Larry Duplechan (born December 30, 1956, in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

) is an American novelist. He is best known for his novels ''Blackbird'', adapted in 2014 by

Patrik-Ian Polk Patrik-Ian Polk (born July 29, 1973 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer. Polk, who is gay, is noted for his films and theatre work that explore the experiences and stories of African Americans, Africa ...

as a film starring

Mo'Nique Monique Angela Hicks (née Imes; born December 11, 1967), known mononymously as Mo'Nique, is an American comedian and actress. She debuted as a member of The Queens of Comedy and earned recognition as a Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian. In 2 ...

and

Isaiah Washington Isaiah Washington IV (born August 3, 1963) is an American actor. Following a series of film appearances, he came to prominence as Dr. Preston Burke in ''Grey's Anatomy'' (2005-2007; 2014) Washington began his career collaborating with directo ...

, and ''Got 'til It's Gone'', which won an award in the Gay Romance category at the

21st Lambda Literary Awards The 21st Lambda Literary Awards were held in 2009, to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2008. Special awards Nominees and winners External links 21st Lambda Literary Awards {{Lambda Literary Awards Lambda Literary Awards ceremoni ...

Background

Duplechan was born on December 30, 1956, in

Claude J. Summers Claude J. Summers (born 1944) is an American literary scholar, and the William E. Stirton Professor Emeritus in the Humanities and Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. A native of Galvez, Louisiana, he was the third ...

Larry Duplechan
. glbtq.com, 2011. He attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

, where he studied English and participated in the university's men's choir. After graduation, he initially pursued a career in music, both as a solo singer and as a member of a jazz vocal group, but gave it up after the time demands of pursuing music while also holding down a full-time day job began to threaten his relationship with his partner Greg Harvey.

Writing

Duplechan published his first novel, ''Eight Days a Week'', in 1985. The novel introduced Johnnie Ray Rousseau, the lead character in nearly all of his subsequent novels. ''Blackbird'', a prequel novel focusing on Rousseau's childhood, was published the following year and more strongly established Duplechan's reputation as an important writer of gay

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

fiction. He has also been identified as one of the first important gay writers to have come of age after the

Stonewall riots The Stonewall riots (also known as the Stonewall uprising, Stonewall rebellion, Stonewall revolution, or simply Stonewall) were a series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of ...

, and whose writing thus lacked the

internalized homophobia Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or antipathy, m ...

that often characterized the work of the previous generation of gay writers. In 1990, he published ''Tangled Up in Blue'', an

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

-themed novel which was his only work not to feature Rousseau as its central character, although its main characters reappear in Duplechan's subsequent Rousseau novels as supporting characters. The novel dealt with a married couple, Maggie and Daniel Sullivan, whose relationship is tested when Maggie discovers that Daniel is bisexual and was once in a relationship with her gay friend Crockett Miller. Duplechan's next novel ''Captain Swing'' (1993) returned to Rousseau, and found him grieving the death of his boyfriend Keith in a car accident. After ''Captain Swing'', Duplechan took a hiatus from writing for several years and returned to singing, founding an

a cappella Music performed a cappella ( , , ; ), less commonly spelled acapella in English, is music performed by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Rena ...

vocal group and participating in community choirs after the home he shared with Harvey was damaged in the

1994 Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake affected Greater Los Angeles, California, on January 17, 1994, at 04:30:55 PST. The epicenter of the moment 6.7 () blind thrust earthquake was beneath the San Fernando Valley. Lasting approximately 8 seconds ...

. A new 20th anniversary edition of ''Blackbird'' was published by

Arsenal Pulp Press Arsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, focusing primarily on underrepresented genres such as und ...

in 2006, and Duplechan's most recent novel to date, ''Got 'til It's Gone'', was published by the same company in 2008. In 2022, Duplechan contracted with Team Angelica, London, to write a movie memoir, ''Movies That Made Me Gay'', to be published in October 2023. In addition to his novels, his work has also been published in numerous anthologies, including '' Freedom in This Village: Twenty-Five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing'' (2005), '' The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered'' (2010) and ''Mighty Real: An Anthology of African American Same Gender Loving Writing'' (2011).

Personal life

Duplechan and Harvey legally married in 2008, during the period between the initial legalization of

same-sex marriage in California Same-sex marriage has been legal in California since June 28, 2013. The State of California first issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples from June 16, 2008 to November 5, 2008, a period of approximately 4 months, 2 weeks and 6 days, as a ...

and the passage of

Proposition 8 Proposition 8, known informally as Prop 8, was a California ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage. It passed in the November 2008 California state elections and was later overturned by the ...

. He has pursued studies in

comparative religion Comparative religion is the branch of the study of religions with the systematic comparison of the doctrines and practices, themes and impacts (including human migration, migration) of the world's religions. In general the comparative study ...

. He served for several years as a deacon for a

Metropolitan Community Church The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), also known as the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC), is an international LGBT-affirming Christian denominations, LGBT-affirming mainline Protestant Christian denomination. The ...

congregation, and considered entering the

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...

. He and Harvey later attended the Westwood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles. Since 2018, they have enjoyed a “friends of the church” relationship with an Episcopal church in Monrovia, California, where they often sing in the choir.

Works

*''Eight Days a Week'' (1985, ) *''Blackbird'' (1986, ) *''Tangled Up in Blue'' (1990, ) *''Captain Swing'' (1993, ) *''Got 'til it's Gone'' (2008, ) *''Movies That Made Me Gay'' (2023, )

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duplechan, Larry 1956 births Living people African-American novelists 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American LGBTQ people American male novelists American gay writers American gay musicians American LGBTQ novelists American LGBTQ singers African-American male writers African-American LGBTQ people Gay novelists Gay singers LGBTQ Protestants Novelists from Los Angeles Musicians from Los Angeles Lambda Literary Award winners University of California, Los Angeles alumni Singers from California LGBTQ people from California 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century American LGBTQ people