'Where have all the new New Zealand gay writers gone?' That's a question that writer, magazine-editor and TV-documentary director David Herkt is asking. "Over the last few years there is very little gay writing by new authors being published and acknowledged in New Zealand," he says. "We have Peter Wells and Witi Ihimaera and occasional gay memoirs by men like dancer and choreographer Douglas Wright, but these are well-established or well-known voices. I've been asking around and it is interesting that no-one, absolutely no-one, can point me in the direction of newer gay writers." For a few years there seemed to be a number of avenues for gay writers to be published in a gay context. There were anthologies like Peter Wells and Rex Pilgrim's Best Mates and Jonathan Fisher's anthology of gay poetry When Two Men Embrace. But Herkt says since these books appeared there has been no place where gay writing can be presented and read. "I'm interested in seeing if there are any new or unpublished gay writers out there," explains Herkt, "and I'm really interested in what they are writing at the moment." While it has always been recognised that it is hard for any New Zealand writer to be published, it is harder still for gay writers. "Even recognised gay writers still find publication hard and the reception of their books can often be problematic. It's that schoolyard thing - 'Oh, its a GAY book....' and if you do make it through the publishers, you'll find that reviewers can be quite dismissive," Herkt says. "Publishers have somehow got it into their heads that the male gay community doesn't read. In New Zealand, apparently, women read, which explains the number of New Zealand women novelists being published at the moment, sports books sell, which explains the unending number of rugby books, but because gay men supposedly don't read, no-one is willing to take a punt on a gay book - especially one that includes gay sex." Herkt is requesting that gay writers contact him. "I'm pretty much interested in anything written about the gay male experience or from the perspective of a gay man, whether its fiction, erotica, poetry, academic writing, memoirs or history. But it isn't really about what I'm interested in, it is just to find out if there are any new gay writers out there. Then, if there are, and there is a body of work that isn't being presented, then we can begin to do something about it." David Herkt can be contacted at davidherkt@ihug.co.nz or david@jack.co.ck. GayNZ.com - 17th October 2005