Valerie Taylor (novelist)

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The page is about the novelist and poet. For the divers and shark experts see Ron & Valerie Taylor

Valerie Taylor (September 7, 1913- October 22, 1997) was an author of books published in the lesbian pulp fiction genre, as well as poetry and novels after the "golden age" of lesbian pulp fiction. She was born Velma Nacella Young and also published as Nacella Young and Francine Davenport. Her publishers included Naiad Press, Banned Books, Universal, Gold Medal Books, Womanpress, Ace and Midwood-Tower.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Writing and activism career 3 Novels 4 Poetry 5 References 6 Further reading

[edit] Early life

Velma Nacella Young was born in rural Illinois and attended Blackburn College during the Great Depression. She married William Jerry Tate in 1939 and they had a son, Marshall, in 1940, and twins Jerry and James in 1942. She was a member of the American Socialist Party.^[1]

She worked as a schoolteacher and a secretary until the 1950s as she sold writings to magazines that included Canadian Poetry Magazine, Good Housekeeping, True Love and True Story.

[edit] Writing and activism career

She wrote her first book called Hired Girl in 1953 (also published as The Lusty Land) and earned $500, which she used to divorce her alcoholic and abusive husband, and after which she moved to Chicago. From 1957 to 1967 Taylor wrote novels in the genre of lesbian pulp fiction. She explained her reasons for choosing the genre: "I began writing gay novels around 1957. There was suddenly a plethora of them on sale in drugstores and bookstores ...many written by men who had never knowingly spoken to a lesbian. Wish fulfillment stuff, pure erotic daydreaming. I wanted to make some money, of course, but I also thought that we should have some stories about real people."^[2] Taylor worked as a proofreader for Henry Regnery Company in Chicago until 1961. She attempted to sustain her income with her writing after leaving Regnery.

Cornell University, which houses her literary estate, calls her novels "pulp fiction classics."^[3] She was prominent in activist causes from the 1950s through the 1980s, including LGBT rights, feminism, and the rights of the aged. Taylor was instrumental in starting Mattachine Midwest in 1965 and lent her services to its newsletter as editor for several years. She protested at the 1968 Democratic Convention with other members of Mattachine Midwest, and she worked with the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

In 1965 she met Pearl Hart, another founder of Mattachine Midwest. They were together until 1975 when Hart died. Not being an immediate family member, Taylor was not allowed to visit Hart in the hospital as she was dying and missed being able to tell her goodbye. She had to appeal to a friend of Hart's but by the time she was able to see her, Hart was in a coma.^[1]

Naiad Press published several of Taylor's books in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

She became a Quaker in 1979 after relocating to Tucson, Arizona, and a member of the Gray Panthers.

In 1992, she was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame.^[4]

[edit] Novels

• The Lusty Land (originally published as Hired Girl) 1953, Universal
• Whisper Their Love 1957, Gold Medal
• The Girls in 3-B 1959, Gold Medal
• Stranger on Lesbos 1960, Gold Medal
• A World Without Men 1963, Midwood Tower
• Unlike Others 1963, Midwood Tower
• Journey to Fulfillment 1964, Midwood Tower
• The Secret of the Bayou 1967, Ace (as Francine Davenport)
• Return to Lesbos
• Love Image 1977, Naiad
• Prism 1981, Naiad
• Ripening 1988, Banned Books
• Rice and Beans 1989

[edit] Poetry

• Two Women: The Poetry of Jeannette Foster and Valerie Taylor 1976, Womanpress

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Valerie Taylor Collection at Cornell University: Cornell University
• GLBTQ: The history of gay and lesbian romance novels: GLBTQ