Lambda Literary Award Reading: Bay Area Finalists

Listening to one's own voice can be a bit odd, but this is a good recording of my participation at the April 24, 2012 group reading by Bay Area finalists for this year's Lambda Literary Awards at the San Francisco Public Library. Thirteen authors read short excerpts of their works, ranging from fiction to poetry and scholarly works. It was quite a fascinating variety. Lambda Lit's Executive director Tony Valenzuela hosted.

We each had five minutes. I chose a 4.5-minute excerpt from Chapter Two of Every Time I Think of You.

Fortunately, my slightly silly comment about requesting finalist gold stickers was edited out. I didn't mean to be flip. I recall 23 years ago when I visited (the sadly now gone) Oscar Wilde Bookstore on Christopher Street and saw a row of books with the little gold stickers on their covers. They resembled Willy Wonka chocolate bars.

And with another reference that also parallels Johnny Depp (whose recent film characters include Wonka and Barnabas Collins), my excerpt's reference to the TV show Dark Shadows seems well-timed, what with his film version having just opened in cinemas.

Here are videos of the other Bay Area finalists.

Enjoy more literary readings at LitSeen.