Lesbian author Radclyffe is one of the authors participating in the Lesbian Literary Festival in Baltimore this weekend. (Photo courtesy Bold Strokes Books)
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AMY CAVANAUGH
Friday, June 20, 2008
Washington
and
Baltimore
are
probably
not
the
first
two
cities
that
come
to
mind
when
you
think
of
gay
literature,
but
this
weekend
features
two
events
that
celebrate
local
and
national
gay
writers.
Baltimore
will
hold
the
first
Lesbian
Literary
Festival.
Meanwhile,
poetry
journal
Beltway
Poetry
Quarterly
and
Split
This
Rock
poetry
festival
will
offer
a
tour,
GLBT
Poets
of
Washington,
which
takes
participants
to
literary
sites
in
Dupont
Circle.
Chris
Bittner,
a
lesbian
who
owns
Baltimore
bookstore
Read
Street
Books,
teamed
up
with
lesbian
writer
KI
Thompson
and
her
partner
Kathi
Isserman
to
organize
the
Lesbian
Literary
Festival,
a
three-day
affair
organized
around
Baltimore
Pride,
which
also
happens
this
weekend.
“We
were
talking
about
books
and
events
[Thompson
and
Isserman]
were
going
to,
and
we
decided
to
try
to
put
something
together
for
this
area,”
Bittner
says.
“We
started
planning
it
last
February.”
Bittner
adds
that
there
are
three
big
annual
lesbian
literary
festivals:
one
in
Palm
Springs,
another
in
Atlanta
and
the
Golden
Crown
Literary
Society
conference,
which
will
be
held
in
Phoenix
this
year.
“The
price
for
these
is
prohibitive
to
a
great
many
people,
so
the
objective
was
to
have
something
low
cost,
a
low-key
kind
of
thing,
where
people
can
come
and
relax
and
enjoy,”
she
says.
The
festival
kicks
off
June
20
at
8
p.m.
with
readings
of
women’s
erotica
by
authors
Radclyffe,
KI
Thompson,
VK
Powell,
Ali
Vali,
Rachel
Spangler
and
I
Beachem
at
Read
Street
Books.
Saturday’s
events
include
an
author
panel,
“What
We
Write
and
Why”
at
10
a.m.
followed
by
lunch
and
socializing
with
the
authors
and
an
author
reading
at
2
p.m.
during
which
authors
read
their
favorite
selections
from
each
other’s
books.
All
three
events
will
be
held
at
the
restaurant
Night
of
the
Cookers,
881
N.
Howard
St.
The
Saturday
evening
event
is
the
LitFest
Women’s
Pride
Dance,
with
DJ,
light
menu
and
cash
bar
from
8
p.m.
to
midnight
at
Sydonne’s,
713
N.
Howard
St.
BACK
IN
D.C.,
the
GLBT
Poets
of
Washington
tour
will
be
held
Saturday
from
10:30
a.m.
noon,
and
participants
will
meet
outside
the
Starbucks
on
the
north
side
of
Dupont
Circle.
Led
by
Dan
Vera,
the
managing
editor
of
White
Crane
Journal,
a
gay
men’s
spiritual
quarterly
magazine,
the
tour
traces
gay
literature
in
Washington
from
the
1970s
to
the
present.
Vera
says
the
tour
focuses
on
poets
who
are
either
deceased
or
no
longer
live
in
their
homes,
out
of
deference
to
the
authors.
One
important
stop
on
the
tour
is
the
site
of
the
Furies
Collective,
a
lesbian
literary
group
of
feminist
writers
(including
Rita
Mae
Brown),
who
felt
that
their
writing
was
being
sidelined
because
there
were
more
gay
male
writers
in
D.C.
As
a
highlight
of
the
tour,
Vera
located
audio
recordings
of
poets
Audre
Lorde
and
Allen
Ginsberg,
who
read
at
the
first
March
on
Washington
in
1979.
“It’s
great
that
we
can
stop
on
the
tour
and
participants
can
get
a
chance
to
hear
them
reading
their
poetry,”
he
says.
The
tour
also
exposes
hidden
histories
in
the
Dupont
Circle
neighborhood,
something
that
Vera
hopes
to
bring
to
other
areas
in
D.C.
with
other
gay
literary
tours.
“It’s
a
great
experience
to
walk
around
a
neighborhood
I
thought
I
knew
pretty
well,”
Vera
says.
“It’s
strange
to
think
that
there
was
a
lesbian
feminist
separatist
community
in
this
multimillion
dollar
townhouse.
It’s
a
reminder
that
we’re
part
of
a
long
tradition
in
this
space
to
live
our
lives
openly.”
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