#beebo brinker chronicles

[cantsayidont]

1962. Robert McGinnis painted the cover for the initial Gold Medal paperback release of Ann Bannon's novel BEEBO BRINKER, last in a series of six lesbian pulp novels. (Although it's last in the series, it takes place before most of the others.)

[carrotcakecrumble]

pls I need ann bannon mutuals. i’m summoning you my ann bannon baddies i know you’re out there

[the3dimaxofmymind]

I'm going to get emotional for a second and y'all are going to let me 13 year old me had a dream of seeing this incredible woman at the Tony Awards and on Sunday that dream is coming true. It's been over a month and i still cannot find the words to express how happy and proud i am of her. Congratulations Jenn Colella ❤️❤️❤️ this is all i've ever wanted for you (and i know all you've wanted for yourself) Saying that i know you is an incredible gift (and still completely blows my mind)

[uwmspeccoll]

Pride Month – Beebo Brinker

The Beebo Brinker Chronicles are a series of five lesbian pulp romance novels (with a sixth, The Marriage, sometimes considered part of the series) written by celebrated lesbian pulp-fiction writer Ann Bannon (pseudonym for Ann Weldy) and published by Gold Medal Books, a division of Fawcett Publications, from 1957 to 1962. Produced during the formative years of modern lesbian fiction (ca. 1950-1970), the series’ frank and realistic depictions of homosexuality (for both women and men), gender identity, the gay bar scene, and self discovery is often credited with helping to articulate lesbian identity in the 1960s. While the main character through most of the series is Laura Landon (no, not the historical-romance writer!), the series is named after the recurring character of Beebo Brinker, “tall and handsome, vacillating between overconfidence and vulnerability after leaving her family's farm in Wisconsin,” who came to embody the archetype of the butch lesbian.

We hold the first, second, and fourth books in the series, which form part of our lesbian fiction collection in the UWM LGBT Collection. The first, Odd Girl Out, was published in 1957 with a cover illustration by Barye Phillips. Our copy is a first edition signed by the author. The second, I Am a Woman, came out in 1959. Our copy is a third printing from 1962, but is also signed by the author. The fourth, Journey to a Woman, was published in 1960 and our copy is a first edition. We hope to complete our set with the third novel Women in the Shadows published in 1959, and the eponymous Beebo Brinker, which although it was published last in 1962, narratively serves as a prequel to the series.

After fading from publishing memory following Stonewall, the series was rediscovered in the late 1970s and the entire series was republished first by Naiad Press in 1983, and then again by Cleis Press between 2001 and 2003. Bannon herself quit the pulp-fiction business after 1962, earned a PhD in linguistics, and had a successful career in academia, becoming associate dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Sacramento State University before retiring in 1997. She remained relatively unaware of the impact her novels had in helping to shape lesbian identity until the series was reissued in the 1980s. In her introduction to the 2002 Cleis Press edition of Odd Girl Out, Bannon wrote of her surprise in learning how formative her characters had been for the lesbian community and of the novels’ importance in LGBTQ+ history:

To my continuing astonishment, the books have developed a life of their own. They were born in the hostile era of McCarthyism and rigid male/female role playing, yet still speak to readers in the twenty-first century, giving them an historical snapshot of the times. . . . They have given comfort and courage to young gay people exploring their often difficult identities.

After her academic retirement, Bannon received numerous honors for her Beebo Brinker series, including a 2000 San Francisco Board of Supervisors Certificate of Honor, a 2005 Trailblazer Award from the Golden Crown Literary Society, and a 2008 Alice B Readers Award. In 2004, Bannon was elected into the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival Hall of Fame, and in 2012 the Equality Forum named Bannon one of their 31 Icons for that year from all over the world and through all eras of history.

View our other Pride Month posts.

[jennfuckingcolella]

Jenn Colella as Beebo Brinker in the Beebo Brinker Chronicles (2008).