Pride on the Page
Scintillating Debuts: LGBTQ+ Authors and a Publisher Share Words
and Wisdom About Their First Books
Moderator: Matthew Lancellotti
Panelists: Marco Carocari, Ian Henzel, Kim Kieler and Alden Reimonenq
Originally from northern New Jersey, Matt traveled west for college and grad school. His career in research and writing began when he joined Out magazine in New York from its inaugural issue, working in advertising and leading their online media team. Currently at Cal State Fullerton, he has published numerous research papers for academic journals and articles for business publications.
Matt also serves as President of the Palm Springs Writers Guild and is working to edit and publish his first novel while putting the finishing touches on his second. Matt has found tremendous value and camaraderie as a member of the PSWG to help him through that journey. He lives in Palm Springs, a truly inspirational place for writing, with his husband Joe and their Havanese pooch Sir Oliver Queen, or “Ollie.”
Marco Carocari originally hails from Switzerland where he worked in numerous jobs and capacities, including slinging food for the masses on a major airline and enjoying five seconds of fame in a mostly forgotten but gratifying career as a photographer of erotic art.
His debut, Blackout, was nominated for a Lefty and won TheNYCBigBookAward and Independent Press Award for Best LGBTQ Novel. The short story "All In The Planning" appears in Malice Domestic 16: Mystery Most Diabolical. Marco lives in the Californian desert with his exceptionally sweet and supportive—read: patient—husband.
Ian Henzel reinvented himself after retiring from a 42-year career in corporate technology marketing in Asia, Europe and North America to start a new life as a publisher. In 2019 Ian founded Rattling Good Yarns Press, focused on bringing overlook LGBTQ+ voices to light. Ian is thrilled that his college years focused on classic and modern comparative literature is finally being put to good use.
Born in 1954, Kim was raised in a log house on a cattle ranch in the interior of British Columbia. The 1st ten years were without electricity or TV, and temperatures could reach forty below in the winter. Elementary school was two rooms with outhouses. She later went to the University of British Columbia, exchanged cold for wet, and graduated with a degree in biology. After backpacking for a year around the world, she studied computer science at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and exchanged counting moose droppings for coding. She loves to travel and adventure and lives in Palm Springs with her wife and two chihuahuas. She dedicates her time to the women's community when not traveling or writing.
Alden Reimonenq has an active writing career as author of fiction, poetry, memoir, and essays. He has published short stories in African American Review, Maryland Review, and Trajectory. His poetry, book reviews, and critical essays have appeared widely in journals, and he contributed a memoir to the collection, When Love Lasts Forever: Male Couples Celebrate Commitment. Windstorm Creative published a volume of his poetry, Hoodoo Headrag (2000). In February 2022—in Black History Month—his debut novel The Upside-Down Tree was published by Aubade Publishing. The novel is the story of how hope and love survived during the time of lynching and the Jim Crow era in Louisiana. Born, raised, and educated in New Orleans, LA, Reimonenq now lives, thrives, and writes in Palm Springs, CA with his husband of 48 years. For a fuller biographical account, check out Alden Reimonenq's website.
