Alma Routsong (November 26, 1924 – October 4, 1996) was an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

best known for her

lesbian fiction Lesbian literature is a subgenre of literature addressing lesbian themes. It includes poetry, plays, fiction addressing lesbian characters, and non-fiction about lesbian-interest topics. Fiction that falls into this category may be of any gen ...

, published under the pen name Isabel Miller.

Early life

Alma Routsong was born Elma Louise Routsong in

Traverse City, Michigan Traverse City ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population wa ...

, on November 26, 1924. Her father, Carl Routsong, was a police sergeant, and her mother, Esther Miller Routsong, was a nurse."Elma L Routsong" in the ''1930 United States Federal Census'' (Census Place: Traverse City, Grand Traverse County, Michigan; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 0019; FHL microfilm; 2340723). She had an older brother Richard and a younger brother Gary. Routsong attended

Traverse City Senior High School Traverse City Central High School (also known as Central High School or TCC) is a public high school in Traverse City, Michigan. It is one of two comprehensive high schools in the Traverse City Area Public Schools district. History The first pu ...

, where she was on a college preparatory track. She was the senior class president and participated in several other organizations including the National Honor Society. As an adolescent, Routsong read lesbian fiction including

Radclyffe Hall Marguerite Antonia Radclyffe Hall (12 August 1880 – 7 October 1943) was an English poet and author, best known for the novel ''The Well of Loneliness'', a groundbreaking work in lesbian literature. In adulthood, Hall often went by the name Jo ...

's ''

The Well of Loneliness ''The Well of Loneliness'' is a lesbian novel by British author Radclyffe Hall that was first published in 1928 by Jonathan Cape. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose " sexual inversion" (hom ...

'', and

Djuna Barnes Djuna Barnes (, June 12, 1892 – June 18, 1982) was an American artist, illustrator, journalist, and writer who is perhaps best known for her novel ''Nightwood'' (1936), a cult classic of lesbian fiction and an important work of modernist liter ...

' ''

Nightwood ''Nightwood'' is a 1936 novel by American author Djuna Barnes that was first published by publishing house Faber and Faber. It is one of the early prominent novels to portray explicit homosexuality between women, and as such can be considered ...

''. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Routsong served in the

WAVES Waves most often refers to: *Waves, oscillations accompanied by a transfer of energy that travel through space or mass. *Wind waves, surface waves that occur on the free surface of bodies of water. Waves may also refer to: Music *Waves (band) ...

. She trained at the

Farragut, Idaho Farragut State Park is a public recreation area located at the southern tip of Lake Pend Oreille in the Coeur d'Alene Mountains of the Idaho Panhandle in the northwest United States. The state park is east of Athol in Kootenai County, about ...

, Naval Training Center before working as a hospital apprentice. After leaving the WAVES, she graduated from Michigan State University in 1949 with a degree in art.

Literary career

Routsong began her literary career in 1953 with the publication of her first novel, ''A Gradual Joy''. She followed the success of this book with ''Round Shape'' in 1959. Both books were mainstream and lacked lesbian content; however, they were autobiographical and captured "her seemingly happy heterosexual married life." In 1969, Routsong self-published ''A Place for Us'' under the pseudonym Isabel Miller. She used her own Bleecker Street Press imprint - named after her shared apartment with Elizabeth Deran on Bleecker Street - after numerous rejections from mainstream publishers. Routsong based this novel on the 1820s relationship between folk painter Mary Ann Willson and Florence Brundage, and as a result, it was her first explicitly lesbian work. Routsong and Deran sold copies of the book outside

Daughters of Bilitis The Daughters of Bilitis , also called the DOB or the Daughters, was the first lesbian civil and political rights organization in the United States. The organization, formed in San Francisco in 1955, was conceived as a social alternative to le ...

meetings. As the book increased in popularity,

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes refere ...

took notice and republished it as '' Patience and Sarah'' in 1972. For each of her subsequent works, Routsong continued to use the name Isabel Miller, a combination of an anagram of "Lesbia" and her mother's maiden name. Between 1968 and 1971 Routsong worked as an editor at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

. In 1971, the

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table The Rainbow Round Table (RRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) is dedicated to supporting the information needs of LGBTQIA+ people, from professional library workers to the population at large. Founded in 1970, it is the nation's first ga ...

of the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members ...

created the first award for LGBTQ+ books, the

Stonewall Book Award The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize "exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience" in English-language books published in the U.S. They are sponsored by the Rainbow ...

, which celebrates books of exceptional merit that relate to LGBTQ+ issues. '' Patience and Sarah'' was the first winner. From the mid-1970s until 1986 Routsong was a proofreader for ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...

'' magazine.

Works and awards

Works

* * * republished as * * * *

Reviews

*"After the G.I. Wedding", (review of ''A Gradual Joy''), ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' August 23, 1953 *"When Mother Moved In", (review of ''Round Shape''), ''The New York Times'' September 6, 1959 *"Their love was a thing apart" (review of ''Patience and Sarah''), ''The New York Times'' April 23, 1972

Awards

*Friends of American Writers award (1954, for ''A Gradual Joy'') *

Bread Loaf Writers' Conference The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is an author's conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1926, it has been called by ''The New Yorker'' "the oldest and most ...

fellow (1957, for ''Round Shape)'' *American Library Association

(1971, for ''Patience and Sarah'')

Activism

Routsong joined the

gay liberation movement The gay liberation movement was a social and political movement of the late 1960s through the mid-1980s that urged lesbians and gay men to engage in radical direct action, and to counter societal shame with gay pride.Hoffman, 2007, pp.xi-xiii. ...

in 1970 and was an officer in the New York chapter of

. She was arrested during a DOB police raid. She and Sidney Abbott,

Kate Millett Katherine Murray Millett (September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017) was an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist. She attended Oxford University and was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-class honors ...

Phyllis Birkby Noel Phyllis Birkby (December 6, 1932 – April 13, 1994) was an American architect, feminist, filmmaker, teacher, and founder of the Women's School of Planning and Architecture. Early life and education Noel Phyllis Birkby was born in Nutle ...

, and Artemis March were among the members of CR One, the first lesbian-feminist consciousness-raising group.

Barbara Gittings Barbara Gittings (July 31, 1932 – February 18, 2007) was a prominent American activist for LGBT equality. She organized the New York chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) from 1958 to 1963, edited the national DOB magazine ''The Ladd ...

staffed a

kissing booth A kissing booth is an attraction, usually at a carnival, where the person running the booth kisses other people, often to raise funds for charity. There are newspaper articles dating back to at least the early 1900s advertising upcoming kissing b ...

at the national convention of the

in Dallas in 1971, underneath the banner "Hug a Homosexual", with a "women only" side and a "men only" side. When no one took advantage of it, she and Routsong kissed in front of rolling television cameras. In describing its success, despite most of the reaction being negative, Gittings said, "We needed to get an audience. So we decided, let's show gay love live. We were offering free—mind you, free—same-sex kisses and hugs. Let me tell you, the aisles were mobbed, but no one came into the booth to get a free hug. So we hugged and kissed each other. It was shown twice on the evening news, once again in the morning. It put us on the map."Warner David. CityPaper.net. April 22–29, 1999; accessed November 4, 2007.

Personal life

Alma married Bruce Brodie in 1947 and they had four daughters; Natalie (1949), Joyce (1952), Charlotte (1954), and Louise (1958). In 1962, Routsong met Elizabeth Deran at a church event and entered into a romantic relationship with her. Brodie and Routsong divorced in 1962. When the pair's relationship became known, Deran was forced to leave her job with the

United States Treasury Department The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

. Routsong and Deran then moved to

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Routsong struggled with alcoholism in the 1970s as her relationship with Deran came to an end. The pair rekindled their friendship in the early 1980s, and Deran motivated Routsong to write more books. Routsong developed an interest in spiritualism and enjoyed making astrological charts of the women in her life. She also spent time at

's Women's Art Colony Farm. Later in life, Routsong shared a relationship with artist Julie Weber.

Death

Routsong died of ovarian cancer at age 71 in

Poughkeepsie, New York Poughkeepsie ( ), officially the City of Poughkeepsie, separate from the Town of Poughkeepsie around it) is a city in the U.S. state of New York. It is the county seat of Dutchess County, with a 2020 census population of 31,577. Poughkeepsi ...

on October 4, 1996."Alma L. Routsong" in the ''Newspapers.com Obituary Index, 1800s-current'' (Poughkeepsie Journal; Publication Date: 5/ Oct/ 1996; Publication Place: Poughkeepsie, NY).

References

Bibliography

* ''Contemporary Authors Online'', Gale, 2002 * Steve Hogan and Lee Hudson, ''Completely Queer: The Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia'' (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1998), pages 481–482. * Carol Hurd Green and Mary Grimley Mason (eds) "Alma Routsong", in ''American Women Writers,'' volume 5 (St James Press, 1994), pp 394–396.

External links

1975 Jonathan Katz interview of Routsong1990 Video interview of Alma Routsong

Guide to the Isabel Miller papers, 1937-2009

Sophia Smith Collection The Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College is an internationally recognized repository of manuscripts, photographs, periodicals and other primary sources in women's history. General One of the largest recognized repositories of manuscripts, a ...

, Smith College Special Collections {{DEFAULTSORT:Routsong, Alma 1924 births 1996 deaths 20th-century American novelists American feminists American women short story writers American women novelists Lesbian feminists American lesbian writers LGBT people from Michigan American LGBT novelists Michigan State University alumni People from Traverse City, Michigan Novelists from Michigan 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers United States Navy sailors WAVES personnel Stonewall Book Award winners Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century LGBT people