# Larry Duplechan

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**Larry Duplechan** (born December 30, 1956, in [Los Angeles, California](/source/Los_Angeles,_California)) is an American novelist. He is best known for his novels *Blackbird*, [adapted in 2014](/source/Blackbird_(2014_film)) by [Patrik-Ian Polk](/source/Patrik-Ian_Polk) as a film starring [Mo'Nique](/source/Mo'Nique) and [Isaiah Washington](/source/Isaiah_Washington),[1] and *Got 'til It's Gone*, which won an award in the Gay Romance category at the [21st Lambda Literary Awards](/source/21st_Lambda_Literary_Awards).[2]

## Background

Duplechan was born on December 30, 1956, in [Los Angeles, California](/source/Los_Angeles,_California).[3] He attended the [University of California, Los Angeles](/source/University_of_California,_Los_Angeles), where he studied English and participated in the university's men's choir.[3] After graduation, he initially pursued a career in music, both as a solo singer and as a member of a jazz vocal group, but gave it up after the time demands of pursuing music while also holding down a full-time day job began to threaten his relationship with his partner Greg Harvey.[3]

## Writing

Duplechan published his first novel, *Eight Days a Week*, in 1985.[3] The novel introduced Johnnie Ray Rousseau, the lead character in nearly all of his subsequent novels.[3] *Blackbird*, a prequel novel focusing on Rousseau's childhood, was published the following year and more strongly established Duplechan's reputation as an important writer of gay [African-American](/source/African-American) fiction.[3] He has also been identified as one of the first important gay writers to have come of age after the [Stonewall riots](/source/Stonewall_riots), and whose writing thus lacked the [internalized homophobia](/source/Internalized_homophobia) that often characterized the work of the previous generation of gay writers.[3]

In 1990, he published *Tangled Up in Blue*, an [AIDS](/source/AIDS)-themed novel which was his only work not to feature Rousseau as its central character, although its main characters reappear in Duplechan's subsequent Rousseau novels as supporting characters.[3] The novel dealt with a married couple, Maggie and Daniel Sullivan, whose relationship is tested when Maggie discovers that Daniel is bisexual and was once in a relationship with her gay friend Crockett Miller.[3]

Duplechan's next novel *Captain Swing* (1993) returned to Rousseau, and found him grieving the death of his boyfriend Keith in a car accident.[3]

After *Captain Swing*, Duplechan took a hiatus from writing for several years and returned to singing, founding an [a cappella](/source/A_cappella) vocal group and participating in community choirs after the home he shared with Harvey was damaged in the [1994 Northridge earthquake](/source/1994_Northridge_earthquake).[3] A new 20th anniversary edition of *Blackbird* was published by [Arsenal Pulp Press](/source/Arsenal_Pulp_Press) in 2006,[3] and Duplechan's most recent novel to date, *Got 'til It's Gone*, was published by the same company in 2008.[3]

In 2022, Duplechan contracted with Team Angelica, London, to write a movie memoir, *Movies That Made Me Gay*, to be published[4] in October 2023.

In addition to his novels, his work has also been published in numerous anthologies, including *[Freedom in This Village: Twenty-Five Years of Black Gay Men's Writing](/source/Freedom_in_This_Village)* (2005), *[The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered](/source/The_Lost_Library:_Gay_Fiction_Rediscovered)* (2010) and *Mighty Real: An Anthology of African American Same Gender Loving Writing* (2011).

## Personal life

Duplechan and Harvey legally married in 2008, during the period between the initial legalization of [same-sex marriage in California](/source/Same-sex_marriage_in_California) and the passage of [Proposition 8](/source/Proposition_8).[3]

He has pursued studies in [comparative religion](/source/Comparative_religion).[3] He served for several years as a deacon for a [Metropolitan Community Church](/source/Metropolitan_Community_Church) congregation, and considered entering the [seminary](/source/Seminary).[3] He and Harvey later attended the Westwood Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles.[3] Since 2018, they have enjoyed a “friends of the church” relationship with an Episcopal church in Monrovia, California, where they often sing in the choir.

## Works

- *Eight Days a Week* (1985, ISBN 978-0932870841)
- *Blackbird* (1986, ISBN 978-1551522029)
- *Tangled Up in Blue* (1990, ISBN 978-0312051679)
- *Captain Swing* (1993, ISBN 978-1555832346)
- *Got 'til it's Gone* (2008, ISBN 978-1551522449)
- *Movies That Made Me Gay* (2023, ISBN 173-9773918)

## References

1. ["‘Precious’ Oscar Winner Mo’Nique Returns To Screen In Indie ‘Blackbird’"](https://deadline.com/2014/01/precious-oscar-winner-monique-returns-to-screen-in-indie-blackbird-659424/). *[Deadline Hollywood](/source/Deadline_Hollywood)*, January 6, 2014.

1. [21st Lambda Literary Awards](http://www.lambdaliterary.org/winners-finalists/02/18/lambda-literary-awards-2008-2/). [Lambda Literary Foundation](/source/Lambda_Literary_Foundation), February 18, 2010.

1. [Claude J. Summers](/source/Claude_J._Summers), [Larry Duplechan](http://www.glbtq.com/literature/duplechan_larry.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20141129075056/http://www.glbtq.com/literature/duplechan_larry.html) 2014-11-29 at the Wayback Machine. [glbtq.com](/source/Glbtq.com), 2011.

1. ["Larry Duplechan title for Team Angelica"](https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/article-detail/larry-duplechan-title-for-team-angelica)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Larry Duplechan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Duplechan) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Duplechan?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.