Larry Mitchell (1939 – December26, 2012) was an American author and publisher.
[Brim, Matt]
Larry Mitchell - Novelist of the Dispossed
. The Gay and Lesbian Review. V16 N4 2009
Full text
[Mitchell, Larry]
My Life As A Mole and Five Other Stories
Calamus Books 1988.[Mitchell, Larry]
Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions
. Calamus Books 1977.[Mayer, Bob]
Review of the novel, Terminal Bar
Cream City Special Edition V1 N1 May 1983, Page 12. He was the founder of
Calamus Books - an early small press devoted to gay male literature - and the author of fiction dealing with the gay male experience in New York City during the 1970s and 1980s.
[Brass, Perry]
An Interview with Felice Picano
Lambda Book Report, 2007.[Texier, Catherine]
Sunday Book Review of Felice Picano's Art and Sex in Greenwich Village: Gay Literary Life After Stonewall.
With
Terry Helbing and
Felice Picano
Felice Anthony Picano (February 22, 1944 – March 12, 2025) was an American writer, publisher and critic who encouraged the development of gay literature in the United States. His work is documented in many sources.
Life and career
Felice Ant ...
,
he cofounded Gay Presses of New York in 1981. His book of short stories ''
My Life As a Mole'' won the 1989 Small Press
Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...
. Mitchell's novel ''
The Terminal Bar'', published in 1982, is considered to be the first book of fiction to address
HIV/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 ...
. In addition to his own work, he was friends with and collaborated with many prominent gay artists working in New York City in the 1970s and 1980s including
William "Bill" Rice,
David Wojnarowicz
David Michael Wojnarowicz ( ; September 14, 1954 – July 22, 1992) was an American painter, photographer, writer, filmmaker, performance artist, songwriter/recording artist, and HIV/AIDS activism, AIDS activist prominent in the East Village, Ma ...
,
Peter Hujar
Peter Hujar (; October 11, 1934 – November 26, 1987) was an American photographer best known for his black-and-white portraits. Hujar's work received only marginal public recognition during his lifetime, but he has since been recognized as a m ...
and
Gary Indiana
Gary Hoisington (July 16, 1950 – October 23, 2024), known as Gary Indiana, was an American writer, actor, artist, and cultural critic. He served as the art critic for the ''Village Voice'' weekly newspaper from 1985 to 1988. Indiana is best k ...
. The feature film ''Acid Snow'' (1998) directed by Joel Itman is based on Mitchell's novel of the same name.
Mitchell received a PhD in Sociology from Columbia University.
[Mitchell, Larry]
Larry Mitchell - Failure and Success; the American Theater and its playwrights
1968. Ph.D. Dissertation - Columbia University At that time, he co-edited the book "
Willard Waller on The Family, Education and War" with
William J. Goode and
Frank Furstenberg published in 1970.
He was born in
Muncie, Indiana
Muncie ( ) is a city in Delaware County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It is located in East Central Indiana about northeast of Indianapolis. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 65,195, down from 70,085 in the 2010 c ...
, in 1939 and died on December 26, 2012, in
Ithaca, New York
Ithaca () is a city in and the county seat of Tompkins County, New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake in the Finger Lakes region of New York (state), New York, Ithaca is the largest community in the Ithaca metrop ...
, after a battle with
pancreatic cancer
Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...
.
Works
Books
*''
Acid Snow'' (Calamus Books, 1992)
*''
My Life As A Mole and Five Other Stories'' (Calamus Books, 1988)
*''
In Heat: A Romance'' (Gay Presses of New York, 1986)
*''
The Terminal Bar'' (Calamus Books, 1982)
*''
The Faggots & Their Friends Between Revolutions'' (Calamus Books, 1977)
*''Great Gay in the Morning'' (with The Lavender Hill Group, Times Change Press, 1972)
*''Willard Waller on The Family, Education and War'' (with William J. Goode and Frank F. Furstenberg, University of Chicago Press, 1970)
Plays
*''Get It While You Can'' (Presented November 1986 at Theater for the New City, New York City)
*''An Evening of Faggot Theater'' (with The Pink Satin Bomber Collective. Presented March–May 1978 at the
Performing Garage
The Performing Garage is an off-off-Broadway theater in SoHo, New York City. Established in 1968, it is the permanent home of the experimental theater company originally named The Performance Group (under Richard Schechner) that morphed in 1980 i ...
, New York City)
[Pink Satin Bombers Collective]
An Evening of Faggot Theater
Calamus Books 1977.
References
External links
''The Terminal Bar''at
Goodreads
Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and readi ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Larry
1939 births
2012 deaths
American gay writers
American publishers (people)
People from Muncie, Indiana
Lambda Literary Award winners
Radical Faeries members