Ga. Tech to Honor Outwrite Founder Philip Rafshoon

Midtown resident Philip Rafshoon has several things to smile about this month. 

The president and general manager of will turn 50 on March 8, take his first vacation in two years and receive a prestigious award from Georgia Tech.

At an awards ceremony on March 15, Rafshoon will be honored with the Alumni Legacy Award for 2011 by Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. Rafshoon graduated from Tech in 1983 with a degree in Industrial Management. 

"It's great to be honored by my alma mater," Rafshoon said. He is the first openly gay person to receive the award. He said he is pleased Georgia Tech is recognizing an independent business owner. 

"It's great to be respected for the work we've put into the store," Rafshoon said, noting the many 18-hour work days he and his staff of 10 have put in. "It's a labor of love."

The prize committee nominated Rafshoon “because of the invaluable leadership he has shown in the Atlanta community," according to a press release.

After a decade of selling mainframe computers to factories, Rafshoon opened Outwrite in 1993 in the Midtown Promenade shopping center off Monroe Drive. The shop relocated to its current location at the corner of 10th Street and Piedmont Avenue in 1996, right before the Olympics Games came to town. 

"I really wanted to do something in my own community," Rafshoon said, recounting his decision to open a bookstore that catered to the gay and lesbian community. "It was something I felt the city was lacking."

Today, the bookstore is "known around the world," Rafshoon said. Authors including Alice Walker, Armistead Maupin, Augustin Burroughs, Chelsea Handler and Roseanne Barr have read passages at the bookstore. 

"We've had some great times here," Rafshoon said. 

Outwrite will host several author visits this month. On March 11 at 7:30 p.m., outspoken hairstylist Tabatha Coffey, who has a show on Bravo TV,  will be reading from her new book, "It' s Not Really About the Hair."

Other events include: Jodi Picoult, March 21; Fionna Zedde, March 24; Josh Kilmer-Purcell, March 25; Sid Shier, March 26; and Anne Trubek, March 28.

For more details on the upcoming events, please visit Outwrite's website.