Lori Ostlund

And one more author for January: Lori Ostlund!

Her first book, a story collection entitled "The Bigness of the World," won the 2008 Flannery O’Connor Award, the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award, the California Book Award for First Fiction and was a Lambda finalist. Stories from it appeared in the Best American Short Stories and the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories. Scribner will reissue the collection in early 2016. Lori has received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award and a fellowship to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference. Most recently, her work has appeared in ZYZZYVA, The Southern Review, and the Kenyon Review. She is a teacher and lives in San Francisco with her wife and two cats. 

Lori's newest work, "After the Parade," tells the story of 41-year-old Aaron Englund, who leaves his partner of 20 years and moves to San Francisco, where he spends his days walking around the city and teaching ESL at a shoddy language school in the Richmond and his nights listening to his landlords argue above him. In learning to live alone for the first time, he realizes that he must confront the secrets of his childhood in small-town Minnesota. The book deals with several themes, including bullying, loneliness, and the need to connect with others.

"After the Parade" has already garnered many accolades and has been chosen as one of the Great Reads of 2015 by the NPR Book Concierge. Hurray!

Andrew Demcak

Another of our January readers to be featured at "New Year, New Books" is Andrew Demcak, an award-winning poet and novelist whose work has been widely published and anthologized both in print and on-line, and whose books have been featured by The American Library Association, Verse Daily, The Lambda Literary Foundation, The Best American Poetry blog, The Nervous Breakdown, and Poets/Artists. 

His new work, "A Little Bit Langston" has already been receiving rave reviews, and we can't wait to hear him discuss it with us in January. Here's a synopsis:

Being different is a challenge, especially for James Kerr. He’s no average teenager. James begins to channel a dead writer’s poetry and then discovers he has the power to manipulate electricity. At the same time, romantic feelings for his best friend, Paul Schmitz, make him realize he’s gay. But he has little time to explore the drastic changes in his life before heartbreak strikes at the hands of Paul’s violent father. James is sent to The Paragon Academy, an institute specializing in juvenile paranormal research. There he meets Lumen Kim, the mysterious daughter of a famous Korean actress. Lumen’s psychic ability might just be the thing that helps James unlock the secrets of both his poems and the origins of his supernatural talents.

https://www.facebook.com/events/987587217965660/

Poster in the window!

The poster for our first event is now up in the window!

Now we have a poster for our January 2016 event!

So here we are! Ready to go for our very first event. Mark your calendars, and we'll see you at Books Inc. Castro (2275 Market Street) on January 11, 7:00 pm.

Natasha Dennerstein

Normally, we would wait to post information about our upcoming presenters, but one of our January authors has a book launch next week at Alley Cat Books on 24th Street:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1480464112255276/

Natasha Dennerstein

Natasha Dennerstein was born in Melbourne, Australia, to a family originating in Belarus.  She worked as a psychiatric nurse for over 20 years, which gave her an interesting perspective on the human condition.  In 2011 she completed her Masters at the IIML at Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.  Her poetry has been published in Fourth Floor, Landfall, Snorkel, JAAM, Takahe, Bloom, Transfer, Red Light Lit and several anthologies. She is currently living in San Francisco, where she is an MFA candidate in Poetry at the Creative Writing department at San Francisco State University. 

Her new book, "Anatomize,"  is a collection that takes a poetic journey around the human body.

"New Year, New Books"

Our first reading, scheduled for January 11, 2016, entitled "New Year, New Books," will feature:
Natasha Dennerstein, Andrew Demcak, and Lori Ostlund

Perfectly Queer reading series

Perfectly Queer is up and running!

In one day we have almost 80 followers on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/perfectlyqueerreadings

Beginning in January 2016, on the Second Monday of every month we will host a reading of LGBTQ authors at Books Inc. Castro in San Francisco.

If you are an author, or know an author, who might be interested in having a reading through our series, have them send an inquiry to: PerfectlyQueerSF@gmail.com

It is preferable if the work has been published within the last 12 months and has not been printed through CreateSpace. Authors and books are selected by the producers Wayne Goodman and Rick May and confirmed by Books Inc. Castro. All kinds of books by Queer authors are welcome. If Books Inc. cannot order books through its regular distributors, authors will be required to complete a consignment agreement. Authors cannot sell books themselves at Perfectly Queer events.