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Robert Joseph Greene (Born January 11, 1973) is a Canadian author of gay romance fiction, best known for The Gay Icon Classics of the World”, a collection of gay-themed love stories from over 12 different countries. Each gay love story represents a culture and a people. The book was listed by PFLAG Canada as a recommended book in their “Books Worth Reading” section [1 Pflag Canada Book Recommendations]

One of the short stories in the Gay Icon Classics collection is “Halo’s Golden Circle”, a tragic love story set in ancient Judea. Critically-acclaimed author and Jewish scholar Steven Greenberg (rabbi) remarked that it was a "beautiful story” [2 Article in Pridesource]

Early Life And Education
Robert Joseph Greene was born in New York and raised in Trumbull, Connecticut, He is the youngest child of Thomas Joseph Greene, President and CEO of Greenebark Press (a publisher of children’s books) and Camilla Church Greene (Education Consultant). During his formative years, his mother was a high school English teacher. Although he spent most of his early career as a television executive, Greene feels the environment his parents created made him destined to be a writer.

Greene spent his senior year at the prestigious École Privée Charles Péguy in Aix-en-Provence, France. He returned to the United States and studied business administration at the University of San Francisco with a brief time studying at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. In 1995, Greene returned to the University of San Francisco where he received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. He also minored in Western Civilization.

He is a distant cousin to jazz singer Carmen McRae, who he would stay with occasionally during school breaks while at university.

Writing Career
As a Gay Youth Coordinator at the Long Beach LGBT Community Center in Long Beach, California, Greene started writing book reviews for ONE in to encourage young adults to read. In 1995, when he moved to Canada, Greene embarked on a series of short stories called "Gay Folklore Stories of the World." The stories were a collection of gay love tales created to teach gay men about bravery, chivalry, and selfless romantic acts. Greene wanted to show that romanticism could bring deeper meaning to gay love.

His first piece was published in the now-defunct SBC Magazine spring 2000 edition entitled, "The Soiled Loin Cloth.” The magazine's editor ,Stanley Bennett Clay, accompanied the African-themed piece with a photograph of two Nubian men wrestling in the water. The piece garnered much attention for the magazine and Greene was requested to submit another short. Greene then went on to submit "The Wrong Voice Far Away," which was published in the winter 2001 edition of SBC Magazine.

Greene got more personal in his writing when, in 2003, he was asked about his family’s heritage in Canada. The Halifax Herald Newspaper carried a piece written by Greene called "Africaville: A Young Girls Journey.” It detailed his mother's memory as a child visiting long lost relatives. Greene believed that this branch of relatives came to Canada as runaway slaves from the USA.

Greene garnered attention when the editor of "Letters From Camp Rehoboth" honored his efforts in bringing romantic love to gay men by publishing "The Journey and the Jewels" for their February 10, 2006 edition LINK, just in time for Valentine's Day. That year "The Journey and the Jewels" received praise both in Canada and the US. The Watermark, a weekly LGBT publication in Florida, gave kudos in their story which honored the writer.

In 2008, Greene's writing interests turned to more a controversial issue. CROSSOVERS: Straight Men - Gay Encounters addresses a growing trend in gay sexual experimentation among straight and bi-curious men.

With the release of “The Gay Icon Classics of the World II” in 2012, Greene was again noticed internationally by a group of Russian gay students. These students translated one of the short stories from the book and used it as a protest piece against the Anti-Gay Propoganda Laws that had recently been enacted in St. Petersburg [3](http://www.straight.com/life/st-petersburgs-anti-gay-law-canadian-travel-russia-cautioned-vancouver-author-protests)

In 2011, Greene was invited to read at the Midsumma Festival reading event in Melbourne Australia.

List of Works
The Gay Icon Classics of the World

Crossover: Straight Men - Gay Encounters

The Gay Icon Classics of the World II

This High School Has Closets

Would You Mind?

References:
1)Pflag -Books Worth Reading (link http://www.pflagcanada.ca/en/books-e.php) Story Takes New Approach To Old Testament (story link: http://www.pridesource.com/guidearticle.html?article=50589)

2)St. Petersburg's anti-gay law: Canadian travel in Russia cautioned, Vancouver author protestt http://www.straight.com/life/st-petersburgs-anti-gay-law-canadian-travel-russia-cautioned-vancouver-author-protests)

3)Letters from Camp Rebohoth http://www.camprehoboth.com/letters/2006/february-10-2006-issue-index/february-10-2006-journey-jewels.htm

Public author photo Image link: http://imgur.com/vCl4HMk