John Francisco Rechy is a Mexican-American novelist and essayist, born on March 10, 1931. Rechy is renowned for his extensive writings about gay culture in Los Angeles and broader America. His debut novel, City of Night, published in 1963, was a bestseller, and it helped to establish him as a pioneer of modern LGBT literature. Drawing on his own background, he has contributed significantly to Mexican-American literature, particularly with his novel The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez, which is included in several Chicano studies courses across the United States.

Despite the success of his first novel, Rechy continued to work as a prostitute while teaching during the day and hustling at night, a lifestyle he maintained into his forties while also teaching at UCLA. The 1970s and 1980s saw him grappling with personal drug use and the devastating AIDS crisis that claimed many of his friends. His works, often facing censorship due to their sexual content, remain influential and admired pieces of literature.