Hi friends. I haven’t updated you here in a long time, and I have lots of news for you!
Of course, this email is being sent out in the midst of a brazen attempt at an authoritarian coup in the United States, which really puts my small bit of writing and publishing news into, as they say, perspective.
Before I get to the latter, JOIN ME IN FIGHTING BACK!
Go to indivisible.org and any demonstrations you can.
Trump, of course, hates oppositional queer writing by women (among others), so maybe this newsletter from me is topical after all!
My novel DONNAVILLE is going like gangbusters. I’m thrilled that I will be one of four featured writers at this year’s Rainbow Book Fair in Manhattan, Saturday, May 10 at the LGBTQ Center, 208 W. 13th Street.
The WROTE podcast did a really fun interview with me about DONNAVILLE, which is up right now. Hosts Vance Bastian and Baz Collins zeroed in on the role of mythology in the book, and asked if its structure had anything to do with Joseph Campbell, which… DING! DING! DING! Yes, it does :-) I love the hero’s journey (which is both less hokey and less sexist than some think), and I love myth even more. The WROTE podcast hosts got it, and I was over the moon.
Meanwhile, I did ANOTHER interview with the Chills at Will podcast, which is “a celebration of the visceral beauty of literature.” I loved host Peter Riehl’s questions, and I can’t wait till that podcast is up.
Watch for a DONNAVILLE reading this summer at Blue Heron Books in High Falls, New York… Also watch for a summer memoir writing workshop from me.
In two weeks, I’m appearing for the first time at the Saints and Sinners Festival in New Orleans, an LGBTQ writing conference I have always wanted to go to. Delighted that I will be on a panel on “nurturing your writing habit” with Michael Cunningham, Jewelle Gomez, Jonathan Alexander, and Joan Larkin, greats all! on Saturday, March 29. I will also be giving a writing workshop Friday, March 28 on writing that straddles memoir and fiction…
Back in New York, I’ll be lecturing on Gnosticism, my favorite religion of all time, at the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture, Sunday, April 20 from 12:30 PM to 2 PM, 269 4th Avenue. (Don’t worry, I won’t be talking for that whole time, there will be some other things on the program besides me, like music :-) ) Come on down and learn about this radical ancient religion that hated the idea of a jealous, worship-demanding patriarchal god. Some of their medieval adherents thought that, ahem, queer sex was more holy…
DONNAVILLE is now available as an e-book in addition to a paperback. You can get the e-book here and everywhere!
Finally, the next Lit Lit, the monthly open mic for writers I host in Beacon, NY, will be Friday, April 4 from 7 to 9 PM. We are open to all, including non-locals! Check out our new poster by artist Samantha Palmeri. For a fabulous evening with over 20 writers of all genres, come to the Howland Cultural Center, 477 Main Street. If you’d like to read your work (five-minute time limit) get there by 6:30 to sign up.
That’s all I’ve got. Take part in nationwide protests on April 5.
I love you — Donna