Best Gay Poetry is a new annual series collecting the best gay poems of the year before. It offers both poetry aficionados and casual gay readers an easy way to keep abreast of the field and find poems that speak to their experience. Editor Lawrence Schimel has brought together a diverse array of poems and voices, not merely in their poetic style and form, but also in how gay subjects and themes are addressed. Drawing on poems published in journals, anthologies, and single-author collections, Best Gay Poetry 2008 offers the cream of the crop of what was published in 2007, gathered together in one handy volume. Featuring work from 50 gay poets, readers will find herein a mix of established poets and exciting new voices, including Carl Phillips, Rane Arroyo, David Bergman, Timothy Liu, Brad Gooch, Reginald Shepard, Jeff Mann, Steve Fellner, Jee Leong Koh, Steven Cordova, Jericho Brown, and many others. Best Gay Poetry 2008 also includes an annotated bibliographic round-up of relevant gay-interest poetry books published the year before, making it an invaluable research tool for both institutions and individuals.
Author
I'm a full-time author, anthologist, and translator (Spanish->English) living in Madrid, Spain. Writing in both Spanish and English, I've published over 90 books in a wide range of genres, including poetry (DESAYUNO EN LA CAMA and FAIRY TALES FOR WRITERS), children's books (LA AVENTURA DE CECILIA Y EL DRAGÓN, COSAS QUE PUEDO HACER YO SOLO, LITTLE PIRATE GOES TO SCHOOL, etc.), short stories (TWO BOYS IN LOVE, HIS TONGUE, THE DRAG QUEEN OF ELFLAND), graphic novels (VACATION IN IBIZA), and many anthologies (STREETS OF BLOOD: VAMPIRE STORIES FROM THE AMERICAN SOUTH, SWITCH HITTERS: LESBIANS WRITE GAY MALE EROTICA AND GAY MEN WRITE LESBIAN EROTICA, KOSHER MEAT, FOUND TRIBE: JEWISH COMING OUT STORIES, CAMELOT FANTASTIC, etc.) I've twice won a Lambda Literary Award, for FIRST PERSON QUEER and PoMoSEXUALS: CHALLENGING ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT GENDER AND SEXUALITY. My picture book ¿LEES UN LIBRO CONMIGO? was selected by the International Board of Books for Young People for Outstanding Books for Young People with Disabilities 2007 and my picture book NO HAY NADA COMO EL ORIGINAL was selected by the International Youth Library in Munich for the White Ravens 2005. My poem "How to Make a Human" won the Rhysling Award for Best Science Fiction Poem. I am also the publisher of A Midsummer Night's Press, a small poetry publisher, which has published THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED IN OUR OTHER LIFE by Achy Obejas, THE GOOD-NEIGHBOR POLICY: A DOUBLE CROSS IN DOUBLE DACTLYS by Charles Ardai, BANALITIES by Brane Mozetic, translated by Elizabeti Zargi, and FORTUNE'S LOVER: A BOOK OF TAROT POEMS by Rachel Pollack, as well as the annual series BEST GAY POETRY and BEST LESBIAN POETRY.
