From: [email-masked]
Date: Sun, 9 Apr 1995 15:46:11 -0400

If you happen to be in upstate New York, feel free to drop by. 

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INFORMATION
For Immediate Release    
Sisters and Brothers in the Life

Contact: Bernard Tarver (518) 436-8898

JAMES EARL HARDY, AUTHOR OF B-BOY BLUES, 
TO DISCUSS HIS BEST-SELLING BOOK

 James Earl Hardy, author of B-Boy Blues, one of the most successful new
entries in the growing body of both black and gay literature, will be in
Albany for a book party sponsored by Sisters and Brothers in the Life
(SABIL), an organization of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people
of color. The book party takes place Saturday, May 13, 1995, at 2 pm, at the
Capital District Gay & Lesbian Community Center, 332 Hudson Avenue, Albany.

 B-Boy Blues (Alyson Publications) is described as "a seriously sexy,
fiercely funny, Black-on-Black love story." Hardy's acclaimed debut novel
tells a time honored tale of love between two people from opposite sides of
the tracks. However this book, dubbed the "first gay hip-hop love story",
covers new territory in being the first gay novel grounded in the Afrocentric
experience, and the first novel to look at B-boy culture -- an important
component of the image and ideology of many gay and bisexual men of African
descent. 

 These men are not the cross-dressing, highly effeminate stereotypes often
depicted in mainstream media. "B-boy" stands for banjee boy, block boy, or
homeboy; the young black men who hang out in the 'hood, their caps turned
backward, jeans worn low. They seem the personification of cool and macho.
Many are in fact gay. 

 Hardy's main character is Mitchell Crawford, a black, college-educated,
magazine writer who falls into a stormy romance with a gay B-boy bike
messenger named Raheim Rivers. Their effort to fit into each others' world,
is told with great humor, wit and candor.

 Hardy, an award-winning freelance writer and music critic, whose byline has
appeared in the Washington Post, Newsweek, Essence, Entertainment Weekly,
Vibe, YSB, Out, and other publications, is a 1993 honors graduate of Columbia
University's School of Journalism. He lives in New York.

 Originally published in November 1994, B-Boy Blues  went into its third
printing this April. The book currently ranks #2 on The Advocate's bestseller
list. 

  The event is free to the public, however donations will be accepted. Copies
of B-Boy Blues  will be for sale on site by The Book House of Stuyvesant
Plaza in Albany.  

#  #  #

Editors:  
* James Earl Hardy is available for interviews in advance of the event.
Please make arrangements by calling (518) 436-8898. 

* For a review copy of B-Boy Blues, contact Christine Sanni, Alyson
Publications (617) 542-5679.

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