June 11, 2015 Library of Congress to Host Second Annual LGBT Event June 18

The Poetry and Literature Center and the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress, in collaboration with Lambda Literary, will present a lecture by publisher Stathis Orphanos and a panel discussion on LGBT publishing.

The lecture and panel discussion will take place from 1 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 18 in the Montpelier Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not needed.

At 1 p.m., Orphanos, of Sylvester & Orphanos publishers of Los Angeles, will talk about his photography and how it led to a career in publishing fine editions of the works of some of the greatest modern authors. At 2 p.m., Bryan Borland, of Sibling Rivalry Press; Jennifer Joseph, of Manic D Press; and Lisa C. Moore, of RedBone Press, will participate in a panel on LGBT publishing. The discussion will be moderated by William Johnson, managing editor of Lambdaliterary.org.

At the event, a display from the Rare Book and Special Collections Division will feature the works of Sylvester & Orphanos and materials from the Sylvester & Orphanos Archive, as well as other rare and special titles.

Orphanos is the founder and co-publisher, with his partner Ralph Sylvester, of Sylvester & Orphanos. From 1976 to 2005, Sylvester & Orphanos printed 25 editions of works by some of the greatest modern writers. Orphanos began his career as a photographer, taking portraits of many of today’s top cultural, literary and entertainment figures. In 2006, he released “My Cavafy,” a collection of his photographs, selected to accompany poems by C.P. Cavafy.

Borland is the founder and publisher of Sibling Rivalry Press, an independent publishing house based in Little Rock, Arkansas that he runs with his husband, Seth Pennington. Joseph is the publisher and editor of Mani D Press of San Francisco, an award-winning, internationally-distributed independent press specializing in fiction, poetry, art and travel books. Moore is the founder and editor of RedBone Press, which publishes work celebrating the culture of black lesbians and gay men and promoting understanding between black gays and lesbians and the black mainstream. Johnson, managing editor of Lambdaliterary.org, is a Brooklyn-based essayist, cultural critic and editor.

The Poetry and Literature Center at the Library of Congress fosters and enhances the public’s appreciation of literature. The center administers the endowed position of Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry and coordinates an annual season of readings, performances, lectures, conferences and symposia. The center also sponsors high-profile prizes and fellowships for literary writers. For more information, visit www.loc.gov/poetry/.

 

The Rare Book and Special Collections Division holds more than 900,000 books, broadsides, pamphlets, theater playbills, title pages, prints, posters, photographs, and medieval and Renaissance manuscripts. More than 100 collections are maintained, including the personal libraries of Harry Houdini and Susan B. Anthony, author collections of Walt Whitman and Hans Christian Andersen, subject collections on gastronomy and cryptography, and generic collections such as dime novels and Bibles. For more information, visit www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/.

 

The Library of Congress, the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, holds more than 160 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation, both on-site in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill and through its award-winning website at www.loc.gov.