Alvin Orloff

'''Alvin Orloff''' is an American writer and bookstore proprietor in San Francisco.

== Career == Orloff spent 21 years as the manager of Dog-Eared Books in San Francisco before purchasing the Castro Street branch and renaming it Fabulosa Books in 2021, on his 60th birthday.<ref name="bar">{{cite news |last=Laird |first=Cynthia |date=August 24, 2021 |title=Gay manager buys Castro's Dog Eared Books |url=https://www.ebar.com/story/59403 |work=Bay Area Reporter |access-date=2026-05-10}}</ref> In 2022, he launched a "Books Not Bans" program that sent banned books to organizations in conservative areas.<ref name="bar2">{{cite news |date=2022 |title=Castro shop sending LGBTQ books to red states |url=https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=arts__culture&sc=books&id=326800 |work=Bay Area Reporter |access-date=2026-05-10}}</ref> Fabulosa Books won the Bay Area Reporter's award for "Favorite Bookstore" for three years in a row.<ref name="bar3">{{cite news |date=2024 |title=Welcome to the 2024 Besties |url=https://www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=News&sc=Besties&id=334635 |work=Bay Area Reporter |access-date=2026-05-10}}</ref>

His debut novel, ''I Married an Earthling'', was described by ''Publishers Weekly'' as "queer sci-fi social commentary."<ref name="pw">{{cite magazine |date=August 2000 |title=I Married an Earthling (review) |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780916397647 |magazine=Publishers Weekly |access-date=2026-05-10}}</ref> His memoir ''Disasterama!'' was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Best Memoir/Biography.<ref name="lithub">{{cite web |date=March 10, 2020 |title=Here are the finalists for the 2020 Lambda Literary Awards! |url=https://lithub.com/here-are-the-finalists-for-the-2020-lambda-literary-awards/ |website=Literary Hub |access-date=2026-05-10}}</ref>

== Citations == {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orloff, Alvin}} Category:Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:American gay writers Category:LGBTQ people from California Category:Living people