Black LGBTQ+ literature spans 100 years worth of published works, which means there’s a rich literary history to consider when editing books that fall under this genre. Editors who specialize in handling Black gay fiction must understand the nuances that make quality LGBTQ+ literature, which requires comprehensive editorial knowledge and socio-cultural context. This includes, but is not limited to: understanding history and context of both Black literature and LGBTQ+ literature, understanding editing common tropes found in Black gay novels, and knowing how to approach editing books that center Black gay experiences. Black gay novels are popping up more and more within the literary world, making the editing process increasingly important in authentic representation. Here, we’ll discuss the history of LGBTQ+ literature by Black authors, how editing Black LGBTQ+ literature has changed over time, and steps to take when editing your own Black gay novel.
Since the Harlem Renaissance, queer literature by Black authors have existed but were not explicitly expressed for decades. Poems and novels by Countee Cullen and Langston Hughes published in the 1920s and 30s, as well as Richard Bruce Nugent’s work had queer themes and characters, but were never truly forthright about these elements due to societal taboos against homosexuality. Richard Bruce Nugent’s work was some of the most explicit of the time, and his short story Smoke, Lilies, and Jade (published in 1926 in Nugent’s literary magazine Fire!!) is considered the United States’ first published work by a Black writer to depict homosexuality. It wasn’t until the 1950’s that the first widely-read gay novel by an American author was published. James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room spoke on homosexuality with two white characters. While still a groundbreaking story, it was written to be more Marketable. Baldwin addressed bisexuality, interracial sex, and transsexuality in his next novel, Another Country. Due to both racism and homophobic and transphobic sentiments in society at large, Black authors faced more obstacles to not only share their work than white authors, but black authors who wrote about queer themes and characters faced intense difficulty getting their work out. Black feminist literary criticism was gaining steam in the 1970’s and 80s which allowed for Black lesbian authors to share their stories. Most notably the work of Audre Lorde. Lorde’s biomythography Zami: A New Spelling of My Name pushed back against the notion of singular gay identities and experiences by illustrating the complexity of identity through intersections of race, gender, and sexuality. From 1979–1993, Black gay male authors such as Essex Hemphill, Assotto Saint, Joseph Beam, Thomas August, Ronald C.F. Silvagni, Marlon Bailey, and Eric Sawyer wrote literature that centered Black men dealing with the AIDS epidemic. The 1990s introduced mainstream success of black gay authors such as E. Lynn Harris. Harris’s novels featured Black gay and bisexual men and blew up commercially. His books included Invisible Life, Just As I Am, Anything But Straight, and Gentleman’s Agreement. While Harris’s novels have been criticized by some in the Black LGBTQ+ community for being formulaic, his work was seminal in the mainstream publishing world. Anthologies such as Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men and In the Life: A Black Gay Anthology began the conversation of what a Black queer literary tradition in the United States. Black LGBTQ+ literature in the 21st century exploded. We’ve seen memoirs by James Earl Hardy, Darnell L. Moore, Greg Iles,Jerald Walker, Kiese Laymon, Eric Morse, and Kailey Van Johnson. Poetry by Danez Smith, Gregory Woods, Marcus Wicker, Lambda Award winner Queer John, Black Feminist Lambda Award winner Kima Asante, Donop Raj Rana, Dan Tashiera, and Saeed Jones. Novels by Lambda Award winner Blair, Blair, Jerkins, Jasmine Gibson, Kibibi Leslie, Morgan Parker, Tanaria Morgan, Maya Phillips, Fred Moten, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Qwo-Li Driskill, Andrea Long Lee, lambda-winning novelist Justin Torres, and queer John. Most notably recent winners of the Man Booker Prize JamesHan and his Black queer fantasy epic Black Leopard, Red Wolf. The romantic successes of authors like Brandon Taylor’s Real Life and Robert Jones Jr.’s The Prophets are proving that black gay literature will finally be received well in mainstream commercial literary spaces.
The editing process of Black queer literature has changed significantly since the Harlem Renaissance. Early 20th century queer Black authors were often met with resistance from their editors to remove any explicitly queer references. Editing out gay content was not only due to the horrific amount of homophobia in our society at large but also the widespread belief that Black stories should only focus on race. Early publishers felt that centering Black stories around anything other than white oppression ‘complicated’ things for Black writers who were already fighting for literary spaces. Even acclaimed writer James Baldwin had to change his original novel due to his editor at Knopf believing gay content was unacceptable. Luckily for Mr. Baldwin, he was able to find a publishing home with Dial Press and released Giovanni’s Room to critical acclaim. Publishing books with gay content during this time period was risky. Publishers likely lost many great Black queer stories because authors opted not to be ‘edited down’ by people who weren’t accepting of their identity. When Black independent and feminist presses began to pop up in the 1970s and 80s, Black queer writers were given more opportunities to safely share their stories. Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press was founded by activist and writer Barbara Smith and was one of the leading causes for great literature by Black lesbians to be shared with the world. Smaller presses meant easier editing processes for Black queer authors as they were more likely to work with someone who shared similar backgrounds and identity markers. The ’90s was an interesting time for Black gay publishing. E. Lynn Harris had to self publish Invisible Life because no one would touch his work. After it became a success on mainstream bestseller lists, Anchor Books acquired his book for publication. Many Black queer authors began to get interest from large publishing houses after successful indie books. This meant that Black authors who were LGBTQ+ were once again paired with editors who may or may not understand the content they were authoring. How the editing process looks for Black LGBTQ+ authors today vary greatly. Some authors work with editors of similar identities, allowing them to receive feedback about both the craft and content of their stories. Other authors may be paired with editors who take the time to research and understand what they may not know about a persons’ specific identity. Sensitivity readers, another layer of editing for queer content, have been both praised and questioned by authors. There are also so many indie authors publishing online that they don’t even have to worry about editors! (Although, we recommend you always have a strong editor review your work.) When it comes down to it, every editorial process looks different, but as long as you are editing your work to make your story the strongest and most powerful it can be, you’re on the right track.
Editing Black gay literature requires a different lens than other identity-themed editing. Black gay people have an abundance of diversity within our community. Whether that be differences in class, gender expression, regional differences, disability, religious backgrounds or lack thereof. Editing diversity and inclusivity in Black gay literature first involves development editing. As you read through a work, you want to look at the characters and story as a whole and make sure the appropriate measures of diversity are present. Some things you may want to ask yourself while editing: Does the story take into consideration class differences? Are there different gender expressions portrayed within the story? Does the story feature voices of different generations of Black LGBTQ+ people? Language is another huge factor when editing Black gay content. This includes language used by characters (are they really speaking like that?) but also language as it pertains to queer content. Certain words and phrases can be dated and should be avoided. As an editor, you should be aware of this happening, but it is not your job to go through and change any diction that may not meet your standards for “acceptable” queer content. Who is the intended audience for this story? If the story is mainly intended for other Black gay people, there is not need to explain every aspect of queer culture. As editors, we have to balance out what information we should explain and what will just be too much. You don’t want to come across as preaching to your readers but you also don’t want your reader to be confused on aspects of the story. Ultimately, editing LGBTQ+ content by black authors requires you as the editor to know what you don’t know. There is always more to learn about the Black experience, queer or not. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, do research, and consult sensitivity readers when editing black LGBTQ+ content.
