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Lambda Literary Foundation
Jun. 22nd, 2005 10:11 amAs some of you know, there are big changes happening at the Lambda Literary Foundation, which include the resignation of the director and suspension of publication of the Lambda Book Report and James White Review. They are planning to continue the awards. They may revive the magazines. Here's a story.
I had very positive experiences with the editor of Lambda Book Report, Lisa Moore. She's the publisher at RedBone Press, where she's done outstanding work in publishing queer people of color, including Sharon Bridgforth, Shamiya Bashir, and, recently, a wonderful book of poetry, Nothing Ugly Fly, by Marvin K. White. At the lammies, she said that she is working on new anthology, Spirited, about the religious life of Black people who refuse to cede that ground to the religious right. She was very responsive to my ideas, and so Lambda Book Report published a feature article I wrote about writers and artists who include unapologetic explorations of experiences of being fat as an element in their work, which gave those of us who do that a visibility in the queer literary world that, in my experience, was unprecedented. In the same issue, she also published a piece of my short fiction, so the heart of my work could speak for itself. There was so much respect and a very specific kind of editorial courage in that which I value and honor.
Jonathan Harper, the managing editor who organized the Lambda finalist readings, was a joy to work with -- efficient, effective and warm. The reading I participated in that he organized was one of the best readings I've ever been a part of, and it led directly to the interest in my work from Out@Time, Inc. He was such a live, responsive presence in every room I was in with him, and he made it clear that he had read my book and responded strongly to it -- a lovely thing, and often surprisingly hard to do at a job surrounded by both books and the logistics of dealing with authors.
I've worked at enough nonprofits to know that sustainability is very tough, and sometimes difficult decisions have to be made, and I surely do wish the foundation the best as they regroup to continue to try to nurture the work of queer writers and let readers know how to find our books. Coming along with the end of other such publications as The Women's Review of Books, Sojourner in Boston, that effort seems urgent to me.
I had very positive experiences with the editor of Lambda Book Report, Lisa Moore. She's the publisher at RedBone Press, where she's done outstanding work in publishing queer people of color, including Sharon Bridgforth, Shamiya Bashir, and, recently, a wonderful book of poetry, Nothing Ugly Fly, by Marvin K. White. At the lammies, she said that she is working on new anthology, Spirited, about the religious life of Black people who refuse to cede that ground to the religious right. She was very responsive to my ideas, and so Lambda Book Report published a feature article I wrote about writers and artists who include unapologetic explorations of experiences of being fat as an element in their work, which gave those of us who do that a visibility in the queer literary world that, in my experience, was unprecedented. In the same issue, she also published a piece of my short fiction, so the heart of my work could speak for itself. There was so much respect and a very specific kind of editorial courage in that which I value and honor.
Jonathan Harper, the managing editor who organized the Lambda finalist readings, was a joy to work with -- efficient, effective and warm. The reading I participated in that he organized was one of the best readings I've ever been a part of, and it led directly to the interest in my work from Out@Time, Inc. He was such a live, responsive presence in every room I was in with him, and he made it clear that he had read my book and responded strongly to it -- a lovely thing, and often surprisingly hard to do at a job surrounded by both books and the logistics of dealing with authors.
I've worked at enough nonprofits to know that sustainability is very tough, and sometimes difficult decisions have to be made, and I surely do wish the foundation the best as they regroup to continue to try to nurture the work of queer writers and let readers know how to find our books. Coming along with the end of other such publications as The Women's Review of Books, Sojourner in Boston, that effort seems urgent to me.