Rebel Satori Press is proud to launch a new imprint, The Library of Homosexual Congress, curated by Tom Cardamone and Sven Davisson, dedicated to preserving and promoting provocative works of gay literature, with a focus on the AIDS crisis. It’s inaugural title, Invisible History: The Collected Poems of Walta Borawski, edited by Philip Clark and Michael Bronski, is appropriately published on December 1^st, World AIDS Day, returning the voice of a significant gay poet, Walta Borawski (1947 -1994) back into the public eye after decades of neglect.

Robert Ferro’s (1941 – 1988) novel of love and family during the early years of AIDS, Second Son, the last of four novels, was published in 1988 shortly before his death of AIDS, following the death of his partner, fellow writer Michael Grumley. This is the first time this seminal novel has returned to print. Anne Rice said “Second Son is transcendently beautiful; exquisitely written, exquisitely restrained.”  Its publisher, ReQueered Tales, is dedicated to restoring to circulation a treasure trove of celebrated LGBTQ fiction, primarily from the 60s to the 90s, in new e-book and print editions.

Copies of Second Son and Invisible History: The Collected Poems of Walta Borawski will be available for purchase at the event. To reserve a copy of either or both books, please write to us at contact@bgsqd.com.

Thank you for supporting the Bureau by purchasing books from us!

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming at youtube.com/@bgsqd

Suggested donation $10 to benefit the Bureau’s work.

All are welcome to attend, with or without donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or via Venmo @bgsqd

Charlotte Abbott is a book publishing professional with over 30 years of experience. She has been an editor for several top houses, a journalist covering the industry, and a publishing technology expert. She runs her own consultancy firm, FutureProof Content. She is also an enthusiastic swimmer.

Michael Bronski is an independent scholar, journalist, and activist who is the author of numerous books including Pulp Friction: The Golden Age of Gay Male Pulps and A Queer History of the United States. He is Professor of the Practice in Activism and Media in the Studies of Women, Gender and Sexuality at Harvard University.

Gerard Cabrera is a Massarican from Springfield, Massachusetts, the birthplace of the first American dictionary, Dr. Seuss, and basketball. His writing has appeared in Gay Community News, Acentos Review, Angel Rust, Apricity, JONATHAN, and Kweli. His novel, Homo Novus, was published in October 2022 by Rattling Good Yarns Press, and was supported in part by the Bread Loaf Writers Conference and a Bread Loaf Bakeless Foundation fellowship, along with The Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France. He lives and works in New York City.

Tom Cardamone is the editor of Crashing Cathedrals: Edmund White by the Book and co-editor of Fever Spores: The Queer Reclamation of William S. Burroughs. He is the author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning speculative novella Green Thumb as well as the erotic fantasy The Lurid Sea and other works of fiction, including two short story collections.

Philip Clark is the co-editor of Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS and In the Empire of the Air: The Poems of Donald Britton. The recipient of a MacDowell Fellowship, he is currently completing a biography of 1960s gay publisher H. Lynn Womack. He lives near Washington, D.C.

Philip F. Clark is the author of The Carnival of Affection (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2017).  He currently teaches at City College, New York, where he received his M.F.A. in Creative Writing in 2016. His work has been published in Tiferet Journal, The Marsh Hawk Press Chapter One Series, Tampa Review, Vox Populi, and Lambda Literary. He has conducted poetry classes at the Hudson Valley Writers Center, and his work has most recently been published in On Becoming A Poet: Essential Information About the Writing Craft (Marsh Hawk Press, 2020).

Roz Parr retired recently after almost 40 years in the book industry. She worked as a bookseller at Compendium (London), and Womanbooks, New Morning Books, and A Different Light (NYC). After stints at Oxford University Press and Viking Penguin, she spent 22 years with the Knopf division of Penguin Random House. Besides reading, she enjoys gardening, walking and keeping up with friends.

Eric Rasmussen is an actor, director and writer and was a founding member with Tina Ruan and the late Robbie McCauley of the performance group All Three.

Emanuel Xavier, Latinx poet and LGBTQ activist, was born in Brooklyn, New York. Xavier received a New York City Council Citation for his many cultural contributions to city arts and has also been recipient of an International Latino Book Award, Lambda Literary Award nominations, and American Library Association Over the Rainbow Books selections for his collections which include: Pier Queen, Americano, If Jesus Were Gay, Nefarious, Radiance, and Selected Poems of Emanuel Xavier.