Works by
Salvatore Sapienza
(Writer)

Sitting Shiva (In progress)

Gay is a Gift (December 1, 2009)
Click here to purchase this book directly from Tregatti Press.
A discussion of "Gay is a gift" on the Oprah Winfrey Show inspired this inspirational pocket guide on gay spirituality, which provides useful tools for uncovering your inner giftedness and discovering the true Spirit within.

This concise handbook shares the spiritual wisdom of gay shamans throughout history, from the Native American "Two Spirits" to contemporaries like Ram Dass, but does so in a very clear and simple manner, giving readers step-by-step instructions for applying this wisdom to their own spiritual paths.

Former Catholic monk and Seventy Times Seven author Salvatore Sapienza also shares his own spiritual journey with readers, helping them to unwrap their own unique gay gifts and to shine this special light on the world.

"Think of Gay is a GIFT as a Chicken Soup for the Gay Soul," says Web Digest Weekly, and gay spiritual writer Toby Johnson says, "Salvatore Sapienza's Gay is a GIFT is itself a gift; a sweet, inspiring portrayal of gay consciousness as blessing, along with a simple, light-hearted - even fun - spiritual practice for bringing more blessing into your life."

Seventy Times Seven (2006) -- Nominated 2006 Lambda Literary Gay Men's Debut Fiction Awards
Seventy Times Seven is a poignant, sexy, funny, and romantic novel set in the early 1990s about a young man's struggle to integrate his religious beliefs with his sexual desires. The gap between sexuality and spirituality is punctuated throughout the novel with quotes from the Scripture, and from song lyrics from Prince and Madonna, artists who merged the two worlds in provocative and groundbreaking fashion. Vito struggles too, with the idealism that drives his desire to change the archaic ways of the Catholic Church and its views on AIDS and homosexuality.

An excerpt from Seventy Times Seven: "Come on, let's go in," Tim implored outside the Christopher Street video store. "It'll be a riot. I know you're a Brother, but you don't have to do anything, just watch. But, whatever you do, don't make me laugh. They're hardcore in there."

Tim has always been able to persuade me to take risks. He took me into my first gay bar, Uncle Charlie's in the Village, when I was seventeen years old (the legal drinking age in New York was eighteen at the time, so we didn't look out of place). Two years later, we snorted coke off of his Barney's credit card in the bathroom of the Roxy. He later was a part of my first threesome experience with some guy we met at the Spike. There was one risk, however, that Tim was unsuccessful in persuading me to take, and that was leaving religious life. Taking me into the video store that night required little effort on his part.

Sal Sapienza's first novel, Seventy Times Seven, is an entertaining and enlightening look at the struggle many gay men experience as their try to reconcile their religion with their sexual natures.