Deb Law  0:10  
Good morning, and welcome to this morning's edition of Lambda Reports program brought to you by and for the lesbian and gay community. I'm sitting here this morning with Kris Kleindienst, one of the owners of Left Bank Books, which is soon to be 20 years old and actually started within days of Stonewall in 1969. And has long been on the progressive edge of the literary community in St. Louis. Kris is a writer for and board member of the Lesbian and Gay News Telegraph in addition to being involved with Left Bank Books. And really, we hope that with our program today, that you all are going to move right from the radio to pick up a book. As Kris is here to talk to us about some of the current trends and queer writing and publishing and to talk to us about some of the books that have been around for a while and that are forthcoming. One of the first things I wanted to ask you about Kris or talk to you about is that since we are soon coming upon the 20th Anniversary of Stonewall is if you could talk to us some about some of the writing that was both pre Stonewall and post Stonewall, things that would be good for us to read and take a look at as we approach queer month.

Kris Kleindienst  1:27  
All right, well, first of all, just to remind your listeners who may be barely awake at this point, Stonewall, the Stonewall Rebellion was in 1969 in the summer, and it was a rebellion in the gay bars in New York against the police repression, which was a standard operating procedure to move in bars and arrest anybody and close them down. When people in those bars that that year that month, said enough already and there was a rebellion that went on for several days and kind of turned around the country in terms of gay and lesbian activism. And before 1969 what was defined as gay and lesbian writing was mostly coming out of the male, probably the 30s through the 50s kind of dimestore novels, sleazy pocket books that there were several rules about what could be done, the writers may have met well, many of these people were gay, or lesbian writers. But they had to change the the storylines, so that they would fit the rules, which basically involved, you know, if a lesbian is a lesbian in the book, in the end, she either dies or marries a man. And that was that along those sort of lines. They disappeared in the 60s, and there was not a lot, there was really not much at all identified as gay or lesbian. And I think with the Stonewall was kind of a watershed time and you know, in the 60s were activist years in general in this country, and we began to see some gay actual gay and lesbian publishers emerge, publishing work that was conscientiously positive, depicting gay and lesbian life, poetry, fiction, political writing. This was really the first time that I know of ever that something like that happened in this country. So that changed the the face dramatically of what was available. Certainly, there were many books written by gay men and lesbians, but they were never identified as such. They were literature wh Auden's poetry, Gertrude Stein's writing, Walt Whitman, the sexuality in the writing was handily overlooked by scholars. So 69 was the turning point definitely. So

Deb Law  4:18  
Essentially, we had a development of lesbian and gay sensibility in the literature, and also the insistence that that be seen in earlier literature.

Kris Kleindienst  4:29  
Yeah, yeah, we took our voice in our own hands, to make a horrible sort of description. But we started defining our own culture, and and I have always felt that publishing and both, you know, newspaper media, and and books are vital to the existence of our culture and movement. If we can can't communicate, and if we cannot record our own experiences and share them in a way that doesn't just disappear, we will never get anywhere, there's no way to learn anything, there's there's nothing that verifies that you're not the only one. And I think a lot of the subsequent culture that sprang up in terms of music and film, videos, etc, that we are lucky to have now, really came about as a result of the publishing boom, it started in the late 60s. Well, looking

Deb Law  5:36  
at a history, and we all know that there aren't a lot of opportunities for us to learn about our history, what are some, you know, publications or books that you might recommend, as we sort of, you know, look at this anniversary and look back in terms of who we are and how we got here.

Kris Kleindienst  5:53  
Well, happily, now, there are probably hundreds of books that I can refer to. And this was not true when I started in book selling 15 years ago. There was, we had a teensy section, we call men's section at my bookstore, just like three or four books, and not a very big women's section. But now there are so many, I'm really gonna, this is gonna be a thumbnail review here, I was thinking for gay pride month, it might be nice to recommend some books that are about our history, this is a good opportunity for self improvement. And a couple, actually, there are three I would consider history that are have come out fairly recently that I think are really great. One of them is Out of all Time, a Gay and Lesbian History by Terry Boehner. And it is a essentially a thumbnail sketch of just dozens of different people and historical events, ranging back into, you know, a couple thousand years ago. And another book that does that in a even more in depth. It's called Gay Men and Women Who Enriched the World. Again, little subject headings of different people, and it goes into via little biographies. And it's an interesting way to learn about a lot really fast. If you have almost no time at all, I would suggest Before Stonewall, the Making of the Gay and Lesbian Community, this book is came out of a documentary film that was done talking about the period immediately preceding Stonewall, well, really the last the first 30 years before Stonewall. And it's a wonderful, quick read, as they say, and gives you a really nice sense of how our culture thrived, in spite of all the odds. If you want to come up to date, I would say, for contemporary overview, a book called In Search of Gay America would be good. And what's really fun about that book is that what this what the author Neil Miller Miller has done is go around the country and really do, you know, little interviews with people all over the country to see who we really are and how we survive. And the places we actually live. We don't all live in San Francisco or New York. And one of the places he's picked out is Bunceton, Missouri, where they have an openly gay mayor, who some of us may have heard at various Gay Pride rallies in St. Louis. So that's a fun book, I think to read. My last suggestion would be once you've read all that, and you're fired up, would be to pick up a copy of a book called Homophobia, a Weapon of Sexism, which is a marvelously sharp, really easy to read analysis of just what homophobia is and how to deal with it, and will give you lots of fuel to go out in your world and, and do something about it. And what I would suggest for all of these, obviously, people can walk into my bookstore and and talk to me and I'll, I'll help them find these books. But I am also making a list available to people who you can call or write to me and I would mail it to you. And you can perhaps get into some other kinds of activism, walk into your library and ask for these books and, and get them on the shelves.

Deb Law  9:38  
Great idea. We're lucky in St. Louis. Not only do we have Left Bank Books, which has an excellent lesbian and gay section, we also have a lesbian and gay bookstore called Our World Too which is on Vandeventer. Certainly it's behooves us to support both of these fine businesses and we will infect later at the end of the show. I'll give you Kris's address and phone number if you want to get that list. Actually, I'm very interested as we move away from the specific in terms of the books, if you can give us some kind of quick, again, a thumbnail sketch of some of the strengths and trends in lesbian and gay writing and publishing. Where are we now? And where do you think we're gonna be? Okay,

Kris Kleindienst  10:24  
really fast. There's, there's a lot to talk about. But basically, I think what's good right now is that not only do we have several, fairly successful, modestly successful, but strong lesbian and gay publishers now doing some great books of all kinds. Gay and Lesbian publishing has moved back into the mainstream in a very positive sense. And many mainstream publishers have started publishing their own gay lines, there's some gay fiction lines, there's gay history, and they're marketing it as such. You can read the catalogs, it says, Yes, this is a gay book, and it's getting, stores may not be ordering all of these things, but people who have to deal with books are seeing these things. And I think that's really exciting. And that's a good, a good balance. I think when we've made some small success here.

Deb Law  11:20  
Is that getting? Do you see more of this every year? Yes,

Kris Kleindienst  11:22  
absolutely. The past two years, it's really mushrooms. And they're very, they're these books are very much of a visible presence on the lists of these different publishers. They obviously see maybe all they see is money in it, but it that's enough to get the books out and keep them in print. At this point,

Deb Law  11:43  
it's great. It's great. The other thing, I am aware that spinsters ink, which is combined with Aunt lewd is also doing a contest next year for a lesbian novel, really seeking that novel where the lesbian as a protagonist. Do you have any comments on that?

Kris Kleindienst  12:03  
Well, I think it's wonderful. Spinsters/Aunt Lute is a feminist and lesbian publishing house and they have what you're talking about is that they're they've got a contest, where they're actually going to pay a cash prize to the, to the novel that they select. And I think this is wonderful, because first of all, there hasn't been any money for us in this world. Writers and gay and lesbian writers in particular, are probably some of the most impoverished professionals. But we also don't have in our culture, a lot of ways to reward excellence. And so that's, I think that is a really exciting development.

Deb Law  12:46  
That leads right into my next question, obviously, I know that you're one of the judges for Lambda Rising's Book Awards that's going to be held during the American Booksellers Association Conference in Washington, DC in early June. Could you tell us a little bit about that?

Kris Kleindienst  13:01  
Sure. That is also a wonderful development, because not only is one lesbian novel going to be rewarded, but it doesn't, you know, books are going to get awards, Lambda, Lambda Literary Awards, this is their first year Lambda. The Lambda Book Report, which is a newspaper that reviews gay and lesbian books, developed this concept and sent solicited nominations in several categories things like lesbian fiction, gay men's fiction, lesbian and gay nonfiction. There's small press award, there's mystery and sci fi. There's an AIDS category. And there's also a first novel category for both men and women. And there'll be a star studded banquet, where the awards will be given. I don't think there's any cash involved here. But again, I think it's a great way to celebrate what we have done, and how far we've come, and to encourage these writers who desperately need.

Deb Law  14:05  
great. I have a wonderful time. Maybe quickly, we could tell your address and phone number so people can tell

Kris Kleindienst  14:13  
a bookstore by No. It's it left bank books 399 North Euclid, which is E-U-C-L-I-D. St. Louis. Zip Code is 63108 and our phone is 3676731. I'd be happy to give, send this list to anyone or help you in the store. I'm not concerned

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