Wikipedia entry

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Adrian Brooks is an American novelist, non-fiction writer, poet and performer. A Quaker anti-war activist and student volunteer for Martin Luther King- (born Craig Welsh Makler in 1947)- in 1968, he worked in New York SoHo galleries in 1970-1972 and knew Andy Warhol. (1) After 1973, he was active in San Francisco’s radical gay culture, sharing a bill with Harvey Milk and publishing poems in Gay Sunshine; Fag Rag; Manroot; Mouth of the Dragon and Beatitudes. In 1974, Bastard Angel magazine included his work along with Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac (2), shortly before he set up a landmark gay poetry reading featuring Harold Norse, Judy Grahn and Pat Parker. (3) Brooks was also both scriptwriter and cast member of a noted underground theater: the “Angels of Light.” (4) Their 1980 show, “Holy Cow” won four Bay Area Critics Circle awards. (5) In 1980, Brooks’ first novel was published. From 1985-1995, he lived in Europe and India. He is a devotee of Ramana Maharshi- (6) and (7)- creates text for the celebrated performance artist, Sha Sha Higby, (8), and assists an orphanage for hiv+ children in rural India. Brooks lives in San Francisco, contributes to the Huffinton Post and Lambda Literary, and is currently editing a book on LGBT activism.

Bibliography:

Limbo Palace (1976) Selfsame Press

The Glass Arcade (1980) ISBN 978-0671829162

Roulette (2006) ISBN 978-0977158287

Black and White and Red All Over (2009) ISBN 978-0-9789023-7-7

Flights of Angels (2008) ISBN 978-1-55152-231-9

Angels of the Lyre (1975) ISBN 0-915572-13-3 edited by Winston Leyland

External Links:

-The Advocate  May 28, 1981 ISSN

-review of “Holy Cow!” by Bernard Weiner

   San Francisco Chronicle   April 14, 1980

-“Surprise, Surprise in San Francisco” by Sylvie Drake

    Los Angeles Times May 29, 1980

- article on “Holy Cow!” by Bernard Weiner

    San Francisco Chronicle  May 28, 1980

-Gay Soul (1987) by Mark Thompson ISBN 0312-006-004

-Gay By the Bay (1996) ISBN: 0-8118-1187-5

-West of Center: Art and the Counterculture (2012) ISBN 978-0-8166-7725-2

References:

1. “A Tale of Two Subcultures” Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review ISSN 1077-6591

2. Bastard Angel, Issue #3, (Fall, 1974) Edited by Harold Norse  

3. see: Wikipedia for Norse, Grahn and Parker; also: attached image of poster.

4. see: Wikipedia entry for “The Cockettes”/Related Acts

5. The four BACC awards included the one for Best New Show of the Year.

6. see Wikipedia entry for Ramana Maharshi

         also: “Healing to Self Realization” White Crane Journal  ISSN 1070-5430

7. profile: POZ Magazine  ISSN 1075-5705

8. see Sha Sha Higby: www.shashahigby.com