Valerie Taylor

Valerie Taylor (September 7, 1913 – October 22, 1997) was an American author of books published in the lesbian pulp fiction genre, as well as poetry and novels after the "golden age" of lesbian pulp fiction. She also published as Nacella Young (under which she wrote her poetry), Francine Davenport (under which she wrote her romances), and Velma Tate. Her publishers included Naiad Press, Banned Books, Universal, Gold Medal Books, Womanpress, Ace and Midwood-Tower.

Early life and education Velma Nacella Young was born on September 7, 1913, in Aurora, Illinois, to Elsie M. Collins and Marshall J. Young. She grew up on her family's farm, with her younger sister Rose Marie and her paternal grandparents. She came from a "tradition of women's activism"; one of her great-grandmothers marched in the first suffrage parade in Elgin, Illinois in 1889. Taylor also frequently and proudly referred to her Potawatomi heritage.

Young graduated from Elgin High School. Five years later, she was granted a two-year scholarship to Blackburn College in Carlinville, Illinois where she studied education, during the Great Depression. There, she gained the credentials to teach at country schools, and was introduced to grassroots activism and "made her a socialist." In 1953, they divorced, and Velma left with her sons to “The Colony” in Chicago.

Her first lesbian pulp novel was Whisper Their Love, published in 1957. Further classic lesbian pulps by Taylor followed, raising her penname to notoriety as one of the "pro-lesbian pulp authors". In discussing her first novel, the working title of which was The Heart Takes Many Paths, the title was changed by the publisher to Whisper Their Love, which Taylor called "a disgusting title" chosen to conform to the then-common publishing industry convention of presenting lesbians as lonely women living lives of secrecy. The book, which describes a lesbian love affair, concludes with the main character forming a heterosexual relationship, which according to Lisa Walker disappointed later readers but was one of the few types of endings 1950s publishers would accept. Two years later, The Girls in 3-B was according to Walker "remarkable in providing a happy ending for the lesbian character".

Along with others, Young helped to found the Lesbian Writers Conference in Chicago in 1974, and was a keynote speaker at the event. She dedicated the inaugural conference to her friend, the pioneering librarian and researcher in the field of lesbian literature Jeanette Howard Foster.

Personal life and death Young described herself as both bisexual and a lesbian and did not see the two as mutually exclusive. She says she realized the full extent of her attraction to women in her mid-thirties.

In 1965 she met Pearl Hart, another founder of Mattachine Midwest and a Chicago feminist lawyer. They were romantic partners until 1975, when Hart died. Young says she was the love of her life. Not being seen as an immediate family member, Taylor was not allowed to visit Hart in the hospital as she was dying and missed being able to tell her goodbye. She had to appeal to a friend of Hart's, but by the time she was able to see her, Hart was in a coma.

In 1978 she moved to Tucson, Arizona and became a Quaker in 1979. Her health and stability began to decline in 1993 until her death on October 22, 1997, at the age of 84 in her home in Tucson, Arizona. Upon her death, her work was placed in the Cornell Library's Human Sexuality Collection by Tee Corinne, the executor of her literary estate.

Works

Fiction The Lusty Land (originally published as Hired Girl) 1953, Universal Whisper Their Love 1957, Gold Medal The Girls in 3-B 1959, Gold Medal Stranger on Lesbos 1960, Gold Medal A World Without Men 1963, Midwood Tower Unlike Others 1963, Midwood Tower Return to Lesbos 1963 Journey to Fulfillment 1964, Midwood Tower The Secret of the Bayou 1967, Ace (as Francine Davenport) Unlike Others 1976, Midwood Love Image 1977, Naiad Prism 1981, Naiad with Tee Corinne Ripening 1988, Banned Books Rice and Beans 1989

Poetry Two Women: The Poetry of Jeannette Foster and Valerie Taylor 1976, Womanpress The Rooted Heart, Prairie Schooner (as Nacella Young) Sonnet for a Second Love, The Georgia Review (as Nacella Young)