Book Club

This non-fiction book consists of two essays that explore the social and urban history of the Times Square/42nd Street area of New York City, focusing on gentrification, urban policies geared towards social cleansing, and the erasure of a queer sexual subculture for the benefit of family-friendly businesses and attractions.
The “Blue” section reflects on Delany’s own interactions in Times Square’s porn theatres, discussing the types of relationships and friendships that arose in these spaces. The “Red” section examines the socio-political and economic forces behind the redevelopment of “The Deuce” in the 1980s and 1990s, focusing on how urban planning and policy changes impacted the city’s social fabric and marginalised non-normative sexualities.
Mixing a personal and humane approach with an acute understanding of the mechanisms at play in the sanitising of the urban environment, Samuel R. Delany advocates for the re-appropriation of “contact zones” in a more socially complex and erotically charged city.

Marco Astolfi is a literary translator, writer and fairy from Italy. He lives in Berlin, is a co-organizer of the Village Heart Circle for GBTQ men and runs the Book Club evening every two months. He is a regular at Creative Writing and can occasionally be found modeling for Life Drawing classes. He attended the One Year Training in 2018 and led the Cock O’Clock workshops at Easter Stretch Festival 2019 and Private Talk at Stretch Imagina 2020.