Coming November 12, 2024
Keith Stern has been telling the life stories of prominent people for nearly thirty years, reaching an audience of millions in print and online. His encyclopedic collection of 900 mini-biographies, QUEERS IN HISTORY, was published as a trade paperback by Benbella Books in 2010 and has been a perennial seller since it first appeared as an innovative Mac/PC app in 1993.
Stern has produced some of the most popular biographical websites and social media pages on the Internet. Since 1997 he has been collaborating with Sir Ian McKellen on that actor’s autobiographical website, McKellen.com. He also has also produced innovative websites and social media for Sean Astin, Andy Serkis, the late Lynn Redgrave, Spinal Tap, Gods and Monsters and many others for movie stars and movies.
Stern started in the music business as a musician followed by several years with Warner Bros Records in field promotion, public relations, A&R, and IT. In the 1970s he participated in the founding days of CBGB, the legendary music venue in Manhattan’s Bowery. In 1979 in Charlotte, North Carolina, he transformed “The Milestone” into a punk rock/new wave music venue that’s still a leading music showcase. He produced many early concerts for punk/new wave acts including R.E.M., The Ramones, The Go-Go’s, Iggy Pop, Bow Wow Wow, and Joan Jett.
After working for Warner Bros HQ in Burbank, he pursued a lifelong interest in computers as an independent consultant. Warner Bros was his first major client and he eventually worked for nearly all the major film and TV studios, implementing new-fangled email systems and laptops for writers.
In 1993 Stern published Queers in History on CD-ROM, one of the first “new media” titles to be sold through bookstores, achieving worldwide success through thousands of outlets. It included biographies of hundreds of historical personages who were gay, lesbian, or bisexual. It also included a trivia game, Queeries. A new, completely revised edition of Queers in History was published by BenBella Books in 2010 and reached the top of the charts on Amazon and elsewhere. The Kindle version was in the top 1% of all sales for all of its first full month, top 5% for the next two months and top 10% for more than a year.
Stern’s historical novel, FREEZING TIME, based on the life of pioneering photographer Eadweard Muybridge will be a feature film directed by Andy Serkis (The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Venom:2).
Stern is an accomplished photographer whose work has been featured in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and other newspapers, as well as several books including Lonely Planet travel guides.
