Kevin
Sessums
says
being
gay
is
definitely
not
a
hindrance
in
the
literary
world.
A
resident
of
Provincetown
during
the
summer,
his
neighbors
include
Pulitzer
Prize-winning
writers
Michael
Cunningham
("The
Hours"),
Tony
Kushner
(“Angels
in
America”)
and
Doug
Wright
(“I
Am
My
Own
Wife”).
“Three
doors
down
is
Michael
Cunningham,
I
ran
into
Tony
Kushner
in
the
neighborhood
and
saw
Doug
Wright
going
to
play
tennis
—
that’s
a
lot
of
Pulitzer
Prize
award
winners
in
just
a
small
neighborhood,”
Sessums
says
in
his
signature
scratchy
drawl.
Sessums,
whose
memoir
“Mississippi
Sissy”
won
the
2008
Lambda
Award
for
Men’s
Memoir/Biography,
is
a
noted
author
in
his
own
right
and
is
just
one
of
several
gay
authors
making
his
way
to
the
Decatur
Book
Festival
over
Labor
Day
weekend.
Also
a
noted
celebrity
journalist
who
has
penned
articles
for
magazines
including
Allure
and
Vanity
Fair,
he
was
recently
named
contributing
editor
of
Parade
Magazine.
His
first
cover
story?
An
intimate
interview
with
actress
Julianne
Moore
that
hit
news
stands
Aug.
17.
An
upcoming
story
has
him
sitting
down
with
Daniel
Craig,
the
newest
James
Bond.
“I’ve
been
doing
this
[interviewing
celebrities]
for
over
30
years
—
it’s
my
truck
driving
job.
I
drive
the
truck
with
glamorous
cargo
to
deadline,”
Sessums
says.
His
memoir,
“Mississippi
Sissy,”
is
the
story
of
growing
up
gay
—
and
a
“freak”
—
in
the
South.
Putting
“sissy”
in
the
title
was
of
concern
to
some.
“There
was
big
discussion
about
it,"
Sessums
says.
"But
I
felt
it
was
the
right
word
to
be
true
to
the
story
I
wanted
to
tell,
and
I
liked
how
it
sounded
with
‘Mississippi.’”
The
people
who
didn’t
like
it
the
most
were
the
liberal
heterosexuals,
Sessums
says.
“I
think
it’s
because
they
used
it
on
the
playground
growing
up,
they
used
‘sissy’
like
‘pansy’
and
‘faggot’
—
they
used
the
word
as
a
weapon,”
he
says.
“But
I
feel
it’s
like
the
word
'queer'
—
if
you
take
it
back,
you
deflate
the
negative
meaning
of
the
word.”
WORDS
WILL
BE
THE
STARS
of
the
weekend
when
some
250
authors
and
50,000
people
descend
onto
Decatur
from
all
over
the
country
and
the
world,
as
well
as
right
here
at
home.
Local
gay
favorites
Fiona
Zedde,
a
Lambda
Award
finalist
for
Lesbian
Erotica,
will
speak,
as
well
as
Mark
King,
an
occasional
columnist
for
Southern
Voice
and
author
of
“A
Place
Like
This.”
Poet
Collin
Kelly,
author
of
the
new
chapbook
“After
the
Poison,”
will
also
be
featured.
Another
renowned
gay
author
making
his
way
to
the
Decatur
Book
Fest
for
the
first
time
is
Louis
Bayard,
a
staff
reporter
for
the
online
magazine
Salon
and
historical
mystery
writer.
His
new
book
“The
Black
Tower”
is
set
in
France
in
the
early
1800s
and
features
Eugène
François
Vidocq,
a
French
criminal-turned-detective
who
is
credited
as
the
“great
architect
of
the
first
detective,”
Bayard
says.
Embracing
the
historical
thriller
was
not
hard
for
Bayard
after
he
received
critical
acclaim
for
2004’s
“Mr.
Timothy,”
featuring
a
grown-up
Timothy
Cratchit
as
the
protagonist,
and
then
2007's
“The
Pale
Blue
Eye”
with
Edgar
Allan
Poe
as
the
star
detective.
Writing
historical
mysteries
came
after
first
writing
two
gay
romantic
comedies,
“Fool’s
Errand”
and
“Endangered
Species.”
For
Bayard,
being
gay
and
a
writer
hasn’t
been
a
serious
issue
in
the
world
of
mainstream
book
publishing.
“But
the
more
you
identify
as
a
gay
author,
the
more
difficult
it
is
to
break
into
the
mainstream,”
he
says.
When
he
was
the
author
of
two
gay
books,
Bayard
said
it
was
sometimes
disheartening
to
see
his
books
regulated
to
the
“gay”
bookshelves
in
major
bookstores.
“But
I’m
glad
that
shelf
exists,”
he
says.
"I
wish
it
existed
when
I
was
growing
up."
And
while
he
now
writes
novels
that
aren’t
specifically
gay,
Bayard
says
it
is
impossible
for
him
not
to
be
a
“gay
author.”
“Even
in
my
mainstream
stuff,
there
is
a
gay
vibe,”
he
says.
“In
every
book
I
write,
there
a
character
I
know
who
should
be
gay.
“Just
because
we’re
gay,
we
don’t
have
to
write
exclusively
about
gay
issues,”
he
says.
FOR
DR.
E.
PATRICK
JOHNSON,
author
of
“Sweet
Tea:
Black
Gay
Men
of
the
South,”
it
was
crucial
to
get
to
the
public
the
stories
of,
yes,
black
gay
men
who
were
raised
in
the
South.
He
also
presents
several
of
the
narratives
as
performance
pieces.
Hearing
the
stories
the
men
shared
inspired
Johnson
to
put
down
the
oral
histories
into
book
form.
“I
didn’t
know
there
were
these
stories,
and
I
knew
they
were
important
enough
to
share
with
...
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