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The Independent
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Independent
How groundbreaking gay author Edmund White paved the way for other writers
Andrew Sean Greer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, remembers the first time he read Edmund White. It was the summer of 1989, he was beginning his second year at Brown University and he had just come out. Having learned that White would be teaching at Brown, he found a copy of White's celebrated coming-of-age novel, 'A Boy's Own Story.' 'I'd never read anything like it — nobody had — and what strikes me looking back is the lack of shame or self-hatred or misery that imbued so many other gay male works of fiction of that time,' says Greer, whose 'Less' won the Pulitzer for fiction in 2018. "I, of course, did not know then I was reading a truly important literary work. All I knew is I wanted to read more. ' Reading was all we had in those days — the private, unshared experience that could help you explore your private life," he said. "Ed invented so many of us." White, a pioneer of contemporary gay literature, died this week at age 85. He left behind such widely read works as 'A Boy's Own Story' and 'The Beautiful Room Is Empty' and a gift to countless younger writers: Validation of their lives, the discovery of themselves through the stories of others. Greer and other authors speak of White's work as more than just an influence, but as a rite of passage: "How a queer man might begin to question all of the deeply held, deeply religious, deeply American assumptions about desire, love, and sex — who is entitled to have it, how it must be had, what it looks like,' says Robert Jones Jr., whose novel above love between two enslaved men, ' The Prophets,' was a National Book Award finalist in 2021. Jones remembers being a teenager in the 1980s when he read 'A Boy's Own Story." He found the book at a store in a gay neighborhood in Manhattan's Greenwich Village, 'the safest place for a person to be openly queer in New York City,' he said. 'It was a scary time for me because all the news stories about queer men revolved around AIDS and dying, and how the disease was the Christian god's vengeance against the 'sin of homosexuality,'' Jones added. 'It was the first time that I had come across any literature that confirmed that queer men have a childhood; that my own desires were not, in fact, some aberration, but were natural; and that any suffering and loneliness I was experiencing wasn't divine retribution, but was the intention of a human-made bigotry that could be, if I had the courage and the community, confronted and perhaps defeated," he said. Starting in the 1970s, White published more than 25 books, including novels, memoirs, plays, biographies and 'The Joy of Gay Sex,' a response to the 1970s bestseller 'The Joy of Sex." He held the rare stature for a living author of having a prize named for him, the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, as presented by the Publishing Triangle. 'White was very supportive of young writers, encouraging them to explore and expand new and individual visions,' said Carol Rosenfeld, chair of the Triangle. The award was 'one way of honoring that support.' Winners such the prize was founded, in 2006, have included 'The Prophets,' Myriam Gurba 's 'Dahlia Season' and Joe Okonkwo's 'Jazz Moon.' Earlier this year, the award was given to Jiaming Tang's ' Cinema Love,' a story of gay men in rural China. Tang remembered reading 'A Boy's Own Story' in his early 20s, and said that both the book and White were 'essential touchpoints in my gay coming-of-age.' 'He writes with intimate specificity and humor, and no other writer has captured the electric excitement and crushing loneliness that gay men experience as they come of age,' Tang said. "He's a towering figure. There'd be no gay literature in America without Edmund White.'
Scottish Sun
13-05-2025
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
Mobile network provider gives out free 5G boost just in time for major football clash – weeks after key service closure
Millions of users are set to benefit starting from this week 5-GEE! Mobile network provider gives out free 5G boost just in time for major football clash – weeks after key service closure Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) FOOTBALL fans using a major mobile network will notice a 5G speed boost this week. The free upgrade will benefit thousands of users this weekend - and millions more to come. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 New small cells have been placed around the area Credit: Virgin Media O2 O2 has announced that it has finally launched enhanced 5G connectivity in and around Wembley Stadium. Of course, the next big event to take place there is this weekend's FA Cup Final between Crystal Palace and Manchester City. More than 2.5million people are expected descend on the stadium this summer for a record number of events, including seven Oasis shows and Dua Lipa. The upgrade is made possible thanks to kit called 5G standalone, which is the fastest network technology available, meaning apps and videos will load much zippier with improved latency. When connected to 5G Standalone you essentially receive the truest form of 5G there is. Currently, most of the 5G you see is actually Non-Standalone, which is some 4G tech mixed in with 5G upgrades - and therefore connections aren't at their full speed potential. O2 says it has also deployed seven new small cells outside the Wembley Stadium and upgraded two masts in the area to make the speeds possible in such a busy network area, particularly during events. Virgin Media O2 is spending around £700million this year to future-proof its mobile network as it works to expand its 4G and 5G coverage. Part of the plan is to use more dedicated small cells to boost capacity in busy urban areas, as well as addressing persistent network pain points including along railway lines, at airports, on motorways, and in stadiums and arenas. "Wembley is one of the UK's most iconic venues and this summer promises to be one of its biggest in living memory, from the FA Cup Final to the long-awaited return of Oasis," said Dr Robert Joyce, Director of Mobile Access Engineering at O2. O2's 3G Shutdown: Is Your Phone Ready? "Our investment in and around the stadium is designed to give a huge capacity boost to O2 customers attending these events, so they have the best possible experience." The move comes as O2 starts shutting down its old 3G network across the UK in favour of more faster 4G and 5G. 3G was switched off in the city of Durham first, in April. Norwich, Telford and Guildford will be the next UK locations to have O2 3G withdrawn on July 16. Torquay will follow on August 4.
The Irish Sun
13-05-2025
- The Irish Sun
Mobile network provider gives out free 5G boost just in time for major football clash – weeks after key service closure
FOOTBALL fans using a major mobile network will notice a 5G speed boost this week. The free upgrade will benefit thousands of users this weekend - and millions more to come. Advertisement 1 New small cells have been placed around the area Credit: Virgin Media O2 O2 has announced that it has finally launched enhanced 5G connectivity in and around Wembley Stadium. Of course, the next big event to take place there is this weekend's FA Cup Final between More than 2.5million people are expected descend on the stadium this summer for a record number of events, including The upgrade is made possible thanks to kit called 5G standalone, which is the fastest network technology available, meaning apps and videos will load much zippier with improved latency. Advertisement Read more about Wembley When connected to 5G Standalone you essentially receive the truest form of 5G there is. Currently, most of the 5G you see is actually Non-Standalone, which is some 4G tech mixed in with 5G upgrades - and therefore connections aren't at their full speed potential. O2 says it has also deployed seven new small cells outside the Wembley Stadium and upgraded two masts in the area to make the speeds possible in such a busy network area, particularly during events. Advertisement Most read in Tech Part of the plan is to use more dedicated small cells to boost capacity in busy urban areas, as well as addressing persistent network pain points including along railway lines, at airports, on motorways, and in stadiums and arenas. "Wembley is one of the UK's most iconic venues and this summer promises to be one of its biggest in living memory, from the FA Cup Final to the long-awaited return of Oasis," said Dr Robert Joyce, Director of Mobile Access Engineering at O2. O2's 3G Shutdown: Is Your Phone Ready? "Our investment in and around the stadium is designed to give a huge capacity boost to O2 customers attending these events, so they have the best possible experience." The move comes as O2 starts shutting down its old 3G network across the UK in favour of more faster 4G and 5G. Advertisement 3G was switched off Norwich, Telford and Guildford will be the next UK locations to have O2 3G withdrawn on July 16. Which mobile networks are affected by the 3G switch off? Mobile networks affected by O2's 3G switch off: -O2 - Tesco Mobile - Sky Mobile - GiffGaff Networks which have already switched off 3G : - Vodafone - Asda Mobile - Lebara - Talk Mobile - Voxi - EE - 1pMobile - Ecotalk - IQ Mobile - Lycamobile - Mozillion - RWG Mobile - Spusi - Talk Home - Utility Warehouse - Your Co-op - Three - iD Mobile, Smarty - Honest Mobile - Superdrug
