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Patricia Nell Warren
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 Billy's
Boy by
Patricia Nell Warren, Jay Fraley (Illustrator)
Twelve-year-old
William Heden is at the center of Patricia Nell Warren's latest
novel about the struggles facing homosexuals in homophobic
America. A sequel to her l974 classic, The Front Runner, and to
1994's Harlan s Race, the book stands alone and can be read
without knowledge of Warren's previous stories. Billy's Boy
follows adolescent William as he explores his family history and
delves into the role anti-gay attitudes have played on the people
he lives with. A number of socially relevant themes emerge: the
role of the Christian right-wing in forming homophobic attitudes;
coming out to friends and family; the role of educational
institutions in fostering tolerance for different types of
students; and the necessity of creating alternative families for
those whose biological kin have rejected them. While Warren's
writing is often clunky, and her messages about acceptance,
heterosexism and the sexual exploration of young teens are
heavy-handed, a wide-range of well-developed characters make the
book highly absorbing. In addition, Warren's tremendous empathy
for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth - and her
obvious experience in working with them - lends both nuance and
authenticity to the book's dialogue. William's struggle to
understand his own sexual desire as he comes of age will intrigue
adolescents as well as adults and should be read by anyone
concerned about the pressures facing queer kids as they navigate
life in the late 1990's.
 The
Beauty Queen by
Patricia Nell Warren
"Take a
closeted gay man, his republican beauty queen daughter, and have
him finance her bid for state office in New York, and you have a
brilliant novel! Patricia Nell Warren hooked me with The Front
Runner series of books. And when I read this book, there were many
times I found myself smiling and laughing. Set in the 70s, the
book does read like a comical version of Anita Bryant's (I hope I
have that name right) campaign to extinguish gay rights bills. But
this book, takes that true life event, and plugs the readers in
deeper to the state of minds of its principal characters. It is
touching, humorous, and passionate. It delves into the life of a
gay man, his deep love for his daughter, and how two lives that
should be so close are often so distant." -- Anonymous Review From
the Author I first published this
novel with William Morrow in 1978, in response to the first
stirrings of anti-gay politics by ultra-right religious groups. No
battleground on religious issues is more painful and heartbreaking
than the family. So I tell the story of a closeted gay father and
his conservative politician daughter, as their lives move
inexorably towards open confrontation. The Beauty Queen is
set in New York City, where I spent so many years during my career
as a working media professional. Today, with the new Wildcat Press
edition out, I am happy to see the big revival of interest in The
Beauty Queen, with its core issues more in the headlines than
ever.
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From the Introduction:
Hello Everyone....
I created this personal page because one of my
passions is talking to other people. That's how I create stories
and characters. If you like the feel of reality in my novels, it's
because I've learned to be a good listener.
Today, I feel a new urgency about communicating
with others. Our country is in trouble. We see a steady erosion of
human rights, and a steady encroachment of big government and big
censorship as defined by religious right-wingers. Conservatives
are screaming that liberal social programs have wrecked the
country -- yet conservative plans for immigrant-busting and
crime-busting promise to skyrocket spending further, and build us
into a police state. Worse yet, the jobs for youth are simply not
out there, and this drives many young people into crime. Gay,
lesbian, bisexual and transgendered youth are facing some
hair-raising economic challenges -- especially those newly-out
young people whose parents refuse to go on paying for their
education...
Site includes ways to contact Patricia,
plus a biography.
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By Patricia Nell Warren
From OutWord Magazine, November 1999
Excerpt:
Recently a New York Times article about the
plight of gay retirees made headlines across the country. At about
the same time, I read items on the Internet about a few new
retirement communities that would cater to gay people. All are
still in the planning stage, but hopes are high. One publication
exulted over what "the gay community is doing for its
elderly." It would seem that gay ageism is "a subject
whose time has come."
But has it really? A few weeks ago, responding
to an Internet appeal for an older woman writer in dire straits
because of illness and poverty, I wrote a check with shaking hand.
The emotions stirred up in me by this action were profound. For
the ten thousandth time I thought about the stark reality that
faces older people in what we term the "gay and lesbian
community." Over the last five years, I have written other
checks to help other elders through similar dark times.
As one 45-year-old lesbian friend of mine puts
it, we are "the age group that dare not speak its name."
In recent years, as I passed 60, I have pondered the shabby
treatment that our "community" metes out to old people,
and wondered why our needs are so invisible to our own kind...
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By Patricia Nell Warren
From The Advocate, August 18, 1998
Excerpt:
It's been 24 years since author PATRICIA NELL
WARREN wrote her classic novel The Front Runner, a love story
between an out gay college long-distance runner and a closeted
ex-Marine track coach. In the years that have followed, the
lesbian novelist has been asked over and over again what motivated
her to create a sensitive gay love story set in the world of
sports. For the first time, the writer responds
For me, at age 32 in 1968, distance running
started out as a personal female challenge. Indeed, the runner's
need to reach deep inside and "find more" spurred my
self-discovery as a woman and my consciousness-raising concerning
women's rights. Only then, through running, could I finally catch
up with those long-festering questions about sexual orientation.
It dawned on me that sports are a major arena in which American
society hard-wires "traditional" notions about gender
roles and orientation into its citizens.
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Names Index:
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G H
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