Ann Bannon
In the 1950s, when Ann Bannon sat down at her typewriter to draft Odd Girl Out, the first book in a series of lesbian pulp novels, she imagined her books would end up with the rest of cheap reads of her day—in the trash bin. But in a time before indie queer film, women’s festivals, The L Word and LOGO, Bannon learned that “women had been saving these books in their garages,” finding in them a rare, printed reflection of their own lives, whether real or imagined. Bannon’s tales of the steamy love triangle between Laura, Beth and uber-butch Beebo have reincarnated as The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, a theatrical adaptation that opened this year to critical acclaim at New York’s 37 Arts Theater. The secret to her success: “writing about lesbians and gay men the best that I could, the most honestly.” –JB
In no particular order…
