Lesléa Newman

This poignant and humorous collection of stories offers a fresh perspective on current issues of homosexuality and anti-Semitism and lends a voice to those experiencing growing pains and self-discovery. Newman's quirky Jewish characters go through all kinds of experiences, from an initial lesbian sexual encounter to being sequestered in a college apartment after paranoid Holocaust flashbacks. Her characters anxiously discover their lesbian identities while beginning to understand, and finally to embrace, their Jewish heritage. The title story, ""A Letter to Harvey Milk,"" was the second-place finalist in the Raymond Carver Short Story Competition.

Editor Lesl a Newman has collected the work of both well-known and emerging poets to create an anthology of some of the finest writers of any gender or sexual orientation writing poetry today. The probing fierceness of Adrienne Rich's "Love Poem," the stirring sensual incantation of Ellen Bass's "Praise," the intensely felt tenderness of Dorothy Allison's "Reason Enough to Love You," are just a few examples of the rich talent displayed in this volume. These poets have written daring confessions of love, sorrow, anger, and joy. Each poem is an elaborate confirmation of the resilience of the human spirit, and the ability to transform experience--including the struggle against the societal taboo of same-sex love--into brilliant poetry.