Unpacking the "Satanic Verses" Controversy

Willis is known for taking on diverse topics ranging from rock music, pornography, and domesticity. Now in her 40s, she is raising a child with her partner -- an arrangement, she admits, resembles the nuclear family in all but name. Willis is the senior editor at the Village Voice.

Charlie Rich was a jazz enthusiast who wrote for many legendary country and rock musicians on the Sun Record Label. Rock historian Ed Ward says, for Rich, recording his own, original music was an afterthought. He had a few hits on various Memphis-area labels, but could never break through into the mainstream.

Leavitt's writing focuses on the family lives of gay men and women. He says families can alternately be sanctuaries and dangerous communities for for them. His new book, set in the suburbs, is called Equal Affections.