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This is the second in a series highlighting the best gay and
lesbian authors
from the 20th century (with a few before and after that period) who have
recorded in fiction, and nonfiction, the history of gay people telling
what life
is, and was, during an important time of history. The series is aimed to
show
the newer gay generations what came before and how these writers helped
them to
have it so much better. It is also aimed at nongay people who will
hopefully
understand why gay people deserve the rights that nongay people have.
Aside from having historic value they all are great reading!
They will not be presented in any particular order but all are equal in
importance.
From
the day it was published "The Front Runner" has been rumored to become a
Hollywood blockbuster with, at that time, Paul Newman starring. It
never happened but 36 years later we are still hoping!
FOR A PERSONAL STATEMENT FROM MS. WARREN GO TO:
https://www.wildcatintl.com/pnw.cfm?view=statement
Biography
In just three decades, Patricia Nell Warren has become one of the most
popular and respected authors of gay literature in the world. With eight
successful novels to her credit and an estimated readership of over twenty
million people worldwide, her books are considered by many to be an intrinsic
part of the GLBT rites of passage as well as a literary synthesis of the gay and
lesbian experience.
In more recent years, she has also become a distinguished investigative
journalist and columnist — always willing to test public opinion and her
popularity to get at the facts of any issue she explores.
Patricia Nell Warren was born in 1936 and grew up on the prestigious Grant
Kohrs cattle ranch near Deer Lodge, Montana. She has been writing professionally
since she was a teenager in the 1950s, and a publishing professional since 1959.
Her subjects have a wide range of appeal — from youth, Goddesses, Earth, human
rights, gay and lesbian life, mixed-blood people and American history to sports,
wild animals, eco-agriculture and current events. Her provocative literary
themes quite often dramatize a conflict between individual liberty and
authoritarian culture while revealing unconventional social perspectives and
exploring the deepest vulnerabilities in human nature.
Warren enjoys telling a powerful and original story. "Even in my editorials,
I am a storyteller," she freely admits. "Whenever I craft a story, I put myself
within the character, and look for every possible parameter in that individual's
world. I'm not interested in labels or being politically correct. In fact, I
often explore the disastrous consequences of labeling people or merely going
along with the status-quo."
Her most celebrated novel, The Front Runner, was first published by
William Morrow in 1974, and has become the most popular gay love story of all
time. This landmark classic about the relationship between an ex-Marine track
coach and his Olympic athlete has sold an estimated 10 million copies worldwide
and been translated into 10 languages (English, Spanish, German, French, Dutch,
Danish, Swedish, Japanese, Chinese, Latvian). According to the Publishing
Triangle, readers have acclaimed The Front Runner as #1 of the 100 Best
Lesbian and Gay Novels. Selected by Book of the Month Club for its “Best of
the Paperbacksâ€Â series, as well as the InsightOut Book Club, The Front
Runner is now in development as a major motion picture.
In 1994, Warren completed Harlan's Race, the long-awaited sequel to
The Front Runner. This was the premiere title offered by Wildcat Press,
an independent press co-founded by Warren and her business partner, veteran
media specialist and short story writer, Tyler St. Mark. Harlan's Race received top reviews and remained on the Lambda bestseller list for an entire
year. In 1997, Wildcat Press released Billy's Boy, the third book in
The Front Runner series, which won the Lambda "Editors' Choice"
Literary Award that year. Both sequels have been published in other languages as
well including German, Japanese, Latvian, and Spanish.
Warren's most recent novel is The Wild Man, a harrowing chronicle
set in 1960s fascist Spain. Her newest bestseller chronicles the illicit
relationship between a disillusioned Spanish bullfighter and a young idealistic
peasant during the fascist regime of Spain in the 60's. Stunningly detailed and
startlingly accurate (Warren worked in Spain between 1964 and 1972 as a liaison
for the Spanish edition of The Reader's Digest), The Wild Man has been acclaimed
by literary critics nationwide as perhaps Warren's finest literary effort to
date. The Wild Man appeared on both the Lambda and Amazon.com gay bestseller
lists and was chosen for imprint by both the Quality Paperback and InsightOut
Book Clubs. In 2003 it was published in Spain, under the title El Hombre bravo.
It's also available in German from Bruno Gmuender.
Warren has also published two mainstream novels. The Last CentennialOne Is the Sun (Random
House/Ballantine 1991) is a historical epic about a legendary woman chief of the
Montana Territory during the 1800's. One Is the Sun took almost a
decade to research and is based on actual events. In 2002, Wildcat Press
published their edition of this amazing adventure, which quickly sold out and is
into a second printing. (Dial Press1971) is a set of three short novels that take place in a small
Montana town during the 70's and
Warren has also published four books of Ukrainian poetry between 1959 and
1973 as well as hundreds of short nonfiction pieces over the years. Her incisive
articles and essays have appeared in a wide range of publications, including Los
Angeles Times, The Reader's Digest, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune,
L.A. Woman, Mythosphere, Foreword and Persimmon Hill, to gay publications like
The Advocate, Out, Gay & Lesbian Review, Genre, Philadelphia Gay News, and
The Letter, Lodestar Quarterly.
Now a popular columnist, Warren writes regularly about gay pioneers in sports
history for Outsports.com, while her provocative "Left Field" on the politics of
AIDS and public health appears monthly in A & U Magazine.
In addition to her impressive literary record, Patricia Nell Warren has, for
many years, been a committed human-rights activist. Her personal activism
started during the 1960s, with her efforts to have American media recognize the
individuality of Ukrainians and other ethnic groups in the USSR. In the 1970s
she moved on to women's rights, where she was the plaintiffs' spokesperson for
Susan Smith v. Reader's Digest, a landmark lawsuit that resulted in a
class-action victory for women. As a former amateur athlete, she helped lead a
group of women distance runners who forced the AAU to change discriminatory
rules in the mid-70s.
Currently, Patricia Nell Warren focuses on free speech and issues confronting
youth. From 1996 to 2000, she voluntarily taught at a GED program for GLBT
youth, and served on the Gay and Lesbian Education Commission of the Los Angeles
Unified School District, as well as the district's Human Relations Education
Commission. She is one of several dozen plaintiffs in ACLU v. Reno and ACLU v.
Reno II, a case-setting lawsuit seeking to stem unwarranted censorship of the
Internet. She was also one of the founders of Just Dissent, a California
activist group seeking to protect the rights of peaceful protesters.
Her literary and political work has been recognized by numerous awards. They
include the Arizona Human Rights Fund's Barry Goldwater Award, the National
Cowboy Hall of Fame's Western Heritage Award, the Lambda Literary Award, the
Saints & Sinners Hall of Fame, and the Gay and Lesbian Literary Hall of
Fame.
Today, Patricia Nell Warren's novels have become essential gay literature for
bookstores, libraries and college courses worldwide and, according to recent
surveys of independent book sales, are the most popular novels among classic gay
literature. Warren lectures nationwide, and conducts many writer's workshops. An
entertaining and highly informative speaker, she draws upon on her vast
experience, as a writer, editor and publisher, to help newcomers orient
themselves artistically and to be well informed on professional writing
standards and industry practices. Her personal web page features a menu of help
articles for this purpose titled "Secrets of Writing and Publishing."
Warren and her company are now in the process of establishing the Patricia
Nell Warren Endowment Fund, which supports creatively gifted but financially
challenged youth. She is also in the process of launching her new nationwide
workshop series for young writers, called "Youth Writes!"
