Release Party and Celebration for The Gilda Stories: Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition

On Wednesday, April 13th, 7pm at City Lights Bookstore, Jewelle Gomez celebrates The Gilda Stories: Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition just published by City Lights.

This remarkable novel begins in 1850s Louisiana, where Gilda escapes slavery and learns about freedom while working in a brothel. After being initiated into eternal life as one who "shares the blood" by two women there, Gilda spends the next 200 years searching for a place to call home. An instant lesbian classic when it was first published in 1991, The Gilda Stories has endured as an auspiciously prescient book in its explorations of blackness, radical ecology, redefinitions of family, and yes, the erotic potential of the vampire story. Publishers Weekly says, "its focus on a black lesbian who possesses considerable agency througout the centuries, and its commentary on gender and race, remain significant and powerful."

Emma Donoghue, author of Room, says, "The Gilda Stories is groundbreaking not just for the wild lives it portrays, but for how it portrays them—communally, unapologetically, roaming fiercely over space and time."

The 25th anniversary edition contains a new foreword by Jewelle Gomez reflecting on the publication history.