It’s a story of success that also acknowledges how important LGBTQ books are to New York, and how important New York is to those books.
“People come in from all over for this event — from the West Coast, the Midwest, Canada, and the Deep South,” said Perry Brass, one of the four main coordinators for the Rainbow Book Fair. “It is now the biggest LGBTQ book event in the world. I kind of wish it weren’t, that someone else was doing something bigger. But it’s New York’s good fortune, and a huge amount of work in the part of the four coordinators.” The three other coordinators are Sarah Chinn, Darrell Perry, and Daniel Kitchen.
The Rainbow Book Fair was held April 20 at the LGBT Community Center on 13th Street. The event spread over three floors, and is the second time it was held in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brass said so many vendors and companies participated that they ran out of space for tables three weeks before the show. They expected about 1,500 attendees, and the event’s sponsors included the LGBT Community Center and CUNY’s CLAGS, the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies. Publishers included academic houses such as New York University and Rutgers University. Many writers were self-published, presenting their books next to tables staffed by major New York publishing houses. The roster of speakers included Felice Picano, Torrey Peters, Samra Habib, Andrea Lawlor, and many more.
Picano, who recently turned 80, is a doyen of the LGBTQ publishing world and a founding member of the gay writers group The Violet Quill. He focused this year on fighting book bans.
“The first nationally banned book in America was ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin,’” Picano said. “So many books have been banned and stopped since then, including two of mine. I just think it’s an important issue that doesn’t go away.”
Picano added, “It’s happening all the time. And a very small group of people do it, just intent on controlling our minds. This is what I hate.”
Among the books showing the event’s broad diversity was the Passover book “Frankenstein’s Matzah” by writer K. Marcus, with a non-binary Jewish protagonist named Vee.
“I wrote this book because I thought it was very important to have representation,” Marcus, new to the Rainbow Book Fair, told Gay City News. The main character, Marcus said, is “probably the first Jewish non-binary main character.”
Marcus added: “it’s important that there be a place where people can come to buy books that represent them or they can just be a part of something where they can just come and find things that represent them.”
One especially excited exhibitor was romance writer Eskay Kabba, who began publishing her work only recently. A native of the Bronx now living in Philadelphia, Kabba told Gay City News, “For me, this is exciting because this is the first time that I’ve been to a book event in my city.” She added, “I want to be celebrating my community, I want to celebrate the people around me who want to celebrate the books and want to celebrate the people who write them.” Kabba mentioned self-publishing some of her books through her own company Sparks and other books through Horseman Publications.
Another major figure participating was the LGBTQ rights activist Randy Wicker. “I’m so happy to be here at the Rainbow Book Fair as an exhibitor for once.” Wicker’s historical archives are housed at The Center’s National History Archives, and he was displaying material related to that. Wicker preferred, however, to talk about others, mentioning the organizers and the various self-published authors at the event, including L.A. Witt, a self-represented author who is learning “to be self-employed in this society and succeed.”
Looking to next year, organizer Brass mentioned that the committee was seeking new members to help with planning. He admitted it is a lot of work, but told Gay City News, “If you really love books, writers, queer media, and realize how much our books are threatened with censorship at this point, then there is a good chance you’d like to work with us on the next Rainbow Book Fair.”
More on the Rainbow Book Fair is on their website https://rainbowbookfair.com.
