Winners vs. Classics

Award season has started. Nominations have closed, short lists are being announced, and excitement and anticipation are building.

Every year, looking at the various lists of winners, I find myself with mixed feelings. The American Library Association's GLBT awards, now known as the Stonewall Book Award and Barbara Gittings Literature Award are the earliest GLBT book awards, dating back to 1971. The Lambda Literary Awards and Publishing Triangle Awards both began in 1988; while the Golden Crown Literary Society is still the new kid on the block founded in 2004. I am proud that in my lifetime, organizations have been founded to honor books that reflect and validate the lesbian experience. However, invariably there are titles that I would have liked to have seen honored that weren't short listed, let alone granted an award.

This year, that thought prompted me to consider books that never won an award but have the publishing version of "living well is the best revenge." The titles listed below are now considered classics. All pre-date most such awards. However, as part of that "classic" characteristic, they are still in print, or so frequently so as to be readily available in the secondary market, and they have touched untold lives since their first appearance.

The Price of Salt, Claire Morgan (aka Patricia Highsmith) 1951. Originally produced in hardcover, The Price of Salt appeared shortly after Highsmith’s success, Strangers on a Train. Yet due to the controversial, not to mention illegal subject matter, it was released under a pseudonym. The Price of Salt was the first novel in English (I don’t know about other languages) that ended with the two female leads surviving to love each other. No murder. No suicide. No jail time. No one married the Y-type ... or more correctly, Carol got divorced and went after the girl. Wow.

Spring Fire, Vin Packer (aka Marijane Meaker) 1952. Now credited with launching the lesbian themed pulp genre, Spring Fire was the first of some 20 titles written by Ms. Meaker before Stonewall. As Ann Aldrich, she wrote a series of non-fiction (and controversial) titles printed in from 1955 to 1972. In 1970, Gene Damon (Barbara Grier, co-founder of Naiad Press) in The Ladder (Daughters of Bilitis newsletter) referred to Ms. Meaker as "the evil genius" for her excellent writing about unpleasant and unsatisfactory lesbian themes. Ms. Meaker has written award winning teen novels under the name, M.E. Kerr and in 2003 released a memoir of her two year relationship with Highsmith. Spring Fire has been re-released by Cleis Press in 2004 and is now available in ebook formats.

Odd Girl Out, Ann Bannon, 1957. The first of five novels in the "Beebo Brinker Chronicles" was Odd Girl Out and while the Beebo books have a certain campy quality of the time; they were a relatively positive depiction of lesbians. They granted women an alternative to heterosexual “Susie Homemaker” in the years before Stonewall. Ms. Bannon has said that Vin Packer's novels were an inspiration to her.

Desert of the Heart, Jane Rule, 1964. Perhaps better known for being the inspiration behind the movie, Desert Hearts, Jane Rule's work was groundbreaking in the matter of fact quality of the lesbian relationship. After several rejections as not negative enough toward lesbianism, it was originally released in hardcover. The relationship is touching and thoughtful, but it's not the focus of the novel which has much to say about gambling and capitalism as well as loneliness.

Ruby Fruit Jungle, Rita Mae Brown, 1973. Ms. Brown is better known today for her anthropomorphizing mysteries, the Mrs. Murphy series and Master of the Hunt Sister Jane series. However, Ruby Fruit Jungle is arguably the best selling lesbian novel. First released by Daughters Inc (a now defunct feminist press), it went through numerous editions before Ruby Fruit Jungle was sold to Bantam. With her humor and outrageous adventures Molly Bolt has seen unknown thousands of women out of the closet with a new defiant joy and affection. Reading Ms. Brown’s bio on her website is rather fun.

Annie on My Mind, Nancy Garden, 1982. One of the most banned books in America, Garden dared to tell the charming, confusing, touching story of two high school girls falling in love and coming out. Garden has written dozens of books for children and teens and others since Annie have dealt with lesbian and gay themes, most notably The Year They Burned the Books, 1999 and Endgame, 2006. The former was inspired by the controversy around Annie while the latter deals with the violent response of youth to repeatedly hostile bullying. My personal favorite of Garden's lesbian themed books is Good Moon Rising, 1996. However, Annie and Liza’s story (which has even been adapted into a play) still reigns for its groundbreaking.

Curious Wine, Katherine V. Forrest, 1983. Forrest didn't just raise the bar for lesbian romance with Curious Wine, she built a whole new jump course. The story of Lane and Diana is romantic, erotic and quintessentially female and feminist in ways that nothing had been before it. Further, Amateur City (1984) was the first mystery to feature a detective who was a lesbian, Kate Delafield. Ms. Forrest is now the Supervising Editor of Spinsters Ink.

Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley, 1983. MZB re-set the standard in how women might look at our cultural mythos, giving a new life to the divine female. Under the name Miriam Gardner, she wrote lesbian themed pulp novels and contributed to The Ladder. None of MZB's Darkover novels were honored by GLBT awards, nor was The Catch Trap, 1979, which featured two men who starred in the flying trapeze in the circus world and struggled with their love during the 1940s and 1950s.

Toothpick House, Lee Lynch, 1983. This was the first title of a dozen that Ms. Lynch has written, including Dusty's Queen of Hearts Diner, the first of the Morton River Valley trilogy. There is a review for her most recent title, Sweet Creek here. She is perhaps best known for her for her column the Amazon Trail, which appears in GLBT periodicals across the country. In the 1960s, Ms. Lynch also wrote for The Ladder.

Other Women, Lisa Alther, 1984. Some folks might rather Kinflicks which was released in 1976 or Original Sins, 1981, but I have a soft spot for Other Women, as it were, which focused more on lesbians, in my opinion. And therapy, a favorite pasttime for lesbians. All three books were best sellers and book club selections, which resulted in putting stories about lesbians in the hands of lots of closeted women who might not have found them otherwise.

Yes, many of these authors have been honored with other accolades and successes and obviously, they could not be honored by organizations that didn't yet exist at the time these titles were originally released. Indeed the existence of these titles without a doubt served to prompt the creation of various GLBT literature award programs. This list is by no means complete and I welcome additional suggestions via comments. Nevertheless, it reminds one that books might not win awards, and can still win the hearts and minds of readers.

-MJ Lowe

Getting "those books" into your local library

National Library Week is April 13-19, 2008. I'm posting a presentation I made at GCLS 2007 concerning getting queer books into your local public library's collection.

Good luck!
-MJ

"I may not be an explorer, or an adventurer, or a treasure-seeker, or a gunfighter, Mr. O'Connell, but I am proud of what I am...
I, am a librarian!" From the movie, The Mummy

Why your local public library?

1. Increases Visibility. Your interest in books with les/bi women’s lives illuminated, increases the public library's interest in books with les/bi women's lives and that increases visibility for les/bi women's lives. Further having "those books" in the public library provides visibility/preservation of the literature in the larger literary world.

2. Increases Availability. A library is a wonderful place to reach folks who might not buy, either because they can't afford to, or because they don't feel comfortable doing so.

3. Increases Validation. The collection of a public library should reflect the community it serves. You are a patron of your local library and have a right to expect positive depictions of les/bi women in the library's collection.

What books are already there?
First, find out what your library has. If you don't have one, Get a library card! Check the catalog. Your local library very likely has a website that allows online searching. --It's fairly rare to find those cute little drawers anymore.-- For a subject search try: Lesbians -- fiction.

You might also need to do a keyword search. This is because a book ends up with more specific subject headings like: Lesbians -- Scotland -- Glasgow -- Fiction or Lesbians -- United States -- Fiction but not have the primary subject of Lesbians -- fiction. The basic idea is that the catalog is designed to find the most specific item, not result in a "big net" of results. Part of the issue has to do with changes in cataloging over time. Systems rarely, if ever, go back and change previous cataloging. There are places where one will still find: homosexuals -- fiction rather than gay men -- fiction.

Those are the issues to be aware of when you're looking in your local catalog. And that's the best way I know to explain the quirks you might find. Frankly, I'm a Reference Librarian, not a Cataloger. If you're really interested in a more technical answer, I can find out for you. Just send me an email.

You might also try a title or author search. And then check the subjects. If you're using a web-based catalog, you can usually click on the subject headings at the bottom of the title or author page to find similar titles. So try Brown, Rita Mae or Garden, Nancy and see if you have Bingo or Annie on my Mind. I mention these titles because they were released by main stream presses and thus are a little more likely to be in any given collection.

Now that you know what's there, ask yourself:

What books would you like to see there?

Draft a list of titles you would like to see and include:

title
author
publisher
copyright year
ISBN

Certainly include one or two of your favorite authors, however, also consider including bestselling les/bi fiction titles from Amazon or Barnes & Noble. Award-winning titles: GCLS Literary Awards, Lambda Literary Awards, Publishing Triangle Awards, American Library Association’s Stonewall Book Award/Barbara Gitting Literature Awards. Include any titles that are set locally or written by local authors. By local, I mean state. This is a common subject heading, i.e., Colorado -- fiction. And many library systems collect local authors and might have a special local subject for this, i.e., Tennessee authors. You'll want to make a note of this information on your list. If the title has been reviewed somewhere, you might print or copy that review for inclusion as well. Be aware that if a title is not readily available at Amazon or your local bookstore, the library might not be able to get a copy via their distributor. (See note about donations below.)

I would not go in with more than five titles at a time. However, it is not unreasonable to ask how many titles would be considered at a given time and whether there is a better time to request titles (first of the year, monthly, etc).

Next find out, how does your library work?
Speak to the reference or information services staff and ask how they go about their collection development. Explain why you're asking: "I'd like to request some titles for inclusion in the collection. What's the best way to do that?" Some systems may have a handout or a link on their web page about their collection development policy. Ask, "Is there someone I may speak to directly?"

Ask these kinds of questions:

• Is it centralized? Or done locally? (If you are going to a one location, say a city library, just ask who does the collection development ordering.)
• May you request titles?
• How likely are they to order requested titles?
• How long before you'll know if the title has been ordered? (Ask to place a hold on the title, this way, it will appear on your record and you'll know when it has been added to the collection.)
• Do they accept donations for inclusion into the collection?

It's worth asking. However, be aware that it is not uncommon for donations of books to go directly into the Friends of the Library book sale and thus generate money for the library. This is because the cost of cataloging a title must be weighed against the cost of purchasing partially processed books from the distributor. It is often more cost efficient to order a new copy than to have a cataloger process a title.

They MIGHT accept a donation of a title that they are unable to access via their distributor, if you make a case for its inclusion. If you provide a hard copy donation, be aware that a large library system might gladly accept two copies, and ask how many they'd like. (If you provide more than one copy, make sure it is the same edition -- the same ISBN -- to facilitate their unique cataloging.)

Final option:
Most libraries will allow you to purchase a "memorial" book via a monetary donation and designate a title. Thus you may be able to give a donation to purchase a book in memory of L. J. Maas, Tee Corinne, that high school gym teacher, etc. Check to make sure the library is willing to purchase the title you're requesting. Make sure it's readily available, etc.

It is possible that you'll run into some hesitation. Ask why. After all, you are a patron and you are asking for these titles. Within reason, the library should reflect your interests and needs.

Follow up.

Wait a month and check the catalog.

Check out the titles, even if you've already read them. One of the standards for maintaining a title in a library collection is circulation. Are people reading it? If a title sits on a shelf for two years, and hasn't been checked out, then staff may consider removing it. Shelf space is a premium. Having said that, one of the things about GLBT titles is that they might be read at the library. Some patrons might feel uncomfortable checking the title out, such as a 14-year old who might not feel safe taking a title home, or a heterosexually married person who might not be ready to out their les/bi-sexual identity to their spouse.

If you do develop a comfortable rapport with someone on staff, you might point this out -- That titles might not circulate, but if they look "read" then they are being used in the library and should be kept in the system, regardless of their check out history. It is possible that this is more true of non-fiction titles, however, it should be remembered in general.

There you have it. Go forth and request books!

-MJ Lowe

When I got [my] library card, that was when my life began.

--Rita Mae Brown