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Raritan Valley Community College’s Department of English will present an afternoon of words and music featuring author Lynette Reini-Grandell, December 4, at 4 p.m. The event, which is free of charge and open to the public, will be held in the Atrium at the College’s Branchburg campus.

Reini-Grandell will read from her memoir, Wild Things: A Trans-Glam-Punk-Rock Love Story, and her spouse, musician Venus de Mars, will play guitar. The book shares the story of the couple’s relationship.

In the 1970s, poet Lynette Reini fell in love with a fascinating, talented man named Steve Grandell. They married in 1983; five years later, Grandell came out to her as transgender. Through the following decades, as her spouse developed a public persona as Venus de Mars and fronted the band All the Pretty Horses, the couple struggled to stay together. They navigated an often hostile, anti-trans environment; fractures grew between them as de Mars pushed the band toward success. Through hard work and love, the couple invented a way of being themselves.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase and light refreshments will be provided. To learn more about the author and musician, visit https://www.reini-grandell.com/ and https://atphband.com/.

For additional information about the event, contact Professor Michael McKeown Bondhus, Department of English, at michael.bondhus@raritanval.edu.

RVCC is located at 118 Lamington Road in Branchburg, NJ. For further information, visit www.raritanval.edu.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 27, 2023

PR #39