One of the most difficult aspects of being a writer of either erotica or sexual minority matters is that you’re all to easily rendered invisible by the greater writing world. Forget the high profile moments of London’s Belle de Jour or America’s Washingtonienne — their fifteen minutes of fame was born of various blogosphere tipping points. For every one of them, there’s countless in-the-trenches authors who are still experiencing the marginalizing effects of a timid public.
The latest instance is occurring in my own home state, detailed recently by New London Day columnist Steven Slosberg when he questioned “Too Explicit To Be Booked At BB&B?” (I’m quoting and paraphrasing from the article because it went too quick to a paying archive. Hopefully, I’m within fair use parameters.)
“Ron Jackson Suresha badly wants the big-tent treatment at the upcoming 2005 Boats, Books & Brushes Festival in New London. So far, he says, the response from organizers has been to ‘shun me off to the gay bar.’“Suresha, who moved to New London several months ago after getting married, in Provincetown, Mass., to Dr. Rocco Russo, a local family practitioner, has an argument. He lives here, he’s legitimately published and, in focusing, explicitly, on gay and bisexual men’s sexuality, would add an heretofore uncharted dimension to the general fiction and nonfiction fare of such festivals.
“But Judy Liskov, a librarian at Waterford Public Library and a member of the festival’s book committee, also has an argument. She says Suresha’s being left outside the tent for the Sept. 16-18th event to be staged at New London’s waterfront, has nothing to do with his sexuality or subject matter. Rather, it has more to do with his name, or lack thereof.”
Boats, Books & Brushes is an annual shoreline event that, despite “production” ups and downs, has been a New London fixture for five years now. A couple of years ago, it hit pay dirt when it snagged such high profile authors as Rick Bragg, Tom Brokaw, Frank Deford, Peter Benchley, Carol Higgins Clark, Jacques Pepin and Tony Horwitz. It hit C-Span’s Book TV. This year, it expects such notables as gossip columnist Liz Smith, Sene Jeter Naslund (“Ahab’s Wife”); William Zinsser (“On Writing Well”), and best-seller Luanne Rice (“Safe Harbor” and “Dream Country”. Bob Woodward of Watergate and Deep Throat fame might be the kickoff headliner.
Ron’s known to us erotica/queer authors as a chronicler of male bisexuality and bear identity and, rather than getting a spot in the big tent, the event’s promoter suggested he participate in a benefit reading staged at a local gay bar during the festival. Now, there’s nothing wrong with the in and of itself, but every event I’ve ever attended had additional appearance platforms for its author in addition to benefit and/or free readings.
Suresha told columnist Slosberg that “This could be about censorship,” he says. “My books would be inappropriate for anyone under 18, but the fact that my books deal with sexuality is not a reason to be excluded.” According to Sloberg:
Daniel Karp of K&M [the promoter] says the key criteria for author selection were popularity and the ability to draw. However, without any disrespect, there are a few local authors booked for the festival — Patricia Reiss Brooks of East Lyme and Glenn Cheney of Hanover, to name two — whose magnetism may be no more magical than Ron Jackson Suresha’s.Karp, who insisted that final author selection is up to the Sail New London board, also suggested Suresha might try for a place in the tent run by the Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. “We give them a very large tent. There’s a forum for practically any Connecticut author they feel is appropriate,” said Karp.
Appropriately, Slosberg points out a key oversight on the promoter’s part: Suresha “likely would woo an audience this toiling festival has yet to tap.”
Let’s hope the New London event takes notice. And should Ron decide to do that benefit reading, I plan to be a body of support and I hope queers, bears, and non-famous writers make their presence known too.
