īannon in 1955, just as Odd Girl Out was being completedĪt the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign she belonged to Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority where she befriended a beautiful older sorority sister, 'the prettiest I had ever seen', quite popular with men and with women. One became a character in her books: a perennial bachelor named Jack who slung jokes and witticisms at the audiences. Growing up, she was surrounded by music, particularly jazz, as her family hosted small recitals for friends and neighbors. She took comfort in a vibrant imaginary life during this time and found solace in writing.

īannon grew up in nearby Hinsdale with her mother and stepfather, and had the responsibility of taking care of four siblings due to the family's financial problems. Her mother married a third time and had four more sons. Her mother married again and had a son with her second husband.

She was the only child of her mother's first marriage. Early life Īnn Bannon was born Ann Weldy in Joliet, Illinois, in 1932. She has been described as 'the premier fictional representation of US lesbian life in the fifties and sixties', and it has been said that her books 'rest on the bookshelf of nearly every even faintly literate Lesbian'. They are taught in women's and LGBT studies courses, and Bannon has received numerous awards for pioneering lesbian and gay literature. They were released again between 20 and were adapted as an award-winning Off-Broadway production. She endured a difficult marriage for 27 years and, as she separated from her husband in the 1980s, her books were republished she was stunned to learn of their influence on society. Later, she earned a doctorate in linguistics and became an academic. Her books shaped lesbian identity for lesbians and heterosexuals alike, but Bannon was mostly unaware of their impact. Despite her traditional upbringing and role in married life, her novels defied conventions for romance stories and depictions of lesbians by addressing complex homosexual relationships. The majority of her characters mirrored people she knew, but their stories reflected a life she did not feel she was able to live. Her subsequent books featured four characters who reappeared throughout the series, including her eponymous heroine, Beebo Brinker, who came to embody the archetype of a butch lesbian.

Bannon was a young housewife trying to address her own issues of sexuality when she was inspired to write her first novel. The books' enduring popularity and impact on lesbian identity has earned her the title 'Queen of Lesbian Pulp Fiction'. Ann Weldy (born September 15, 1932), better known by her pen name Ann Bannon, is an American author who, from 1957 to 1962, wrote six lesbian pulp fiction novels known as The Beebo Brinker Chronicles.

Ann bannon beebo brinker