April 1991 Writers Gather at 2nd Annual Outwrite Convention by Guy Kettelhack Imagine over 2,000 lesbian and gay poets, playwrights, novelists, essayists, biographers, journalists and self-help book writers in one place for three days and you might imagine formidable chaos. In fact, the second annual OutWrite Conference, held at Cathedral Hall Hotel in San Fran- cisco on March 2, 3, and 4, was, despite its size (with 55 panels and 263 panelists), re- markably harmonious. It was the first writ- ers‘ conference I’ve been to that actually seemed helpful — even kind — to writers. I’m not a big fan of most writers‘ con- ferences; in my experience what they mostly succeed at is intimidating writers. Writers generally do their work in solitude, and conferences are terribly public. Our all- too-assailable egos regularly swing from grandiosity to self-loathing; never do these swings seem more pronounced than when we are in each other’s company. Writers also are not, by and large, thrilling public speakers. We may some- times succeed in getting the right dramatic truthful effect on the page, but we’re rarely Maggie Smith on the podium. The average writers’ conference can seem like an organ- ized nervous breakdown. But, amazingly, OutWrite ‘9l wasn’t like that at all. It was phenomenal that people from so many different back- grounds with so many different agendas could create the climate of warmth and genuine helpfulness I felt in every panel discussion I attended. Not that there wasn’t “sturm und drang:” Paul Monette (author of Borrowed Time) spoke angrily and movingly about ongoing, appalling blindness and bigotry fueling the AIDS plague; JoAnn Loulan (author of The Lesbian Erotic Dance; Butch F emme Androgyny, and Other Rhythms) had every human being in the room re-examining what it means to have the sexual fantasies and “archetypes” we do; the prism was turned on Chicano, Na- tive American, Jewish, and other ethnic minority gay and Lesbian writing in ways that made us question what we all were writing and reading. Expectations and as- sumptions were held up to new light, yet an overriding feeling of encouragement col- ored criticism: our fragile egos were safe. Kate Millett, Edward Albee, Paula Gunn Allen and John Rechy gave keynote speeches. Unfortunately (some people told me fortunately), I missed that marathon — Albee came in for loud booing for his insistence that there was no such thing as a “gay writer” (the San Francisco press made the conference seem as if it were a tribute to Albee — latching onto his Pulitzer rep and name recognition, which was unfortunate). But the point and soul of the conference lay in its panels and the discussions they en- gendered. It was extraordinary to see such general caregiving and caretaking. My sense of myself as a “gay writer” (yes, Mr. Albee, there is such a thing), my sense of lesbian writers and lesbian issues, my un- derstanding of a whole range of minorities even within the larger minority we call “gay” all expanded —— and many of my as- sumptions got profitably kicked in the butt. But it didn’t hurt. The impossible happened: this was a loving writers’ confer- ence. Ivery much hope to go to the next one. .4:-n. _ . ‘ “— =—-:3; \ if HDL’:-r‘En~\ no-r Aw:-r 1mm oszza tun-. fiN—rem~us.-rtoNAt., new \-\ot_L..bn~u> \.~/lL—L— A990 ‘Do '1-HE '\"‘K\l—“- , art!-IL. 0|: \/~l\»\\-rE '1'-' ‘->\’‘‘‘'‘’ [A "U5 A 9eEr="\.oenO ¢°°"° wee -roor.t+_-J. ;rr,m~u~iE\_ $4-HKT D“ ?E’“""=’T°"‘5 \=\.EAé~€J - CAKHAKT e.A:~\vA§ \~/max JACKET- am, av-rat-\ 1'-'\\L.l c.sz2AM HERE, A REAL. -aas eamq BALM: AND gm me l-\AND5fl. 9A (GRADE 95 A -rue \/Em-«on-r e.A~r FAKr4EK$ ALLIANCE —n-ta GAY LAKPEHTEK5 c..¢>t.\.ac:r\vE Announce -rue FORMATION OF ‘ zup \~/ORN \1~\ ALL ‘THE 0 G‘‘‘’‘ iii/“,,,§—,—LV1la\..>.c€‘;j LQEEEM wamc , ‘,3 P‘A0~\T'= ARE Aueo noenzwzj VERMONT": ¢L.Ub " ‘VAN 5A1-++6P~ \~/omé 1».-oars ‘sop. Ma“ "4 3 - 5 Leaau booT> ARE C4005’ .;_— "‘/0'” 3" Yo.;‘p_g nu-1-9‘ Ruva=P\j__ ¢Lo-:15‘; I « N P‘ THE l-\OL6TE\t~\ HAN _ at 21