Upcoming appearances by Warren:
West Hollywood Book Fair — Sunday, September 30, at West Hollywood Park on San Vicente Blvd. Warren will participate in a panel discussion moderated by Christopher Rice. The panelists will discuss the growing marketplace challenges that confront books and authors today. Warren will also be a special guest at the Floricanto Press booth, because of her support for Floricanto's new program developing publishing opportunities for Latino LGBT authors. A number of Warren's own books are now available in Spanish from Editorial Egales in Spain. For more information, go to www.westhollywoodbookfair.com.
Appearances earlier this year:
In December 2006, Patricia Nell Warren filed as a candidate for the city council election in West Hollywood, California. It was her first-ever run for public office. Three of the five seats were open on the city council, and Warren hoped to get one of them. She was running against incumbents John Heilman, Abbe Land and Sal Guarriello, as well as several other candidates. Her campaign manager was Neal Zaslavsky. Ms. Warren hoped to bring new thinking to city policy, including its notorious parking problems and development controversies, as well as her proposal that West Hollywood become the first city in the U.S. to offer single payer universal healthcare insurance to its citizens. The election was March 6, 2007. Warren campaigned hard, walking many precincts in person and speaking in candidate forums. She won 23 percent of the vote, an excellent performance for a first-timer in politics, though she did not get the seat she sought. "It was an experience that I wouldn't have missed for anything," she says, "and gave me a great deal of new insight into the current political process and political atmosphere in the United States."
In May, the distinguished Italian book publisher Fazi Editore in Rome brought out their Italian-language edition of The Front Runner. The book received critical notice in several mainstream Italian publications, and is prompting a steady stream of fan letters and emails to Warren.
On May 16, at the WGA West in Los Angeles, Warren participated in an important panel organized by the Gay & Lesbian Writers Committee. Title: "Gay But Not Forgotten." Subject: important gay and lesbian stories that have languished in film development for many years without being produced. Warren joined David Kopay, Peter Lefcourt, Howard Rosenman and several others to discuss the whys and hows of the resistance still encountered by gay-themed films in the industry. The attendance at this event was standing room only.
On June 19, New York City saw Patricia Nell Warren as one of the special author guests at "Come Write History... Again," a gala fundraiser for the upcoming Democratic campaign for President. This event is traditionally organized by DNC national treasurer Andy Tobias, a well-known pioneering gay author, as his contribution to the party's liquidity at Presidential election time. The event was held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Tobias included Warren among 30 bestselling LGBT authors who were all special guests that evening, and were recognized for their role in writing about gay people in American history. One million dollars was raised for the Democratic campaign that night. Howard Dean was the keynote speaker, and many New York City dignitaries were also in attendance. As part of the entertainment during the evening, short passages of each author's work were read from the podium.
Also in June, Warren re-launched her popular series on gays in sports history at Outsports.com. Her first offering in round 2 of the series was an article on the ancient Greek love story about Hyacinth and the god Apollo, who is said by myth to have accidentally killed the young man during a discus competition. The article explored who the real-life Hyacinth might have been, and profiled the ancient history of discus throwing. A month later, Warren followed up with a piece on auto racing and the four drivers who are currently out, including transgendered NASCAR driver Terri O'Connell. Round 1 of this series, published between 2002 and 2006, became the nonfiction book The Lavender Locker Room. The series' archive can be found at Outsports.com/history Upcoming articles will explorations of a LGBT presence in wrestling, sport aviation, horse racing, men's and women's basketball and soccer.
In August 2007, Patricia Nell Warren was nominated for The Advocate's list of forty individuals who have made the most significant impact on our community. These nominees consist of 100 notable gay people from the last four decades. The Advocate asked that voters rank the nominees by voting at their website. The Advocate will determine the top 40 based on voters' input. The top 40 will be featured on the cover of The Advocate's 40th Anniversary Issue.
Starting in August, Warren's blogs exploring a gay viewpoint on sports can now be found at Outsports.com, in the "Jock Talk" section. She also blogs on current issues for the Bilerico Project, as well as for the ACLU on the subject of free speech.