In keeping with the Library's 150th anniversary's lens this year, the Library's 2024 Pride Exhibit honors 150 years of LGBTQ+ authors.
The exhibit will reside on the Main Library's second floor. It was a difficult choice to curate, but staff chose LGBTQ+ authors to represent different decade. It is not exhaustive by any means, but book lists will be made available.
Going back to 1855, the exhibit first highlights Walt Whitman (1819 – 1892). He published the iconic Leaves of Grass in 1855. Whitman’s poetry and other works have influenced generations of poets and writers.
Gertrude Stein (1874 - 1946) represents the 1910s. Raised in California, Stein spent most of her life in Paris, where she held a regular salon that attracted writers and others in the arts. Her work consisted of novels and the book that made her famous, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, was about her life partner but also partly a memoir of herself.
Langston Hughes (1901 – 1967) wrote plays, novels and poems and is highlighted for the 1930s. He was a Civil Rights activist who wrote a regular column for The Chicago Defender, a leading Black newspaper.
For recent years, Malinda Lo will represent the 2010s. Malinda Lo was born in China and moved to the United States when she was three years old. She lives in Massachusetts with her wife and writes young adult fiction including Ash, Huntress and Adaption. Along with author Cindy Pon, Lo created the website Diversity in YA in 2011 to help champion representation of all marginalized groups.
Gertrude Stein (1874 - 1946) represents the 1910s. Raised in California, Stein spent most of her life in Paris, where she held a regular salon that attracted writers and others in the arts. Her work consisted of novels and the book that made her famous, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, was about her life partner but also partly a memoir of herself.
Langston Hughes (1901 – 1967) wrote plays, novels and poems and is highlighted for the 1930s. He was a Civil Rights activist who wrote a regular column for The Chicago Defender, a leading Black newspaper.
For recent years, Malinda Lo will represent the 2010s. Malinda Lo was born in China and moved to the United States when she was three years old. She lives in Massachusetts with her wife and writes young adult fiction including Ash, Huntress and Adaption. Along with author Cindy Pon, Lo created the website Diversity in YA in 2011 to help champion representation of all marginalized groups.
The exhibit will run through the month of June.