Wednesday, October 28, 2009

My Diva

Well no, not mine. Sadly, I don't have a diva. But in the collection My Diva: 65 Gay Men On the Women Who Inspire Them we hear from some fellows who do. My Diva came out earlier this year, and thanks to great word of mouth and loving devotion from the folks at the University of Wisconsin Press, it's been getting the kind of respect it deserves but that might not have been expected. Sales, too: UWP recently came out with a second printing. This is by all reports* a compilation of sweet, sad, funny reflections--Publishers Weekly called them "very short, very tender essays"--on inspiration and its sometimes surprising sources.

The book's editor is Michael Montlack, a fine poet who I met two summers ago at the Lambda Literary Foundation's first LGBT writers' retreat in Los Angeles. He and several contributors have been drawing crowds at a series of readings, all of which I'm sorry to say I've missed. (That's him at left, at a Barnes & Noble event.) I'm sorry to say I'll probably miss this next one, too, but maybe somebody reading this can make it there. It's this Friday, hosted by NYU's MFA program.

*No, I haven't read My Diva yet. I've kept meaning to make it to a reading and buy one and have Michael autograph it ... .