdom of Sand,' is a welcome addition to his canon of gay novels, going back to the classic 'Dancer From the Dance.'

Richard Labonté remembered

Richard Labonté remembered

  • by Jerry Wheeler
  • Jun 21, 2022

Since the March 20 passing of Richard Labonté, who once managed the LGBTQ bookstore A Different Light in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood, friends, authors and colleagues offered tributes to the beloved figure in the publishing world.

'The Prom' composer Matthew Sklar

'The Prom' composer Matthew Sklar

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jun 21, 2022

Matthew Sklar, composer of the "The Prom," the snazzy, uplifting queer musical that opens June 22 at the Golden Gate Theatre, discusses the eight-year development of the show, whose themes joyfully take on homophobia in a small town.

'Dana H.' at Berkeley Rep: Who's playing who?

'Dana H.' at Berkeley Rep: Who's playing who?

  • by Jim Gladstone
  • Jun 21, 2022

You can't help but focus on actress Jordan Baker's mouth during the first few minutes of "Dana H.", now on stage at Berkeley Repertory. Playwright Lucas Hnath's mother was held captive by a white supremacist kidnappers. How it's told is also disturbing.

Summer books 2022 roundup, part 3

Summer books 2022 roundup, part 3

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Jun 21, 2022

In our third and final installment of the Bay Area Reporter's Summer Books Series, we spotlight some amazing fiction, a new book about a trans youth's journey through grade school, and a sartorial exploration of the concept of the "Daddy."

'Nuclear Family' fallout: Joseph Han's stunning debut novel

'Nuclear Family' fallout: Joseph Han's stunning debut novel

  • by Tim Pfaff
  • Jun 21, 2022

The sociological construct of "nuclear family," signifying a familial unit whose members all live together. Joseph Han's first novel, "Nuclear Family," explodes it, leaving you with the spectacle of the mushroom cloud.

Chloe Sherman's 'Renegades' - photo exhibit documents SF's '90s lesbian scene

Chloe Sherman's 'Renegades' - photo exhibit documents SF's '90s lesbian scene

  • by Heather Cassell
  • Jun 14, 2022

Queer fine art photographer Chloe Sherman's new exhibit "Renegade San Francisco: the 1990s," opening June 17 at Schlomer Haus Gallery, dives into the pats heyday of the local women's nightlife and social scenes.