It was at the Christmas party my first year working there. I remember the first time I had to confront that decision.

I swore to myself I wouldn’t lie about it or try to hide it, but on the other hand I didn’t go out of my way to broadcast it, either. It wasn’t exactly the case of “being an openly gay man.” In the early ’70s, in spite of the fact that there were quite a few gay men and lesbians working as editors, it was something never spoken about. I’m curious about those suit and tie/two-martini days of publishing: What was it like being an openly gay man in that old school world? On paper we looked like the same person (except that I did have some experience in publishing), and they hired me. When a friend told me he was leaving his editing job at the old Macmillan publishing company to go to Paris and be a poet, we arranged it so that I came in for an interview a couple of hours after he handed in his resignation. Among other things, I tried for publishing jobs since I’d worked half-time for two years at the University of Chicago Press. I didn’t have a job or an apartment or even a concrete plan, so the first few months were difficult: sleeping on friends’ couches, walking to job interviews because I didn’t have subway fare, watching my few dollars shrink. In 1971, as a result of Stonewall, I moved to New York City, mainly to be gay.

Edmund White's new novel is one of these.he has embodied his story in some of the finest writing to be found in recent American fiction.' -Doris Grumbach, Washington Post Book World 'Nocturnes for the King of Naples is a baroque invention of quite startling brilliance and intensity.' -Gore Vidal 'Qhite is unquestionably the foremost American gay novelist.Since book editors don’t typically grow up wanting to be editors-indeed, many have never taken an editing class or been formally trained-what led you to become a book editor? They are the ones that provide us with unique reading experiences, which become valuable additions to understanding of the world and ourselves. Edmund White's new novel is one of these.he has embodied his story in some of the finest writing to be found in recent American fiction.' -Doris Grumbach, Washington Post Book World ' Nocturnes for the King of Naples is a baroque invention of quite startling brilliance and intensity.' -Gore Vidal 'Qhite is unquestionably the foremost American gay novelist.' - Newsweek, 'As a writer, White possesses the rare combination of a poetic sense of language and an ironic sense of humor.' -Newsweek 'There are few novels which defy reviewing. 'As a writer, White possesses the rare combination of a poetic sense of language and an ironic sense of humor.' -Newsweek 'There are few novels which defy reviewing.

Nocturnes for the king of naples