This collection gives readers a front-row seat to a pivotal moment in LGBTQ literary history with twenty-seven of the most memorable speeches from the 1990-1999 OutWrite conferences, including talks from such luminaries as Allen Ginsberg, Essex Hemphill, Patrick Califia, Dorothy Allison, and Edmund White that cover everything from racial representation to sexual politics.

IntroductionJudy Grahn: Your First Audience Is Your PeopleAllen Ginsberg: American Glasnost and ReconstructionSarah Schulman: AIDS and the Responsibility of the WriterEssex Hemphill: Does Your Mama Know About Me?Susan Griffin: The Effects of Ecological DisasterPat Califia: More Fuel to Run OnJohn Preston: AIDS WritingLesbians and Gays of African Descent Take IssueMariana Romo-Carmona: The Color of My NarrativeDorothy Allison: Survival is the Least of My DesiresJanice Gould: Speaking a World Into ExistenceMelvin Dixon: I'll Be Somewhere Listening for My NameAllan Gurganus: What Fiction MeansChrystos: The Gift of Open Sky to Carry You Safely on Your Journey as WritersJohn Preston: An Exceptional ChildSamuel R. Delany: An Excerpt from "Aversion/Perversion/Diversion"Jewelle Gomez: Less Than a Mile from HereKate Rushin: The Bridge Poem and A Pacifist Becomes Militant and Declares WarLinda Villarosa: We Have to Fight for Our Political LivesTony Kushner: On PretentiousnessLuis Alfaro: Heroes and Saints from DowntownEdmund White: Remembrances of a Gay Old TimeMinnie Bruce Pratt: Imagination and the MockingbirdCheryl Clarke: A House of Difference: Audre Lorde's Legacy to Lesbian and Gay WritersNancy K. Bereano: Keeping Our Queer SoulsCraig Lucas: Making a Fresh StartPeggy Shaw: from "A Menopausal Gentleman"Voices from OutWriteAcknowledgementsIndex