Gay and Lesbian Publishing Faces a Hurdle

When I first read that the Carroll and Graf imprint was being phased out as part of a big process of conglomeration, I wondered what effect this would have on gay publishing. They publish a lot of important midlist gay titles (recently Edmund White and Samuel R. Delany). The following sentence gave me some pathetic hope: "Will Balliett, executive editor of the two imprints, has been named an executive editor at Da Capo...." But now I read something that makes me even more concerned than before:

"At Carroll & Graf, we bridged the gap between small, lesser-known presses and the larger houses when it comes to gay literature," said Don Weise, a senior editor who is losing his job. "In the four years that I've been here, I've acquired more than 100 books, and no one has ever told me no, I couldn't do that. In the book world, that's unheard of."

And now I notice Weise has co-edited an anthology with White, and it makes me wonder who's going to be looking out for gay and lesbian fiction at the new Perseus? I hope Weise is able to find another home where he is given the freedom to continue acquiring notable gay and lesbian titles.