GAYLETTER

If you are queer and literate you should know the name Edmund White. If you don’t, at least have the common decency to pretend and make sure you come hear him speak at the NYC’s LGBT Community Center on August 23rd. Edmund White’s career has spanned over 40 years and included 25 books of fiction, nonfiction and memoir. Most notable is the widely celebrated gay coming-of-age story (and my personal favorite) “The Beautiful Room is Empty,” as well as the sex manual turned cult classic, “The Joy of Gay Sex.” The Center is hosting White for a reading and discussion of his latest book, “Our Young Man.” The book just so happened to have been reviewed by Leo Racicot for our latest issue of GAYLETTER. Racicot writes:

“White’s novel is primarily the story of Guy, a beautiful boy from a poor French town. Fortunately for Guy, his perfect face and golden body pull him from what might otherwise be a grim fate. He ascends the shimmering heights of high fashion, first in Paris, then New York, and finds himself in a fast-paced, drug-fueled world where loathsome old toads pay big bucks for a young man’s company, while detractors wait and watch for their friends and enemies to fail. Looks and self-maintenance are everything; gaining so much as an ounce could earn you the moniker ‘Miss Piggy.’

Guy, recognizing all this, reminds us of the classic caveat so popular in those days: ‘If you’re not good looking, you’d damn well better be funny, and if you’re neither of those, you’d better be a slut.’”

The full review and an interview with White by Slava Mogutin can both be found in GAYLETTER issue 4. Edmund White, known as much for his intelligence and wit as he is for his candor and wild sex stories, will not disappoint. Trust me, this will be an evening you won’t want to miss.

 
$10, August 23 @ 7:00PM, NYC’S LGBT Community Center, 208 W 13 St. NY, NY.