ABOUT OWEN
Writer and historian Owen Keehnen has had his fiction, essays, erotica, reviews, columns and interviews appear in dozens of magazines and anthologies worldwide. He recently authored a bio of Chicago's downtown glitter disco scene, Dugan's Bistro and the Legend of the Bearded Lady.
Keehnen is the author of the humorous gay novel Young Digby Swank, the gay novel The Sand Bar, the early era Hollywood M/M romance Matinee Idol, the suspense diary Love Underground, and the horror novel Doorway Unto Darkness. His collection of dark fantasy fiction, Night Visitors, was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award.
He co-authored, with Tracy Baim, the Chicago LGBT historical biographies -- Leatherman: The Legend of Chuck Renslow, Jim Flint: The Boy From Peoria, and Vernita Gray: From Woodstock to The White House. Over 100 of his interviews with various LGBT authors and activists from the 1990s were collected in the book We're Here, We're Queer. He has also written the reference book The LGBT Book of Days. He edited For My Brothers, a memoir about life and love in San Francisco during the height of the AIDS epidemic and co-edited Nothing Personal: Chronicles of Chicago's LGBTQ Community 1977-1997.
He is a frequent speaker on LGBTQ history and has chaired several panels for the Out at CHM, the Chicago History Museum series. Keehnen authored several M/M romantic novellas for Wilde City Press. He was a contributor to Gay Press, Gay Power and wrote ten biographical essays for the historical text, Out and Proud in Chicago. Keehnen is co-founder and senior biographer of The Legacy Project -- an LGBT history-education-arts program focused on pride, acceptance, and bringing proper recognition to LGBT people throughout history.
He authored the Starz series, a four-volume collection of interviews with gay porn stars. He has had two queer monologues adapted for the stage, served as co-editor of the Windy City Times Pride Literary Supplement for several years, and was a co-founder of the horror film website RacksAndRazors.com. In 2011 he was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame.
He lives in Chicago with his husband, Carl, and his three ridiculously spoiled dogs, Flannery, Fitzgerald, and Vince.