Bay Area Reporter
Ana Castillo: Celebrated Author Discusses Her Most Personal Life Lessons
Great books spur readers to grow and discover truths for themselves. Each of Ana Castillo's books delivers just that. In fact, Ana Castillo has been instrumental in the fight for LGBTQ acceptance, particularly within the Hispanic community.
Review: 'Anything's Possible' - Bill Porter's Trans Teen Directorial Debut
The best way to approach Billy Porter's new film is to view it as a fantasy of what it should be like for young Black trans women, rather than the often realistic trauma scenario.
D. L. Forbes and 'The Unique Individual'
"Wittgenstein's Son and U. G. Krishnamurti: Ducks or Rabbits" is a deserved subject for discussion as it sums up the Forbes' life, fully and un-ordinarily, in San Francisco while focusing on two major influences.
Review: To Hell and Back: Sean Hewitt's 'All Down Darkness Wide' Makes Literature of the Memoir
Getting lost in a relationship: People do it all the time, and it's the matter of some of our greatest literature. Rarer is the chronicle of making it back out, which is both the engine and the heart of Sean Hewitt's luminous new memoir.
Berkeley Rep's 'Sanctuary City' Sends Up Flares
Contemporary social and political issues are tightly woven into "Sanctuary City," playwright Martyna Majok's gut-wrenching, personal-is-political drama, set between 2001 and 2005, and now playing at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
Review: 'A Quilt for David' - Steven Reigns' True Crime Poetry
Steven Reigns, a Los Angeles-based writer who was the first official Poet Laureate of West Hollywood, blends literary genres to stunning effect in his spare and powerful new work, "A Quilt for David."
Jewish Film Festival Faves
The Jewish Film Institute has announced its program for the 42nd San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, the world's largest and longest one, running July 21-August 7. A few of the films have a specific queer aspect.
SF Gay Men's Chorus' 44 Years: Touching Timeline Traces Nearly Half a Century
The history of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus gets a new update from historian Tom Burtch with a 48-minute collection of video and audio clips, news clipping and poster montages, and commentary.
Kiss Off: The Lavender Tube on Summer Shows
"Only Murders in the Building," "The Lake," "The Summer I Turned Pretty," and "Uncoupled" include gay and lesbian main characters; plus, two singers get called out for quotes about trans people; and a Brittney Griner update.
Cultural Exchange: S.W. Leicher's 'Acts of Atonement'
S.W. Leicher's second novel picks up where her debut left off, featuring two women from disparate cultural backgrounds who embark upon a loving lesbian relationship against all odds.
Zain Khalid's Novel 'Brother Alive' is Bracing Magical Realism
"Uncategorizable" is the flavor of the month in gay literary fiction. Even in as genre-free a landscape as that, Zain Khalid's much-anticipated first novel, "Brother Alive," stakes out new territory.
'Thor: Love and Thunder' a Near-Queer Marvel
With a few daring visuals and innovative artistic references, writer-director Taika Waititi's "Thor: Love and Thunder" merits more superlatives than any of its peer Marvel Studios blockbusters, with a few queer twists.
C. Russell Price's 'Apocalypse Poems'
Appalachian genderqueer punk writer C. Russell Price's first full-length poetry collection imagines a world of broken objects, clouds infused with black smoke, and rivers that drain blood out to a far southern tributary.
Randy Rainbow's 'Playing With Myself'
Randy Rainbow, comedian and singer, best known for his YouTube video spoof interviews and parodies of right-wing political figures that have become viral social media sensations with millions of views, now tells all in his new memoir.
Shola von Reinhold's 'Lote' - a Literary Tour de Force
In author Shola von Reinhold's first book, "Lote," which is a tour de force, the luscious, textured writing is astonishingly good.
A 'Stranger' Here Myself: Two Nicks Produce a Boundary-Moving CD
Two American musicians nicknamed Nick — tenor Nicholas Phan and composer Nico Muhly — found a side-door through the pandemic that was deadly down-time for most of their fellow performing artists.
Sea Change: Julia Armfield's 'Our Wives Under the Sea'
Julia Armfield explores a watery metamorphosis from the deep murky depths in her debut novel involving a lesbian married couple whose longtime relationship buckles beneath the weight of one partner's eventual mental and physical disfigurement.
'La Belle et la Bête' — Opera Parallèle Merges Philip Glass Score with Cocteau's Classic Film
The curtain rises on one of San Francisco's most exciting arts events of the year next week as Opera Parallèle presents the world premiere of its innovative take on "La Belle et La Bête" (Beauty and the Beast), combining live music and film.
Sketch 12: Showcase of New Choreographers
Choreographic luminary Amy Seiwert brings the twelfth iteration of her annual 'Sketch' collaborative series to Fort Mason's Cowell Theater July 15 & 16, with world premieres by Natasha Adorlee and New Mexico-based choreographer Joshua L. Peugh.
'Smahtguy' - Eric Orner's New Book about Barney Frank
Eric Orner's new book is out, a graphic novel based on the life of his former boss, Barney Frank.