Lemus, Felicia Luna 1975–

PERSONAL:

Born 1975, in CA; partner of T Cooper (a writer). Education: University of California, Irvine, B.A. (summa cum laude), 1997; California Institute of the Arts, M.F.A., 2000.

ADDRESSES:

Home—New York, NY. E-mail—felicialunalemus@hotmail.com.

CAREER:

Teaches fiction writing at universities that include the University of California, Los Angeles, and The New School, New York, NY.

MEMBER:

Phi Beta Kappa.

WRITINGS:

Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties (novel), Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2003.

Like Son (novel), Akashic Books (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Felicia Luna Lemus is an openly gay writer who refers to herself as a dyke rather than a lesbian. In reviewing her debut novel, Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties, for the Hispanic Online Web site, contributor Rebecca Dellagloria noted that Lemus ‘has been called a ‘truly talented storyteller,’ a ‘writer who has got the skills’ and even a ‘breath of fresh air in the contemporary Chicana narrative.’ But though she is proud of her sexuality, the one thing she must never be called is a lesbian—she prefers dyke. ‘It's about reappropriating the word,’ Lemus explains. ‘Lesbian is softer; it somehow is less frightening to people when it becomes a scientific matter.’"

The protagonist, Leticia Marisol Estrella Torrez, a film school graduate, is a Los Angeles dog groomer who adds pink adornments and paints the toenails of the pets of mostly gay men. She is torn between her love of Nana Lupe, the traditional Mexican grandmother who runs a bodega and who took her in when she was orphaned, and her lesbian longings. Love comes to Leti in the form of K, a Greek artist who paints the sides of low-rider vans, and with whom she forms a longer-time relationship.

San Francisco Chronicle Online Web site contributor Dodie Bellamy wrote: ‘While readers unfamiliar with the dyke youth scene may not catch all the nuances of Leticia's brand of gender-bending, most will be able to get the gist of what she's saying—that radical reinvention of gender roles can become as much a box as traditional roles. For Leticia, gender is fluid, shifting. She feels uncomfortable wearing any category, even a trendy one."

In reviewing the book for the the Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, Joy Parks wrote: ‘Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties is beautifully written, so much so that the debilitating losses take a while to hit home. When they do, it's a dark, dark thing, but a loss that shows who is friend and who is foe, and what it means to live within a community where lovers and friends crisscross in a myriad of configurations. And it proves that the ones who matter are those who stick around when they're needed."

The protagonist of Like Son is Frank Cruz, formerly Francisca, a twenty-something with bound breasts whose dying father reveals the truth about Frank's servant grandmother's relationship with famed lesbian poet Nahui Olin. Frank moves to New York, where he falls in love with Natalie, who is a modern-day facsimile of Olin. After seven years together, Frank, at thirty, owns a small shop and longs to have a child.

Whitney Scott, who reviewed Like Son in Booklist, wrote that this ‘powerfully written chronicle of love, in which gender is irrelevant … deserves more than a niche audience."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Advocate, September 30, 2003, Anne Stockwell, ‘He Said, She Said: When L.A. Writers John Rechy and Felicia Luna Lemus Got Together, the Fun Was in the Fighting,’ p. 64.

Booklist, September 1, 2003, Whitney Scott, review of Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties, p. 57; March 1, 2007, Whitney Scott, review of Like Son, p. 63.

Curve, June, 2007, Stephanie Schroeder, ‘Literary Darlings: Authors T Cooper and Felicia Luna Lemus Have Become New York's Sexiest and Most Provocative Literary Darlings—and They're a Couple,’ p. 54.

Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide, May 1, 2004, Joy Parks, review of Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties, p. 43.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 2003, review of Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties, p. 877.

Lambda Book Report, December, 2003, Elisabeth Flynn, review of Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties, p. 29; summer, 2007, Joy Parks, review of Like Son, p. 30.

Library Journal, August, 2003, Julia LoFaso, review of Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties, p. 132; April 15, 2007, Laurie Sullivan, review of Like Son, p. 74.

Publishers Weekly, October 6, 2003, review of Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties, p. 63; February 5, 2007, review of Like Son, p. 38.

ONLINE

Bookslut,http://www.bookslut.com/ (September 27, 2007), John Zuarino, ‘Interview with Felicia Luna Lemus."

Felicia Luna Lemus Home Page,http://www.felicialunalemus.com (September 27, 2007).

Hispanic Online,http://hol.hispaniconline.com/ (September 27, 2007), Rebecca Dellagloria, review of Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties.

San Francisco Chronicle Online,http://sfgate.com/ (September 14, 2003), Dodie Bellamy, review of Trace Elements of Random Tea Parties.

Small Spiral Notebook,http://www.smallspiralnotebook.com/ (September 27, 2007), Jennifer Bassett, ‘A Conversation with Felicia Luna Lemus, author of Like Son.