San Francisco Travel Association presents Silver Cable Car Award to Armistead Maupin

By: Laurie Armstrong


June 21, 2012 - At its 102nd Annual Luncheon meeting today, the San Francisco Travel Association presented the Silver Cable Car Award to Armistead Maupin, author of Tales of the City and many other books set in San Francisco.

The Silver Cable Car Award is presented annually by San Francisco Travel to an individual or organization that has made a significant contribution to San Francisco’s visitor industry.

“Through newspapers, books, films and the stage, Armistead Maupin has introduced people around the world to a place that is as unique as the person reading about it. In his descriptions of people and places, he imparts a sense of acceptance and tolerance that lets the reader know that all are welcome here,” said Joe D’Alessandro, president and CEO of San Francisco Travel. “It’s no wonder that so many people say they knew they wanted to visit – or even live – in San Francisco after reading his books.”

In accepting his award, Maupin said, “I’m so happy to have this opportunity to stand here and thank you, all of you, and this city for giving me my life, for giving me my story, for allowing me to be me, allowing me to find who I was, and for continuing to do that. That’s scornfully referred to as ‘San Francisco values’ in other parts of the country. Here it’s something we’re proud of and you can see it here in this amazing amalgamation of gay and straight and ‘traveling,’ as I refer to it. I’m just so grateful to you San Francisco, thank you so much. I will always, always consider myself a San Franciscan, no matter where I am. San Francisco made me a citizen of the world. And I’ve learned this from people who read my books. Even people who don’t come here love it for the same reasons that those of us who live here love it. And that’s why it’s so magical. I’ve very honored. Thank you very much.”

Maupin was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. A graduate of the University of North Carolina, he served as a naval officer in the Mediterranean and with the River Patrol Force in Vietnam.

Armistead worked as a reporter for a newspaper in Charleston, South Carolina, before being assigned to the San Francisco bureau of the Associated Press in 1971.

In 1976 he launched his groundbreaking Tales of the City serial in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Maupin is the author of ten novels, including the eight-volume Tales of the City series, Maybe the Moon, and The Night Listener. He’s currently working on his next book (the ninth Tales novel), entitled The Days of Anna Madrigal.

Two critically-acclaimed miniseries starring Olympia Dukakis and Laura Linney were made from the first three Tales novels. The Night Listener became a feature film starring Robin Williams and Toni Collette.

The musical version Tales of the City had its world premiere at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco in June, 2011. It was greeted so warmly, the run was extended. Previous recipients of the Silver Cable Car award include Herb Caen, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist with the “San Francisco Chronicle”; Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants; Jackson K. Hu, one of the impresarios behind the Chinese New Year parade and festival; Ruth Asawa, noted Japanese American artist; U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein; the San Francisco 49ers; Steve Silver of “Beach Blanket Babylon”; Kary Schulman, Grants for the Arts; the San Francisco Pride Celebration; Carol Shorenstein Hays, SHN, and last year’s recipients, the cable car operators.

The San Francisco Travel Association is a private, not-for-profit organization that markets the city as a leisure, convention and business travel destination. With more than 1,500 members, San Francisco Travel is one of the largest membership-based tourism promotion agencies in the country. Tourism, San Francisco's largest industry, generates in excess of $8.46 billion annually for the local economy. The San Francisco Travel business offices are located at 201 Third St., Suite 900, San Francisco, CA 94103. ST Travel also operates the Visitor Information Center at Hallidie Plaza, 900 Market Street at the corner of Powell and Market streets. For more information, call 415-974-6900 or visit www.sanfrancisco.travel.

The San Francisco Travel Association’s 102nd Annual Luncheon was made possible by Wells Fargo with additional support from American Express®, the official credit card partner for the San Francisco Travel Association.

Join the more than 450,000 people who follow San Francisco Travel on Facebook at www.facebook.com/onlyinsf. Follow “OnlyinSF” on Twitter at http://twitter.com/onlyinsf.

Armistead Maupin Is Leaving San Francisco: Our City Just Lost A Legend

Carly Schwartz
6/21/2010


Armistead Maupin announced this week that he's leaving San Francisco for good.

Somewhere in the thicket of Macondray Lane, a fairy lost its wings.

Mr. Maupin is, to me, our original literary hero. His iconic Tales of the City series, a magical romp through 1970s SF, transcends the generations of readers he's inspired and entertained and taught to love San Francisco as much as he does.

It was through his books that I, too, came to love San Francisco as much as he does.

Now, after more than 40 years here, he's packing up his Labradoodle and moving to Santa Fe with his husband. (Naturally, they're spending the summer in Provincetown and making a stop at Burning Man before settling down in their new home.)

And I'm staying in town, left with nothing but a stack of his dusty books from the Chinatown library, five years' worth of late fees, and dozens of unanswered interview requests to both his agent and his personal email address.

When my best friend and I moved here in 2007, fresh out of college and wide-eyed at our alien, enchanting surroundings, we decided to book-club all six of his original novels.

From our shoebox apartment above Golden Boy Pizza, we devoured his writing, discussed it obsessively, retraced the steps of the main characters from the Searchlight Market to Club Fugazi to that endless line that still snakes around the corner of Mama's and all the way out to the Sutro ruins.

Our favorite place to perch and stare idly down at the Bay became the top of the rickety staircase where Leavenworth meets Macondray, Mr. Maupin's inspiration for Barbary Lane, where his heroes lived in a ramshackle house run by the prolific Anna Madrigal.

I was Mary Ann Singleton, the wayward and yet surprisingly resilient protagonist, chasing a career at all costs. He was Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, my loyal sidekick. We'd breathlessly reference scenes from the stories in our everyday life.

"Should we eat these sandwiches at that spot in Washington Square where Anna first met Edgar?"

"Stay out of the Broadway Tunnel. That's where Beauchamp Day met his fate!"

"Don't sleep with him, Mary Ann. Didn't you learn anything? He's probably gay."

Tales of the City unlocked San Francisco for me before I could unlock it for myself.

Just like Mouse lost Mary Ann to a career in Manhattan, I lost my own Mouse to law school in Brooklyn, and San Francisco is losing a legend to Santa Fe.

But our friendship, like Mary Ann and Mouse's, is far greater than the distance between us. Hopefully so is Maupin's San Francisco -- he already has a new Tales book in the works.

In the mean time, die-hard fans like me can appease themselves by clicking through our ultimate Tales of the City tour of SF below.

And if you haven't read the books yet, get the eff over to your nearest library immediately. (Just not the one in Chinatown. To the really nice librarian who helped me out that day: I promise to return them eventually. I'm really sorry. Really.)

Good luck on your next chapter, Mr. Maupin. Your city misses you already.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carly-schwartz/armistead-maupin-is-leaving-san-francisco_b_1617426.html

Maupin to leave San Francisco

Leah Garchik
Tuesday, June 19, 2012


Armistead Maupin, who on Thursday will be honored with a Silver Cable Card award from San Francisco Travel, leaves town the next day as step one of a move to Santa Fe. Maupin, husband Christopher Turner and their Labradoodle, are driving cross-country to Provinceton, where they'll spend a chunk of summer, before returning west for a stop at Burning Man before winding up in New Mexico, where they plan to re-settle.

The re-location has "been percolating for a while," he said by phone Monday. Santa Fe "has a different magic from San Francisco, but it has magic, and I need an autumnal adventure." Turner, in the background, wisecracked that the movie reflects Maupin's "retirement and my mid-life crisis." But "retirement" isn't really accurate because the author is working on a new "Tales" book, "The Days of Anna Madrigal." He'll be giving a series of readings while they drive cross-country on what they call "the Madrigal Mystery Tour."


The move is "nothing I'm taking lightly," says Maupin. "It's been 41 years since I landed here and it gave me my story. ... I keep reminding myself that Barbary Lane is portable and everything I learned here became part of me and is something I'll always have."

He and Turner are "both craving a little more space and some nature," he said, and the move is "giving us new dreams. There's nothing wrong with that."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/19/DDCN1P4DG2.DTL

Author of famed "Tales of the City" series to visit Salt Lake

by Tony Hobday


It’s almost inconceivable that a man of 68 years, born and raised in a conservative Christian family, and whom he says was once a typical conservative and segregationist (of the time) – having been mentored by, and hobnobbed with, Jesse Helms – could today be considered a pioneer in bringing homosexuality into mainstream literature and, in contrast, gay activism. Author Armistead Maupin, a fine and benevolent storyteller, will be in Salt Lake City, June 23, to read and discuss the next chapter in the Tales of the City series, The Days of Anna Madrigal.

It wasn’t until Maupin was close to 30 years old that he decided to come out as a gay man, and during that same period he began writing a serial column for a San Francisco newspaper that eventually blossomed into a series of novels involving a mishmash of colorful and unforgettable characters, both gay and straight, living in San Francisco. Over the following 35 years, Maupin’s books have been translated into several languages, and today there are over six million copies in print.

Maupin, a veteran naval officer, is married and lives in San Francisco with is husband Christopher and their dog Phillo. You can find Maupin on Facebook, and for more info visit armisteadmaupin.com.
Armistead Maupin will be at the King’s English Bookshop, June 23, 7 p.m. to read from his new novel and speak to his LGBT activism, life and work.  Tickets are $25, with percentage of the proceeds benefiting The Trevor Project. Tickets are available at kingsenglish.com.

http://gaysaltlake.com/2012/06/18/author-of-famed-tales-of-the-city-series-to-visit-salt-lake/

San Francisco and the Silver Screen

I had the pleasure of co-conducting a “Tours of the Tales” tour with Larry Rhodes over Memorial Day Weekend to celebrate the 36th Anniversary of “Tales of the City”.  During our tour, we mentioned several films that take place in and around San Francisco, and in particular, places near and dear to the folks at 28 Barbary Lane.  Here is a partial list of the films we discussed.  Please feel free to add more in the comments, San Francisco must be a film-makers dream.

Dark Passage (1947) - Lauren Bacall lives in the Malloch Apartments, these are the same apartments Dede and Beacham reside in the “Tales” novels.

Vertigo (1958) - Kim Novak’s character, Madeline, is scouted by Scotty, James Stewart, at the Brocklebank apartments.  In the “Tales” miniseries, these are the apartments where Dede and Beacham live.

Woman on the Run (1950) - Ann Sheridan and Dennis O’Keefe.  Locations include Washington Square Park and the “meeting of the lines” on Nob Hill.

House on Telegraph Hill (1951) - filmed on location on Telegraph Hill.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) - Starring Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum and Veronica Cartwright, locations include 32 Napier Lane, Alamo Square and the Transamerica Pyramid.

The Conversation (1974) - A Francis Ford Coppola gem featuring Gene Hackman, filmed in Union Square and Embarcadero Center.

D.O.A. (1950) - Film Noir starring Edmond O’Brien, Powell and California Cable Car Line, 

There are literally a ton of movies filmed in location in San Francisco.  Mistersf has a wonderful section on “Cinematic SF”.  Let’s not forget one of my favorites, “What’s Up, Doc?”

Judy Kaye Wins Best Featured Actress in a Musical for NICE WORK

Judy Kaye is this year's recipient of the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT.


Judy Kaye has been a star of the theatre for over 40 years. Her Broadway credits include Phantom of the Opera (Tony Award), Mamma Mia (Tony Nomination), Ragtime (LA Ovation Award), On the 20th Century, Souvenir (Tony Nomination), Grease, Sweeney Todd and The Pajama Game.

She recently starred as Mrs. Madrigal in the new musical Tales of the City at A.C.T in San Francisco and in Saving Aimee in Seattle.

Ms. Kaye has sung with major orchestras around the world and recorded numerous albums, both cast and solo. She has sung in concert, opera and cabaret and twice at the White House. She has recorded all of Sue Grafton's Alphabet Mystery Series for Random House Audio of which V Is For Vengeance is the latest.

The new musical comedy NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT, featuring music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin and a book by two-time Tony Award-winner Joe DiPietro, stars Matthew Broderick and three-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O’Hara. The production is directed and choreographed by three-time Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall. The production is playing at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre (249 West 45th Street).

In addition to Matthew Broderick as Jimmy Winter and Kelli O’Hara as Billie Bendix, the production also stars Academy Award-winner Estelle Parsons as Millicent Winter, Tony Award-winner Judy Kaye as Estonia Dulworth, Tony Award nominee Michael McGrath as Cookie McGee, Tony Award nominee Jennifer Laura Thompson as Eileen Evergreen, Chris Sullivan as Duke Mahoney, Robyn Hurder as Jeannie Muldoon, StanleyWayne Mathis as Chief Berry and Terry Beaver as Senator Max Evergreen.

The cast also features Cameron Adams, Clyde Alves, Kaitlyn Davidson, Jason DePinto,Kimberly Faure, Robert Hartwell, Stephanie Martignetti, Barrett Martin, Michael X. Martin, Adam Perry, Jeffrey Schecter, Jennifer Smith,J oey Sorge, Samantha Sturm, Kristen Beth Williams and Candice Marie Woods.

The creative team includes scenic design by Derek McLane, costume design by Martin Pakledinaz, lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski, sound design by Brian Ronan and orchestrations by Bill Elliott. The music supervisor is David Chaseand the music director Tom Murray.


This new musical features a veritable hit parade of iconic George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin songs as well as some unknown gems in their catalog, and a book by Joe DiPietro. NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT follows Billie Bendix (Kelli O'Hara), a bootlegger who meets wealthy playboy Jimmy Winter (Matthew Broderick) on the weekend of his nuptials. Mayhem ensues.

NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT is produced on Broadway by Scott Landis, Roger Berlind, Sonia Friedman Productions, Roy Furman, Standing CO Vation, Candy Spelling, Freddy DeMann, Ronald Frankel, Harold Newman, Jon B. Platt, Raise the Roof 8, Takonkiet Viravan, William Berlind/Ed Burke, Carole L. Haber/Susan Carusi, Buddy and Barbara Freitag/Sanford Robertson, Under the Wire/Jim Herbert, Emanuel Azenberg, TheShubert Organization.

http://broadwayworld.com/article/Judy-Kaye-Wins-Best-Featured-Actress-in-a-Musical-for-NICE-WORK-20120610

Tales of the Tales

This article originally appeared in The Advocate May 22, 2001

An oral history of Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, which marks its 25th anniversary with this month's debut of the Further Tales of the City miniseries By Michael Giltz

Further Tales of the City-the third miniseries based on Armistead Maupin's Tales novels-begins its four-week run May 6 on Showtime, just in time to mark a quarter century since the stories first appeared as a serial in the San Francisco Chronicle.  To mark the occasion, The Advocate spoke to some of the people connected with the serial, the books, and the miniseries.

ARMISTEAD MAUPIN, author of six Tales of the City novels and cowriter of the three miniseries:  in 1974 I wrote this single functional piece, and an editor at the Pacific Sun [a San Francisco weekly] suggested that I do it on a weekly basis.  I think I did an episode on the baths with Michael, and I can't even remember what the other four were, but the paper folded after five [installments].  When the editors at the San Francisco Chronicle told me they were interested in continuing it [in 1976], I had one of those great revelatory moments when you run down the street and click your heels in the air--and I mean that literally--because you know you're on to something really good.  I was filled with excitement because I had an idea that was completely fresh and subject matter that had not been tapped.

EDITH STEIN, Maupin's coworker at the Chronicle:  I worked in the People department of the Chronicle, [which] had evolved from the old "women's pages."  We were all in our 20s and early 30s--very conservative and all on our first marriages.  When Armistead first wrote the serial, he used to come in every day and bat out these stories--these wicked, wicked "Tales of the City."  We'd all gather around and he would spill the beans about everything--the true stories behind what he was writing.  We'd say, "Is this true?  Is this true?"  He was larger than life.

MAUPIN, This first five years in the city bouncing from job to job had given me all the material I could possibly need--not to mention that I'd been working at the opera and witnessing the peregrinations of San Francisco society up close.  It was as if every crappy little job that had ever bored me silly was suddenly going to be put to use.

The deadlines were enormously useful because they got me past my natural instinct to be self-critical.  I had to do 800 words a day, come hell or high water.  There were times when the editor of that section would come by and tap her fingernails on my typewriter out of sheer impatience.

My parents subscribed to the newspaper in order to follow the column.  So as the hairpins began to drop, they got more and more concerned.  And I eventually used the column as my vehicle for coming out.

STEIN, He was terrible with deadlines.  [But] he's a very, very fast writer.  It was like a sportswriter--he was writing on deadline but producing this really beautifully written copy.

MAUPIN, Rock Hudson [the basis for the Cage Tyler character in the Further Tales miniseries] showed up in San Francisco and took a bunch of [us] out for dinner.  Then we went up to his suite at the Fairmont hotel.  I had bragged to him that my column was going to start running the next morning.  He secretly went to the desk clerk and bought an early edition of the Chronicle.  So here's a dozen guys in Rock's suite, and he rises rather drunkenly to his feet and says, "I have a reading I'd like to do," and he read the first chapter [of Tales] to the group, attempting to approximate the voices of Mary Ann Singleton and her mother.  The great irony was that Mary Ann's mother warns her that San Francisco is a dangerous place because she just saw this horrible thing that happened on McMillan and Wife.

TODD HARGIS, resident of San Francisco during most of the Tales era and friend of Maupin's:  I [left San Francisco] to help my sister move to Arizona and ended up getting stuck in Phoenix.  A friend of mine came out to visit and brought me the first Tales  in book form.  I read it in one sitting.  I could not put it down.  I remember reading it and thinking, God, look what I'm missing.

After I got back to San Francisco, one of my roommates took me out to [the gay bar] Badlands.   I looked across the pool table and saw this guy sitting there reading the newspaper, and he kind of lowered the paper and looked over at me.  We smiled, and I went over and said hello.  It was Armistead.

MAUPIN,  [As the fourth novel, Babycakes, was being serialized], people were very, very angry with me for killing off Jon Fielding, their favorite character.  I had lost a very close friend in 1982, one of the very first victims of [AIDS-related] pneumocystis:  Daniel Katz.

HARGIS,  I had friends who were really upset.  "How could he do this?  We know he's got to make a political statement.  But why do it with our friends?"

MAUPIN,  Jon Fielding's death was, as far as I knew, the first AIDS death in fiction when it appeared in the Chronicle in 1983.  I knew that I had to be faithful to the rules that I had laid down for myself, mainly that I would try to reflect the reality of my own life as much as possible within the context of this protracted fairy tale.  I wanted to make other people feel some of the pain that I was feeling over this loss--the pain and the panic.

HBO had optioned the books in 1982, [but as they developed the project, it] felt like they couldn't do a story about the freewheeling days of 1976, and they couldn't update it without making AIDS a part of the equation.  So it sat on a shelf at HBO for many, many years.

ALAN POUL,  executive producer of all three miniseries:  HBO actually took it to the script stage.  But the rights fell to [the U.K. Producers] Working Title [and its U.S. production partner, Propaganda, where Poul worked].  I jumped up and down and screamed at the possibility of being involved.

OLYMPIA DUKAKIS, who has played Anna Madrigal in all three miniseries:  I hadn't read the books, and I was advised by the director [of the first series, Alastair Reed] not to read them until it's over.  So I did what he said; I waited until it was over.

MAUPIN, You can imagine Olympia's amazement when she began reading the novels and discovered her own family being discussed in [Sure of You, which includes a visit to the Greek island of Lesbos].

DUKAKIS,  I know, isn't that interesting?  That my paternal grandfather and grandmother come from that Island?  Then, of course, you know Anna gets involved later on with a Greek fisherman.  I'm waiting for that.

MAUPIN,  I remember the night that we final shot the kiss scene [in the Tales miniseries] with [Marcus D'Amico, who played Michael "Mouse" Tolliver, and] Billy Campbell [as Jon Fielding].  I was standing at the top of the Barbary steps, looking down on the car where the kissing was going on.  In between takes, Billy would come up and join me and talk about his current heartbreak, because he'd just broken up with Jennifer Connelly.  I remember thinking how blessed I was that this simple act of a kiss between men was finally being filmed.

POUL,  The first series [which was financed by British television and aired on PBS in the United States], we did 12 days in San Francisco, and the rest of it was shot on stages and locations here in Los Angeles.  Barbary Lane completely occupied a big stage.  At the time, it's just crazy and you never have enough money and you're trying to cobble together a production.  So the depth of the reaction from the critics and the incredible ratings success that PBS had with it took us by surprise.  And then we were completely flummoxed by the hostile reaction it got from certain parts of the country.  At first we were just kind of amused, and then we realized it was not necessarily a laughing matter.  Then PBS got cold feet.

DUKAKIS,  PBS said, "We don't like to repeat them."  Meanwhile, we had six years of Helen Mirren in Prime Suspect with stories about murder and pedophilia.  And this is just about people struggling to find love and be loved.

POUL,  We had absolutely given [a miniseries sequel] up for dead.  There was about three years of somewhat cautious hope followed by absolute despair and resignation.  And then we made the [second] show.  [Laughs] The way we were able to finance the second series was by shooting it primarily in Montreal, and financing dictated that we must hire a Canadian director who qualified as a resident of Quebec.  So I must have looked at the work of a dozen directors before we found Pierre [Gang, who directed More Tales and Further Tales].

HARGIS, I was working with computers in a hotel accounting office.  It was good pay, but it wasn't very stimulating.  Armistead and my mom both said I should do something with horticulture.  It really wasn't because [the character] Michael did it; I just really enjoyed it.  [But] one of the things about Tales I learned early on is that you never know where the fiction leaves off and reality starts, or vice versa.

STEIN, The Chronicle has talked over the years about doing something like Tales of the City [again].  but it won't work now.  Silicon Valley?  Those people aren't going to be interesting in that same way.  Everyone was living on the edge, and if they weren't, they wanted to know all about the people that were.  It was an outrageous time.  Armistead was just the right person at the right time.  now, when you think about those days you can hardly believe that they were true.

Giltz writes regularly for the New York Post and other publications.

Mrs. Madrigal Reunites With Armistead

At last night's Lambda Literary Awards:

Academy Award-winning actress Olympia Dukakis presented the Foundation's Pioneer Award to Maupin, calling Anna Madigral, the Tales of the City character she portrayed in the television adaptation, the most meaningful role of her career. "What happened for me when I did Anna Madrigal was that I understood the most important thing was to survive myself-and that's what Anna Madrigal did." 

Photo by Father Tony.

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2012/06/mrs-madrigal-reunites-with-armistead.html

24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners Announced in New York

24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners Announced in New York
Armistead Maupin and Kate Millet Pioneer Award Recipients


New York, NY – The winners of the 24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards were announced last night in a sold-out gala ceremony hosted by comedienne Kate Clinton at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Author of the groundbreaking Tales of the City books, Armistead Maupin, and seminal influence on second-wave feminism Kate Millett, were the Pioneer Award honorees. Taking place the same week of Book Expo America – the book publishing industry’s largest annual gathering of booksellers, publishers, and others in the industry – the Lambda ceremony brought together over 400 attendees, sponsors, and celebrities to celebrate excellence in LGBT literature. Legendary entertainer Lypsinka gave a special performance at the ceremony, and the VIP After-Party at hotspot Slate was a night to remember with Lady Bunny as DJ.

As “mastress” of ceremonies, Clinton treated the audience to her brand of topical, political comedy that The New York Times has called, “Quick-witted, clear-spoken… a bizarrely logical, seemingly free-associating style of delivery…” Welcoming the members of the audience from out of town, she joked, “If you’re here to buy a Big Gulp or smoke a cigarette in a park…you’ll have to go to New Jersey.” Later, describing Michele Bachmann as “the SkyMall of useless ideas,” Clinton set her target on the conservative right and their attack on women’s reproductive rights, to hearty laughs and whoops of support from the audience. Also in attendance were presenters such as Olympia Dukakis, Charles Busch, Frank Bruni, Ally Sheedy, and Ross Bleckner.

Awards were presented in twenty-four categories. Among the winners were Farzana Doctor for her novel, Six Metres of Pavment, Justin Vivian Bond for his memoir,Tango: My Childhood Backwards and in High Heels, and Rahul Mehta for his debut collection of short fiction, Quarantine. In his acceptance speech, Mehta reflected on his first experience encountering Tales of the City, as a scared and closeted college freshman in North Carolina, citing Maupin’s books as part of a pivotal moment of self-acceptance in his life.

Academy Award-winning actress Olympia Dukakis presented the Foundation’s Pioneer Award to Maupin, calling Anna Madigral, the Tales of the City character she portrayed in the television adaptation, the most meaningful role of her career. “What happened for me when I did Anna Madrigal was that I understood the most important thing was to survive myself-and that’s what Anna Madrigal did.” Accepting his honor, Maupin remarked how moved he’d been by Mehta’s earlier anecdote, and pointed to the similar experience he’d had when he first discovered the work of Christopher Isherwood as young man. “I thought: Who wrote this? Where did this come from?”

The other Pioneer Award was given to iconic feminist Millett and was presented by Dr. Eleanor Pam, a pioneer in the women’s movement and a founding member of NOW, the National Organization of Women, as well as an expert on women and violence. “I am so moved to have been chosen to present the Lambda Pioneer award to Kate Millett,” Dr. Pam began her introduction, “someone I have known for more than 55 years, and a true pioneer in life as well as in literature.” In her speech, Millett charmed the audience with her insistence that she was “a farmer, really,” and shared her hope that the Millett Center for the Arts, the arts colony for women she’s established in LaGrange, NY, will be her legacy.

Stacey D’Erasmo, author of the novels Tea, A Seahorse Year, and The Sky Belowand Brian Leung, author of the short story collection, World Famous Love Acts and the novels Lost Men and Take Me Home received the Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prizes.

Once again The Lammys raised the bar for glamour with its dazzling roster of presenters from the worlds of film, television, theatre, politics, religion, sex, and of course literature. Gracing the stage were: award-winning actor, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director, and drag legend Charles Busch; movie star and author Ally Sheedy; Ross Bleckner, globally acclaimed artist and United Nations Goodwill Ambassador; Frank Bruni, the first openly gay Op-Ed columnist of The New York Times, the former chief restaurant critic of The New York Times, and New York Times best-selling author; Ted Allen, Emmy Award winning host of Chopped on Food Network and star of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy; Wally Lamb critically acclaimed, best-selling author; Judith Regan, legendary publisher, journalist, TV and radio talk show host; Susie Bright, legendary sex-positive feminist author and speaker; Anthony Rapp, singer, stage and film actor, and star of the original Broadway production of Rent; Lucy Sexton, performance artist and magazine editor;Michael Nava, award-winning novelist, and judicial attorney for California Supreme Court Justice, Carlos R. Moreno; Jacqueline Woodson, award-winning author of children’s books; bklyn boihood’s Ryann Holmes, Genesis Tramaine and Morgan M. Willis; Paul Schindler, editor-in-chief at Gay City News; Jee Leong Koh, poet and publisher; Brent Taylor, youth blogger and activist; J. Bob Alotta, executive director of Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice; Janet Mock, writer, trans advocate and People.com editor; Rodney Evans, film director and writer; Sinclair Sexsmith, lesbian erotica author and editor; Liz Scheier, veteran book editor; Teresa DeCrescenzo, LLF Board Treasurer and founder of Gay and Lesbian Adolescent Social Services; Amy King, poet and activist; and Emanuel Xavier, poet, novelist and activist.

Ceremony Sponsors

Benefactor Level: Harper Perennial, CLAGS (The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies) and Ketel One Vodka; Mentor Level: American Institute of Bisexuality;Friends Level: Bywater Books, Arsenal Pulp Press, Seal Press, Beacon Press, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, The Feminist Press, Torquere Press, Northwest Press, Cleis Press; Gift Bag Level: Scholastic, Sarabande, Northwest Press

24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners

Lesbian Fiction
Six Metres of Pavement, by Farzana Doctor, Dundrun Press

Gay Fiction
The Empty Family, by Colm Tóibín, Scribner

Lesbian Debut Fiction
Zipper Mouth, by Laurie Weeks, The Feminist Press

Gay Debut Fiction
Quarantine: Stories, by Rahul Mehta, Harper Perennial

Lesbian Memoir/Biography
When We Were Outlaws: A Memoir of Love & Revolution, Jeanne Córdova, Spinsters Ink

Gay Memoir/Biography
The Jack Bank: A Memoir of a South African Childhood, by Glen Retief, St. Martin’s Press

Lesbian Mystery
Dying to Live, by Kim Baldwin & Xenia Alexiou, Bold Strokes Books

Gay Mystery
Red White Black and Blue, by Richard Stevenson, MLR Press

LGBT Anthology
Gay Latino Studies: A Critical Reader, ed. by Michael Hames-García and Ernesto Javier Martínez, Duke University Press

LGBT Children’s/Young Adult
Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy, by Bil Wright, Simon & Schuster

LGBT Drama
A Menopausal Gentleman: The Solo Performances of Peggy Shaw, by Peggy Shaw, University of Michigan Press

LGBT Nonfiction
A Queer History of the United States, by Michael Bronski, Beacon Press

LGBT SF/Fantasy/Horror
The German, by Lee Thomas, Lethe Press

LGBT Studies
Sister Arts: The Erotics of Lesbian Landscapes, by Lisa L. Moore, University of Minnesota Press

Bisexual Fiction
The Correspondence Artist, by Barbara Browning, Two Dollar Radio

Bisexual Nonfiction
The Horizontal Poet, by Jan Steckel, Zeitgest Press

Transgender Fiction
Take Me There: Trans and Genderqueer Erotica, ed. by Tristan Taormino, Cleis Press

Transgender Nonfiction
Tango: My Childhood Backwards and in High Heels, by Justin Vivian Bond, The Feminist Press

Lesbian Erotica
Story of L, by Debra Hyde, Ravenous Romance

Gay Erotica
All Together, by Dirk Vanden, iloveyoudivine Alerotica

Lesbian Poetry
Love Cake, by Leah Lakshmi Piepza-Samarasinha, TSAR Publications

Gay Poetry
A Fast Life: The Collected Poems of Tim Dlugos, ed. by David Trinidad, Nightboat Books

Lesbian Romance
Taken by Surprise, by Kenna White, Bella Books

Gay Romance
Every Time I Think of You, by Jim Provenzano, CreateSpace/Myrmidude Press

PHOTOS OF THE 24TH ANNUAL LAMBDA LITERARY AWARDS 

CLICK HERE FOR LINK

24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Host Committee

David McConnell – Co-Chair	Don Weise – Co-Chair	S. Chris Shirley – Co-Chair
Charles Rice-Gonzalez -Director	Jamie Brickhouse – Publicity Chair
Brad Boles	James Brooks	Mario Lopez-Cordero
David Gale	James Hannaham	Wayne Hoffman
Michele Karlsberg	Dean Klinger	Jay Moore
Dan Manjovi	Bill Miller	Heather O’Neill
Pauline Park	Lori Perkins	Jay Plum
Melanie La Rosa	Patrick Ryan	Liz Scheier
Bob Smith	Jerl Surratt	Linda Villarosa
Warren Wilson

http://www.lambdaliterary.org/features/06/05/24th-annual-lambda-literary-award-winners-announced-in-new-york/