Best local author
The Phoenix has hailed local poet and playwright Letta Neely as "lyrically lucid," and our readers
apparently agree. The author of the poetry collection Juba, Neely follows in the tradition of black writers
such as Zora Neale Hurston and Audre Lorde. She has twice won poetry slams at OutWrite, the national gay and
lesbian literary conference, and she's offered powerful readings at such unlikely venues as the Middle East
rock club. Neely's passion and sense of humor are reflected in her description of poetry slams as "a cross
between a Baptist sermon, a World Cup soccer game, a poetry reading mixed with a carnival, [and] a nerd
Olympics."
The runner-up in this category, novelist Stephen McCauley, is also openly gay, but the author of
The Object of My Affection and Man of the House is too witty for straight readers not to notice. This year
he published his fourth novel, True Enough, which manages, once again, to explore the relationship between
a gay man and his straight female friend without resorting to cliché. The first character, having doubts
about his long-term relationship, complains, "Male couples who advertise their monogamy are usually tossed
into the eunuch category and end up getting invited to dinner parties where people discuss dogs." But
McCauley can rest easy: no literary category is big enough to hold him.
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