A Writer and a Publisher Walk Into a Bar (in person and live-streaming)

Elisabeth Nonas will discuss Grace Period with Firebrand Press Nancy Bereano.

In Grace Period, just as 70-year-old writing professor Hannah Greene walks into her retirement party, she’s called to the ER because Grace, her wife of 25 years, has been in what turns out to be a fatal car accident. This was definitely not part of the plan the two had for their lives, especially since Grace was ten years younger than Hannah. The plan had been for Hannah to join her art history professor wife on a sabbatical trip to Europe. Grace would do research, and Hannah would figure out what she wanted to do in her retirement. How does an independent, feisty lesbian adjust to both her suddenly widowed and newly retired life? How can she survive the loss of the spouse who statistically should have survived her? Grace Period tackles these questions head-on in an intimate, witty portrayal of a woman grappling with the new and unexpected turn her life has taken. It is a tale of love, loss, and survival.

This event will take place in person at the Bureau of General Services—Queer Division, on the second floor (room 210) of The LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th St., NYC, 10011.

Registration is not required. Seating is first come, first served.

Also live-streaming on the Bureau’s YouTube channel:

youtube.com/@bgsqd

Suggested donation to benefit the Bureau: $10.

All are welcome to attend, with or without a donation.

We will pass a bag for donations at the start of the event, but we can also take credit card donations at the register or on Venmo @BGSQD

Elisabeth Nonas, the author of three published novels, has written several screenplays as well as short stories, magazine articles, and essays. She coauthored with Simon LeVay the nonfiction City of Friends: A Portrait of the Gay and Lesbian Community in America. The author taught screenwriting and writing for emerging media at Ithaca College for twenty-five years. Nonas’s three novels focused on how lesbians form community and create family. Given that her first book appeared forty years ago when she was in her mid-30s, she clearly has different concerns now as she ages and her life continues to unfold. These were what sparked Grace Period. Originally from New York City, she lives in Ithaca, NY, with her spouse, founding publisher and editor of Firebrand Books, Nancy K. Bereano.