12:30-1:45 Slipstream  Fiction: Beyond Genre Room 203

LGBTQ authors inherently break genre traditions, so we are often at the forefront of breaking other genre guidelines, combining two or more genres, or indeed defying any clear genre classifications. Questions we will consider: Are genres necessary, or are conventions an opportunity to further surprise and engage the reader? A lot of us read in more than one genre, so is a book that combines them more satisfying?

Mark Salzwedel, author of The Lever and The Miraculous Life of Rupert Rocket, lives in Brooklyn, NY, with his cat and his designer husband. He also edits, performs, composes, and writes poetry and screenplays.

Sam J. Miller is an author of science fiction, fantasy, and horror for YA and adults, including Blackfish City, Destroy All Monsters, The Blade Between, and Red Star Hustle. 

Jeanne Thornton, author of Summer Fun and A/S/L, Summer Fun (winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Fiction), and others, as well as the senior editor of Feminist Press, copublisher of Instar Books, and cohost of Brooklyn's World Transsexual Forum open mic. More information is available at jeannethornton.com.

Perry Brass, a founding coordinator of the Rainbow Book Fair, has published 23 books, been a Lambda Literary Award finalist 6 times in 3 categories: poetry, science fiction, and spirituality, a Ferro-Grumley finalist, and a recent winner of the Charlie Shively Award from the William A. Percy Foundation. He has had 100 poems set to music by leading composers, and has enjoyed collaborating with dancers in the relationship between poetry and dance. Learn more at perrybrass.com.

2:00-3:15                                           Flash Points: Queer Writers on History, Identity, and the Page  2026                            Room 203

In this panel writers select personally meaningful books and examine the political, cultural, and social climate at their publication. Each choice reflects not only the writer’s lived experience but also explores how race, gender, geography, and era influence which stories resonate deeply. Together, the panel considers how queer literature not only documents history but also shapes identity, resistance, pleasure, and public discourse. They remind us of the enduring power of books to drive visibility and lasting cultural change. Moderated by Jules Wernersbach.

Jonathan Mathias Lassiter, PhD, is a polymath whose mission is to help others heal and thrive. He is a licensed clinical psychologist, author, speaker, and educator. He is the author of How I Know White People Are Crazy and Other Stories. Dr. Lassiter has been featured on NBC, PBS, Sirius XM, Forbes, and more. His psychotherapy practice is based in New York City. Connect with Dr. Lassiter on all social media platforms at @LassiterHealth.

Hal Schrieve is a librarian who also writes books about teens, the queer community, monsters and aliens. Hir first book, Out of Salem (2019), was selected for the National Book Award Long List in 2019. Hir second book, How To Get Over the End of the World (2023), and third book (Fawn’s Blood, 2025) are available from NYC library systems and bookstores. Hal’s indie graphic novel for grown-ups, Vivian’s Ghost, won the Cartoonist Studio Prize for Webcomics in 2023. Hal has six years of experience doing writing workshops and book clubs for children. Follow Hal Schrieve on Instagram: @HowlMarin

David Dodge is a freelance journalist covering LGBTQ issues, travel, health and wellness, politics, culture and more. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times and has had work appear in numerous outlets, including Newsweek, Travel + Leisure, CN Traveler, Out, Advocate, and Huffington Post. He is also the a co-author of several books, including: Sassy Planet: A Queer Guide to 40 Cities and Category Is: Cocktails! Mixed Drinks Inspired by Legendary Drag Performers, published with Prestel Publishing of Penguin Random House.  Follow David Dodge on Instagram: @ByDavidDodge

Jules Wernersbach is a writer and bookseller in Brooklyn. Their debut novel, Work To Do, comes out on April 7, 2026 from University of Iowa Press. Their short fiction has been published in Bennington Review, Heavy Feather Review, and other journals. They are the author of Vegan Survival Guide to Austin and The Swimming Holes of Texas. Jules is co-founder of Hive Mind Books, a queer independent bookstore and coffee shop in Bushwick, Brooklyn. They have been a bookseller for a long time and also served as literary director of the Texas Book Festival. Instagram:@HiveMindBookstore and @JulieWBach

3:30-4:45                              “A Queer Book Changed My Life”   OR  “Books Change Our Lives”    Room 203

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 is now the Dean of Barnard College Library. 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 shawntasmithcruz@gmail.com. 

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.

 4:45-6:00 Political Themes In Lgbtq Fiction ‍   Room 203

Themes in LGBTQ fiction can often be about family and societal values, but even in those stories, is there a political POV as well? The panel will discuss LGBTQ novels where the political theme is both subtle and overt. What sort of political views are ripe targets for LGBTQ fiction? Are they very different from the themes employed by hetero authors? Panelists include Anthony Casillas, Lujira Cooper, and Christian Pan. Moderator: Mark Salzwedel

Mark Salzwedel, author of The Lever and The Miraculous Life of Rupert Rocket, lives in Brooklyn, NY, with his cat and his designer husband. He also edits, performs, composes, and writes poetry and screenplays.

Anthony Casillas is the publisher at Four Elements Press, a gay fantasy press based in New Jersey. He is also the author of the LGBT fantasy series The Immortal Philosophers.

Lujira Cooper, BS in Criminal Justice. Trustee Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture (Brooklyn Ethical). Author of Theft of Trust and an avid reader.

Christian Pan is an independent author and publisher of The Best Bi Erotica of the Year anthologies, with Volume 3 coming out on Bi Visibility Day this September 23rd.

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Readings

Room 310

1:00-1:30

Christopher Britton Conroy

Jeri Hilderley

Jerry Portwood

Sarah Levine

Russ López

1:30-2:00

Stephanie Cowell

Sue Harris

Jöyce

Joe Thomas

2:00-2:30

Jon Imparato

{Sponsor Showcase}

2:30-3:00 ‍

Faith Justice

Gary Zebrun

Mary P. Burns

Sair Kaufman

3:00-3:30

R.P. Singletary

Reuben Hayslett

Christian Martin

Jean Copeland

3:30-4:00

Douglas Sadownick

Avery Irons

Steven Gellman

Vinny Cusenza

4:00

4pm Drag Story Hour

5:30

Loretta Goldberg

Janet Rose

Steve Turtell

Wendell Edward Carter

RBF 2026 Featured Readers/Events

(The Bureau), Room 210

2:00pm, Cat Sebastian

3:00pm, Lydi Conklin

5:00pm, Julián Delgado Lopera

Room 310

4:00pm, Drag Story Hour