What was the first gay American novel? The popularity of James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City, and Hanya Yanagihara’s recent sensation A Little Life indicate the deep personal connection people feel with LGBT fiction.

In this talk, Professor Don James McLaughlin of the University of Tulsa will make the case that A Marsh Island (1885), the little-known novel by the Maine-based writer Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909), should be considered the first novel in the genre.

Schedule

5:30 p.m. Reception
6:00 p.m. Talk

This program is held in collaboration with the Library Company of Philadelphia.