Michael Denneny — On Christopher Street - with Dr. Stephen Forssell

Watch author Michael Denneny's book talk and reading at Politics and Prose book store in Washington, D.C.

The Stonewall Riots of 1969 and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s have been captured in minute detail, and rightly memorialized in books, on tv, and in film as pivotal and powerful moments in queer history. Yet what about the moments in between--the tumultuous decade post-Stonewall when the queer community's vitality and creativity exploded across the country, even as the AIDS crisis emerged? Michael Denneny was there for it all. As a founder and editor of the wildly influential magazine Christopher Street and later as the first openly gay editor at a major publishing house, Denneny critically shaped publishing around gay subjects in the 1970s and beyond. At St. Martin's Press, he acquired a slew of landmark titles by gay authors--many for his groundbreaking Stonewall Inn Editions--propelling queer voices into the mainstream cultural conversation. On Christopher Street is Denneny's time machine, going back to that heady period to lay out the unfolding geographies and storylines of gay lives and capturing the raw immediacy of his and his contemporaries' daily lives as gay people in America. Through forty-one micro-chapters, he uses his journal writings, articles, interviews, and more from the 1970s and '80s to illuminate the twists and turns of a period of incomparable cultural ferment. One of the few surviving voices of his generation, Denneny transports us back in time to share those vibrant in-between moments in gay lives--the joy, sorrow, ecstasy, and energy--across three decades of queer history.

PURCHASE BOOK HERE

Michael Denneny is a longtime book and magazine editor who played an outsized role in promoting openly gay writers from the mid-1970s onward. In 1976, he cofounded Christopher Street Magazine, one of the first gay literary magazines. He is now a freelance editor and consultant living in New York City.

Denneny is in conversation with Dr. Stephen Forssell. Dr. Forssell is the founding director of the graduate program in LGBT Health Policy & Practice at the George Washington University. He teaches courses in LGBTQ topics including mental health, youth, and intersectionality. He also lectures at the GWU Medical Center School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dr. Forssell’s expertise and research are in sexual orientation development, same-sex romantic relationships, child development and parenting, HIV/AIDS risk behaviors, and high-risk sexual behavior interventions.

Be Sure To Click SUBSCRIBE

@politicsprose

Visit us online at

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on instagram

Like us on Facebook

Follow Us On TikTok

Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter:

Become a store member and save

Founded by Carla Cohen and Barbara Meade in 1984, Politics and Prose Bookstore is Washington, D.C.'s premier independent bookstore and cultural hub, a gathering place for people interested in reading and discussing books. Politics and Prose offers superior service, unusual book choices, and a haven for book lovers in the store and online.