About
James Baran is a designer, fine-art photographer, and writer. During a 25-year magazine publishing career, he spoke at publishing conferences and seminars including Folio:Show (2007), and served on the board of a publishing industry group, Association Media & Publishing (AM&P, 2007-2011). James holds a bachelor’s degree in Music and a master’s degree in English, and he studied photography during his undergraduate years. He has exhibited his photography in Illinois and California, and his art is in private collections in the United States and Canada. He has written about his journey out of fundamentalism for Adventist Today magazine, and also wrote a piece critical of the Adventist denomination’s support of Uganda’s anti-LGBTQ legislation for Spectrum magazine. He lives in Chicago.
Featured Work
Finding My Vocabulary: A Gay Man's Stories of Discovery, Survival and Self-Determination
A memoir of growing up gay in the 1960s, 70s and 80s. This memoir is a literary response to the continued negative political commentary and denigrating comments made by political operatives mainly in the U.S. Republican Party who wish to paint a false picture of the LGBTQ+ community. The narrative of James' memoir shows that being gay is a perfectly normal way of life, and this memoir showcases significant moments in the author's life. The author repeatedly points out that book bans and spreading fear of words is a futile attempt by undemocratic political operatives and conservative "Christians" to indoctrinate young people into being intolerant as they grow up.
