New Narrative

New Narrative is a movement started in San Francisco in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The writers focus on experimenting with the narrative using fragmented stories, meta-text, and other techniques that are traditionally considered more “poetic.” Writing in the New Narrative movement is known for explicit descriptions of sex and identification with the physicality of the author. The New Narrative movement includes many gay and lesbian authors, and the works were greatly influenced by the AIDS epidemic in the '80s. Writers in the New Narrative movement include Dodie Bellamy, Kevin Killian, Bruce Boone, Robert Glück, Sam D'Allesandro, Dennis Cooper, Kathy Acker, Camille Roy, Steve Abbott, Michelle Tea, Gary Indiana, Ann Rower, Eileen Myles, Laurie Weeks, Masha Tupitsyn, and filmmakers Warren Sonbert and James Benning.