A Queer Book Changed My Life

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Published: 20 July 2026

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“A Queer Book Changed My Life”   OR  “Books Change Our Lives”  

Out-FM's Pauline Park joined Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz, Sarah Chinn, Emmett Levy, Erik Piepenburg & Dan Jacobson on a panel at the Rainbow Book Fair in May to discuss books that changed their lives; organized by Sarah Chinn, the multi-racial & multi-generational panel included discussion of books by LGBTQ and non-queer authors that have profoundly influenced the lives of readers across the spectrum of sexuality and gender identity such as Andrew Holleran, William Burroughs, Gore Vidal, Stephanie Wambugu and Michel Foucault.

We know that books can change lives, and this is especially true for LGBT people. Lurking in libraries, sharing books hand-to-hand, encountering a poem or essay or novel in a college classroom, and finding community through searches on Goodreads, queers have a unique relationship with reading. So often we learn about ourselves from reading about others like us or like us enough. On this intergenerational panel, ranging from a veteran of the Gay Liberation Front to Gen Z to everything in between, presenters talk about the book that helped them become who they are today. Moderated by Sarah Chinn.

Sarah Chinn is one of the organizers of the Rainbow Book Fair. In her actual life she teaches 19th-century US literature and cultures at Hunter College, CUNY. She’s the author of a number of scholarly articles and several books, the most recent of which is Disability, the Body, and Radical Intellectuals in the Literature of the Civil War and Reconstruction (Cambridge University Press, 2024). She’s on the editorial collective of Radical Teacher and co-editor-in-chief of J19: The Journal of 19th Century Americanists. Emmett Levy is an artist and writer living in Brooklyn. His work is located at the intersection of painting, film, and sculpture. Emmett graduated from Wesleyan University in 2024 with a BA in sociology and currently works as a Marketing Coordinator at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.  Pauline Park  is a New York City-based transgender activist. She is the president of the board of directors and former executive director of Queens Pride House (QPH) and chair of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA), both of which she co-founded. She led the campaign for the Transgender Rights Bill enacted by the New York City Council in 2002, and in 2005, she became the first openly transgender grand marshal of the New York City Pride March. She has been honored as one of the “Most Influential LGBT Asian Icons” by the Huffington Post and among the “50 Transgender Icons."

Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz has been a librarian and archivist in and around NYC for nearly 20 years and recently left the position of Dean of Barnard College Library.  In May 2026 she was appointed Commissioner for the New York City Department of Records and Information Services by Mayor Mamdani. She is also the managing editor for Sinister Wisdom, a multicultural lesbian literary and art journal, and series co-editor for the Series on Gender and Sexuality in Information Studies of Litwin Books/Library Juice Press. At Pratt School of Information, Shawn administers and teaches the core Reference and Instruction course, which collaborates with NYPL's Jail and Prison Services to distribute reference letters to people who are incarcerated. Shawn is often reading and writing about queer narrative formation, indigenous epistemologies, ancestral connection, and black lesbians' herstories and spaces, but also, her MFA is in Fiction! For the past three years, she has been a judge for the Publishers Triangle Edmund White Award for Debut LGBTQ Fiction, which means she's received hundreds of new fiction titles by queer novelists from around the world at her doorstep and inbox. You can find her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Emmett Levy is an artist and writer living in Brooklyn. His work is located at the intersection of painting, film, and sculpture. Emmett graduated from Wesleyan University in 2024 with a BA in sociology and currently works as a Marketing Coordinator at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. 
 

Dan Jacobson is a writer, mainly on dance, and has published in Ballet Review and other publications, including the Los Angeles Times. Originally from California, he has been living in New York since 1982 and has been involved in a number of LGBT organizations, including the Publishing Triangle, the LGBT+ Opera Club, the Sundance Outdoor Club, and Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, the LGBT synagogue. He also chaired a French Conversation Club at the LGBT Center on 13th Street. Dan came out well before Stonewall and is still very much a pre-Stonewall gay man who has lived through a lot of gay history. He is now in his ninth decade of life.

Erik Piepenburg has been writing for The New York Times since 2004, covering LGBTQ+ issues, film, theater, television, food and travel. His writing has also appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Time Out New York, the Chicago Reader, Out magazine, and other publications. Originally and proudly from Cleveland, he lives with his partner in New York City.

Pauline Park  is a New York City-based transgender activist. She is the president of the board of directors and former executive director of Queens Pride House (QPH) and chair of the New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA), both of which she co-founded. She led the campaign for the Transgender Rights Bill enacted by the New York City Council in 2002, and in 2005, she became the first openly transgender grand marshal of the New York City Pride March. She has been honored as one of the “Most Influential LGBT Asian Icons” by the Huffington Post and among the “50 Transgender Icons."

About Out-FM

Out-FM is a weekly progressive, intersectional queer show by and for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, non-binary, gender non-conforming, intersex, queer, and questioning communities. Our program originates from listener-sponsored, noncommercial WBAI/Pacifica Radio in New York, 99.5 FM and wbai.org. Our programs are archived at outfm.org. You can also follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram.

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Legacy of Late Trans Leader Kiara St. James; Lindsey Graham - A Critical Obituary

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Published: 14 July 2026

Out-FM show aired on July 14, 2026

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