Larry Mitchell (1939 – December 26, 2012) was an American author and publisher.[1][2][3][4] He was the founder of Calamus Books - an early small press devoted to gay male literature - and the author of fiction dealing with the gay male experience in New York City during the 1970s and 1980s.[1][2][3][4][5][6]
Larry Mitchell | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1939 Muncie, Indiana, United States |
| Died | December 26, 2012 (aged 72–73) Ithaca, New York, United States |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | American |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Genres | Fiction, gay literature |
With Terry Helbing and Felice Picano,[5][6] he cofounded Gay Presses of New York in 1981. His book of short stories My Life As a Mole won the 1989 Small Press Lambda Literary Award.[7] Mitchell's novel The Terminal Bar, published in 1982, is considered to be the first book of fiction to address HIV/AIDS.[8][9] In addition to his own work, he was friends with and collaborated with many prominent gay artists working in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s including William "Bill" Rice,[10][11] David Wojnarowicz,[12] Peter Hujar and Gary Indiana.[13] The feature film Acid Snow (1998) directed by Joel Itman is based on Mitchell's novel of the same name.[14]
Mitchell received a PhD in Sociology from Columbia University.[1][15][16] At that time, he co-edited the book "Willard Waller on The Family, Education and War" with William J. Goode and Frank Furstenberg published in 1970.[2][16] He was born in Muncie, Indiana, in 1939 and died on December 26, 2012, in Ithaca, New York, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.[17]
Works
editBooks
edit- Acid Snow (Calamus Books, 1992)
- My Life As A Mole and Five Other Stories (Calamus Books, 1988)
- In Heat: A Romance (Gay Presses of New York, 1986)
- The Terminal Bar (Calamus Books, 1982)
- The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions (Calamus Books, 1977)
- Great Gay in the Morning (with The Lavender Hill Group, Times Change Press, 1972)
- Willard Waller on The Family, Education and War (with William J. Goode and Frank F. Furstenberg, University of Chicago Press, 1970)
Plays
edit- Get It While You Can (Presented November 1986 at Theater for the New City, New York City)
- An Evening of Faggot Theater (with The Pink Satin Bomber Collective. Presented March–May 1978 at the Performing Garage, New York City) [18]
References
edit- ^ a b c Brim, Matt. Larry Mitchell - Novelist of the Dispossed Archived 2013-02-16 at archive.today. The Gay and Lesbian Review. V16 N4 2009. Full text.
- ^ a b c Mitchell, Larry. My Life As A Mole and Five Other Stories. Calamus Books 1988.
- ^ a b Mitchell, Larry. Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions Archived 2012-12-24 at the Wayback Machine. Calamus Books 1977.
- ^ a b Mayer, Bob. Review of the novel, Terminal Bar. Cream City Special Edition V1 N1 May 1983, Page 12.
- ^ a b Brass, Perry. An Interview with Felice Picano Lambda Book Report, 2007.
- ^ a b Texier, Catherine. Gay Lit's Golden Age. Sunday Book Review of Felice Picano's Art and Sex in Greenwich Village: Gay Literary Life After Stonewall.
- ^ The complete list of Lambda Literary Award Winners from 1989.
- ^ Smith, Raymond A. (1998). Encyclopedia of AIDS: A Social, Political, Cultural, and Scientific Record of the HIV Epidemic. Taylor & Francis. p. 480. ISBN 9781579580070.
- ^ Sedberry, Jonathan A. (2008). Rupture and Repair: Literature, Genre and the AIDS Epidemic. ISBN 9781109079616.
- ^ Levin, Sara G. Obituary for Bill Rice, 74, cult film actor, artist and writer Archived 2017-01-29 at the Wayback Machine. The Villager, V75, N37, February 1–7, 2006.
- ^ Cotter, Holland (January 29, 2006). "Bill Rice, 74, Downtown Artist, Actor and Impresario, Dies". The New York Times.
- ^ Carr, Cynthia. A Fire In My Belly: The Life and Times of David Wojnarowicz. 2012.
- ^ Indiana, Gary. Last Seen Entering The Biltmore. Plays, Short Fiction, Poems 1975-2010.
- ^ Itman, Joel (June 26, 2007). Acid Snow. YouTube.
- ^ Mitchell, Larry. Larry Mitchell - Failure and Success; the American Theater and its playwrights. 1968. Ph.D. Dissertation - Columbia University
- ^ a b Goode, William J.; Furstenberg, Frank F.; Mitchell, Larry R., eds. (1970). Willard Waller on The Family, Education and War. University of Chicago Press.
- ^ Brim, Matt (1 April 2013). "Larry Mitchell, Novelist of New York Gay Life". Boston, Massachusetts: The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide. Retrieved 30 December 2015.
- ^ Pink Satin Bombers Collective. An Evening of Faggot Theater. Calamus Books 1977.