Richard Hall (writer)

Richard Hall (November 26, 1926 – October 29, 1992), sometimes credited as Richard Walter Hall, was an American novelist, playwright and short story writer.[1]

Richard Hall
BornRichard Walter Hirshfeld
November 26, 1926
New York City, New York
DiedOctober 29, 1992
Occupationwriter
NationalityAmerican
Genrenovels, short stories, drama
Notable worksCouplings

Background

He was born in Manhattan in 1926 as Richard Walter Hirshfeld to Jewish parents, who later changed the family's name to Hall after experiencing an antisemitic incident.[2] Raised in Westchester County, Hall served in the United States Army during World War II, and was educated at Harvard University and New York University.[3] He worked in advertising and public relations, and taught at Inter American University in San Juan, Puerto Rico in the 1970s.[3]

Writing career

His first novel, The Butterscotch Prince, was published in 1975.[3]

As a book critic and essayist, he contributed to publications including The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Village Voice and The Advocate.[3] He was the first openly gay critic ever admitted to the National Book Critics Circle.[3]

His other published books included the short story collections Couplings (1981), Letter from a Great Uncle (1985) and Fidelities (1992), the novel Family Fictions (1991) and Three Plays for a Gay Theater (1983), a compilation of his stage plays Happy Birthday Daddy, Love Match and Prisoner of Love.[3]

He died on October 29, 1992, in New York City, of AIDS-related causes.[3] He was predeceased in 1989 by his longtime partner Arthur Marceau.[3]

Legacy

He posthumously won a Gaylactic Spectrum Award in 2005 for "Country People",[4] a supernatural-themed short story originally from Fidelities which was republished in the 2004 anthology Shadows of the Night.

Couplings was the subject of an essay by Jonathan Harper in the 2010 non-fiction anthology The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered.[5]

References
  1. Steven R. Serafin and Alfred Bendixen, The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature. A&C Black, 2005. ISBN 9780826417770. Chapter "Gay Male Literature", p. 433.
  2. Claude J. Summers, "Hall, Richard" in glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. 2002.
  3. "Richard W. Hall, 65, an Author Who Specialized in Gay Themes". The New York Times, November 5, 1992.
  4. "2005 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards". Gaylactic Spectrum Award Foundation. 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
  5. "The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered Edited by Tom Cardamone". The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, May 4, 2013.
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