The life and work of the late Mark Merlis will be celebrated by his peers at the Center on December 12. | LGBT COMMUNITY CENTER
On December 12, as part of the LGBT Community Center’s Second Tuesday Lecture Series, an esteemed group of gay writers will pay tribute to Mark Merlis, an award-winning novelist (“American Studies,” “An Arrow’s Flight,” “Man About Town,” “JD”) who was recognized as a modern gay master.
Merlis died in August at the age of 67 in Philadelphia from ALS-related illness. He is survived by his husband Robert Ashe.
Merlis’ peers have put together an evening of remembrances as well as readings from his works. The line-up includes:
Moderator Christopher Bram (“Father of Frankenstein,” “Hold Tight,” “In Memory of Angel Clare,” “Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America”);
Scott Heim (“Mysterious Skin,” “In Awe,” “We Disappear”);
William Johnson, the program director at the Lambda Literary Foundation;
Paul Russell (“The Salt Point,” “Sea of Tranquility,” “The Coming Storm,” “The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov”);
Michael Lowenthal (“The Same Embrace,” “Avoidance,” “Charity Girl,” “The Paternity Test”);
Patrick Merla (editor of “Boys Like Us: Gay Writers Tell Their Coming Out Stories,” book and magazine editor, with titles that included Christopher Street, and a leading gay publishing figure, to whom Merlis’ “JD” is dedicated in part);
Ed Sikov (“Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis,” “On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder,” “Screwball: Hollywood’s Madcap Romantic Comedies,” and Gay City News’ Media Circus columnist); and
William Sterling Walker (“Desire: Tales of New Orleans”).
The event takes place from 7 to 9 p.m. on December 12 at the LGBT Community Center, 208 West 13th Street.
Robert Ashe, Merlis’ surviving husband, will be in attendance.
For more information, visit facebook.com/events/158469521435234.
