Michael Rumaker (March 5, 1932 - June 3, 2019) was an American author whose life intersected with writers and other artists identified with the Beat Generation; studied at Black Mountain College; and found inspiration in AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) demonstrations of the 1980s. Rumaker is remembered for his semi-autobiographical novels that document his life as a gay man from the 1950s until the 2010s.
Biography
Rumaker was born in Philadelphia. He graduated from Black Mountain College in 1955 and later wrote a memoir of his time there. He hitchhiked to San Francisco, where he encountered the literature of the Beat Generation. Returning to New York, he attended Columbia University and received an MFA in 1971, then he began teaching writing.
Rumaker's first collection was in 1959 in the new-writer showcase Short Story 2, which featured short stories from him and three other authors, including Gertrude Friedberg. His short stories in the book received a favourable review in The New York Times, where he was described as an impressive young writer.