Novelist and Storyteller
There is a Chinese Zen kōan, a teaching story about a pilgrimage that I won’t share with you today. If Zen teachers were lawyers, Zen practitioners would be required to sign a release which states that whenever a teacher says they will not do something, it means the opposite, especially if they use words that …
Recently, I rediscovered posts on Facebook about my travels seven months after my partner René Valdes died in February 2012. While I have preserved much of the immediacy of the record, I have used them to explore the universality of grief. desire and wonder that we feel daily in the pandemic. Oh, and that includes …
The musical Hamilton ends with the Finale, “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.” Our view of history has always been shaped not by the specific events themselves, but by who records and who remembers.Queer people are certainly not the only ones that have been eliminated from history or seen its history distorted by others. Straight white …
Continue reading "The Importance of Novels in Preserving Queer History"
Interview in My Queer Art ALAN LESSIK, SAN FRANCISCO WRITER, INTERVIEW What is your name? Alan Lessik Where are you from? San Francisco What kind of work do you create? Novels and commentaries What do you define yourself as? Or do you not? Why/Why not? Novelist, storyteller and alan of all trades How long have …
This was one of the last pieces that Dave Robb wrote before his death in November 2016. He was a fantastic editor. A Conversation with Alan Lessik Interview by Dave Robb. On a foggy summer morning in San Francisco, Dave Robb sat down with Alan Lessik over a plate of homemade waffles. Lessik’s debut novel, …
Babalú Ayé and Apollo the gods of disease and its cure in The Troubleseeker.
A true story. The Roman Emperor Hadrian took a young lover named Antinous. While such relationships were common in Rome and Greece, the seriousness of their love was unusual for the time. The Senate whispered loudly of the unseemliness of the affair while Hadrian traveled extensively with Antinous around the empire. When they were in …
Narrated by the ancient Roman Emperor and demigod Hadriano, The Troubleseeker weaves Cuban-Santería traditions with classical Greek mythology to depict the hero Antinio and his quest for freedom, identity, and love. Santería is the religion and the set of beliefs that the slaves from Yorubaland in present day Nigeria brought with them as they were …
Continue reading "The Troubleseeker-A Guide to the Characters"
Alan Lessik 