Tricia Romano’s The Freaks Came Out To Write tells the story of New York’s iconic Village Voice, using over 200 interviews with the people who were there. The paper was the first publication to cover hip-hop, the avant-garde art scene, and the AIDS crisis with urgency and seriousness. Co-founded by Norman Mailer, the Voice revolutionised journalism and gave a platform to an incredible list of distinguished and influential writers. We spoke to Tricia about the making of the book, working as a staff writer there, and the legacy the Village Voice has left.
WHY WAS THE VILLAGE VOICE SUCH AN IMPORTANT PUBLICATION?
Oh, so many reasons. Primarily it introduced a different kind of writing with a different type of relationship with readers. With publications like the New York Times, there was a big divide between the subject, journalist, and reader; it’s much more formal. Whereas with the Voice, often the writers were a part of the world they were writing about and we were trying to reach readers who were also part of that world.
The also pioneered different styles of writing which are commonplace today, like the personal journalism of the ’70s feminist movement where first person was used by Vivian Gornick to illuminate the greater subject. And the pair really leaned into advocacy journalism. It was clear from which angle we were writing from. We didn’t make any pretence about being impartial. This is much more common in the British press but it was not in America in the 1950s.
