Richard Hall (writer)

American dramatist

Richard Hall

Born| Richard Walter Hirshfeld
November 26, 1926
New York City, New York
Died| October 29, 1992
Occupation| Writer
Nationality| American
Genre| novels, short stories, drama
Notable works| Couplings

Richard Hall (November 26, 1926 – October 29, 1992), sometimes credited as Richard Walter Hall, was an American novelist, playwright and short story writer.[1]

## Background[edit]

He was born in Manhattan in 1926 as Richard Walter Hirshfeld to Jewish parents, who later changed the family's name to Hall after experiencing an antisemitic incident.[2] Raised in Westchester County, Hall served in the United States Army during World War II, and was educated at Harvard University and New York University.[3] He worked in advertising and public relations, and taught at Inter American University in San Juan, Puerto Rico in the 1970s.[3]

## Writing career[edit]

His first novel, The Butterscotch Prince, was published in 1975.[3]

As a book critic and essayist, he contributed to publications including The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, The Village Voice and The Advocate.[3] He was the first openly gay critic ever admitted to the National Book Critics Circle.[3]

His other published books included the short story collections Couplings (1981), Letter from a Great Uncle (1985) and Fidelities (1992), the novel Family Fictions (1991) and Three Plays for a Gay Theater (1983), a compilation of his stage plays Happy Birthday Daddy, Love Match and Prisoner of Love.[3]

He died on October 29, 1992, in New York City, of AIDS-related causes.[3] He was predeceased in 1989 by his longtime partner Arthur Marceau.[3]

## Legacy[edit]

He posthumously won a Gaylactic Spectrum Award in 2005 for "Country People",[4] a supernatural-themed short story originally from Fidelities which was republished in the 2004 anthology Shadows of the Night and adapted to a short film in 2019.[5][6]

Couplings was the subject of an essay by Jonathan Harper in the 2010 non-fiction anthology The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered.[7]

## References[edit]

1. ^ Steven R. Serafin and Alfred Bendixen, The Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature. A&C Black, 2005. ISBN 9780826417770. Chapter "Gay Male Literature", p. 433.
2. ^ Claude J. Summers, "Hall, Richard" in glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. 2002.
3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Richard W. Hall, 65, an Author Who Specialized in Gay Themes". The New York Times, November 5, 1992.
4. ^ "2005 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards". Gaylactic Spectrum Award Foundation. 2008. Archived from the original on 2015-07-14. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
5. ^ "Cast and Awards". Country People. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
6. ^ "Country People Gay Short Film". Secreto Films. August 20, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2022 - via YouTube.
7. ^ "The Lost Library: Gay Fiction Rediscovered Edited by Tom Cardamone". The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, May 4, 2013.

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