San Francisco & Norfolk, CT
Writer of literary fiction and plays, publisher of Bent Boy Books, and author of Vassar Boy — a rollicking romp through sophomore year at Vassar College, Fall 1985.
Coming Soon
Drew Cushing is a novelist, playwright, and publisher based in San Francisco, CA and Norfolk, CT. He is a graduate of Vassar College and holds an MFA from San Francisco State University, where he studied with some of the most distinctive voices in contemporary American literature.
His fiction has appeared in ZYZZYVA, Cathay, and Laundry Pen. His plays have been produced across the country, from New York to San Francisco to Providence. He was a longtime member of Dodie Bellamy's celebrated creative writing workshop in San Francisco.
At San Francisco State University he studied with an extraordinary constellation of writers including Aaron Shurin, Robert Gluck, Dodie Bellamy, Camille Roy, and Brigid Mullen — figures whose influence on Bay Area literary culture has been profound and lasting.
He publishes his own work and the work of others under the imprint Bent Boy Books. His debut novel, Vassar Boy, draws on his own experience as a student at Vassar College in the fall of 1985.
"Fall 1985. Vassar College. Reagan is president, the Cold War is fading, and greed is very good indeed."
A rollicking romp through sophomore year at Vassar that reimagines Mary McCarthy's iconic ensemble for a wilder, funnier, and decidedly queerer era. From a boy called Juanita who dresses in Laura Ashley and dates a West Point cadet, to nights lost in the neon excess of the Palladium, the Limelight, and BoyBar — Vassar Boy revels in small scandals, casual affairs, and the particular drama of privileged youth.
At the center is Drew, openly gay, sharp-eyed, and beloved — the Group's essential witness. Beneath the glamour and the laughter, he is longing for something more real, more lasting. A love letter to a vanished world, and a portrait of friendship that endures.
BentBoyBooks publishes small books, single poems and other publications designed and produced by the BentBoys of San Francisco and Connecticut. BentBoyBooks bend genre, narrative and form to suit the particular and perfect taste of the BentBoyBooks editor and founder, Drew Cushing. BentBoyBooks are distributed in secret and mysterious ways to a select audience of glitterati, literati and denizens of the night (especially the night club).
This tiny erratic effort at publishing and shameless self promotion is the child of Drew Cushing, an obscure San Francisco experimental writer whose writing combines his love of Sex, San Francisco, and language.
BentBoyBooks are built by Drew & Ralph in their Alamo Square apartment and their Norfolk, Connecticut home. Visit us at bentboybooks.com.
For literary inquiries, press, speaking, or general correspondence — I'd love to hear from you.