JOB OPENING:
Web Producer/Editor, the Lambda Literary Foundation

The Lambda Literary Foundation
The Lambda Literary Foundation rewards and promotes excellence in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature.  Our programs include the Lambda Literary Awards, the Lambda Book Report, and the Emerging LGBT Writers' Retreat.  We are building a new website to celebrate, support, and connect the varied constituencies of the LGBT literary community.

The job
We are looking for a tech-savvy lit-lover who wants to be at the the nexus of the burgeoning online LGBT litscape.  The web producer/editor will help put the finishing touches on the new website, then take responsibility for 1) commissioning and posting immaculately edited content which is refreshed on a reliable schedule, 2) promoting the site through social media, 3) ensuring smooth and uninterrupted operation of the site.  Essentially, the web producer/editor will be monitoring the weather in the LGBT literary landscape and providing the community with the content they need before they even know they need it: reviews, opinion, interviews, community interaction--in written, audio, and video formats.

The ideal candidate

• has a solid grasp of the LGBT literary landscape, preferably with connections to publishers, agents, booksellers, writers, editors, readers, artists, etc.
• is at home with social media--FB, Twitter, blogosphere--and associated technologies such as podcasting and video streaming
• is proficient in Adobe Photoshop, basic HTML and Javascript, selected CMS (WordPress), and working knowledge of CSS, and CMS plug-in installation
• has experience with recruiting & managing volunteer and freelance content providers
• posseses great writing and editing skills, design flair, an instinct for and delight in community-building, and the demonstrated ability to innovate, plan and execute
• loves to solve problems, make things work, and get things done

The rewards
You will meet and work with the giants of the LGBT literary world.  You will help grow the careers of emerging writers.  You will be loved and admired the world over.  You can work from anywhere with an internet connection (though as LLF is based in Los Angeles, the West Coast would be an advantage).

This is currently a half-time salaried position which we anticipate will grow to be full-time.  Pay dependent on experience.  Please send CV and cover letter to jobs@lambdaliterary.org.  Review of applications will begin Nov 30 2009.

Download Job Description (PDF)

November 2009 BOOK BUZZ now online!

Check out the latest installment of BOOK BUZZ, John Morgan Wilson's monthly column on LGBT books and publishing. This month's interview is with Patricia Nell Warren, author of eight novels, including the gay classic, The Front Runner, and co-owner of Wildcat Press. Read more.

Alyson Publisher Don Weise Joins Lambda Literary Foundation
Board of Trustees

September 29, 2009 - Lambda Literary Foundation is pleased to welcome Don Weise back onto its Board after a three-year absence.  "If there is a greater advocate of LGBT writers today than Don Weise, I can't imagine who it would be," comments Board President Katherine V. Forrest.  "As we enter a new era of leadership at LLF he brings to us a tremendously diverse background in all facets of our literature and an unmatched reputation as editor and champion of a whole range of LGBT writers.  He will bring to us a fresh infusion of ideas, initiatives, and advice to best serve our community.  We are delighted to welcome him back." 

Don Weise first entered the book business in 1993 and since then has been firmly established in independent publishing in virtually every area, from sales, marketing, design and publicity to editing and production. Starting in the San Francisco Bay Area at the distributor Publishers Group West, where he was an account manager for a consortium of small presses, he moved to Cleis Press where he became associate publisher of the largest and most provocative publisher of feminist literature.  He acquired his first book after hearing Gore Vidal give a political talk in Berkeley.  He tracked down the author's home address in Italy and wrote to ask if he’d consider Weise as editor of a book of his groundbreaking essays on sex. Yes, he would. The resulting volume, Gore Vidal: Sexually Speaking, was a national bestseller and was followed by two more groundbreaking, Lammy-winning books for Cleis: Black Like Us: A Century of Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual African American Fiction—the most comprehensive book of African American LGBT literature ever published—and Time on Two Crosses: The Collected Writings of Bayard Rustin, who is most famously remembered as the black gay adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and organizer of the 1963 March on Washington.

Weise's fourth project was Edmund White’s Arts and Letters. This collection brought together White's insightful writings on the arts, originally published in journals like Vanity Fair, The Nation, and The New York Review of Books. Over a seven-year period at Cleis he was also involved in publishing such writers as Ann Bannon, Joan Nestle, Patrick Califia, and Tristan Taormino.

In 2003 Weise moved to New York City  and for the next four years served as senior editor at Carroll & Graf Publishers. Although the company hadn’t been historically a publisher of gay titles, Carroll & Graf quickly became home to one of the most vibrant lines of LGBT literature ever produced as he published John Rechy, James Purdy, Samuel R. Delany, Edward Albee, Leslie Feinberg, E. Lynn Harris, Andrew Holleran, Kate Clinton, Bob Smith, Cheryl Clarke, Marijane Meaker, Charles Busch, Michelangelo Signorile, Keith Boykin, and Michael Musto, as well as scores of new and previously unpublished writers.

Lambda Literary Foundation Announces Interim Changes in Board of Trustees, Executive Director Position

September 25, 2009 - Effective immediately, Christopher Rice has resigned as President of the Board of Trustees.  Katherine V. Forrest has stepped into the role on an interim basis.

Forrest will be working directly with Tony Valenzuela, appointed by the board to serve as interim Executive Director while the Foundation continues its nationwide search for candidates for the permanent position.

"Tony brings to us a remarkable background in the worlds of LGBT literature and nonprofit organizations along with a history of activism," comments Katherine Forrest.  "Along with this he has considerable experience in management strategic planning, fundraising, budget administration, marketing and promotional work, and events planning.  We're very fortunate to have someone like Tony on board to work with Charles Flowers in ensuring a smooth transition to the next era of LLF."

Tony Valenzuela was born in Los Angeles and raised both in Guadalajara, Mexico and Southern California.  A graduate of the MFA in Creative Writing program of the California Institute of the Arts, Valenzuela is a longtime community activist and writer whose work has focused on LGBT civil rights, sexual liberation and gay men’s health.  For the past six years he worked as the Manager of Research and Administration at GLASS (Gay & Lesbian Adolescent Social Services) in what was the largest and oldest LGBT child welfare organization in the country serving abused and neglected LGBT youth.  It was during this time that he first became involved with the Lambda Literary Foundation sitting on the Lambda Literary Awards host committee, then co-producing the awards ceremony “In Memoriam” videos for 2007 and 2008. 

As the Administrative Director of the Lesbian and Gay Men’s Community Center in San Diego in the early 1990’s, he spearheaded campaigns ranging from anti-gay hate crimes awareness to the needs of LGBT youth in schools.  As the Director of VOICES ’96 (Voters Organized in Coalition for the Elections) he gained national recognition for orchestrating a massive grassroots community response to the homophobic and racist platforms of the Republican National Convention held in San Diego during which time his organization, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, successfully sued the RNC for the right to protest directly in front of the San Diego convention center.  In the late 90’s Valenzuela became a leading voice of the Sex Panic movement drawing attention to the municipal crackdowns of commercial sex spaces throughout the country and advocating a renewed pro-sex politics in the queer community.  Perhaps most notably – and controversially – he is credited as having ruptured the conventional wisdom in HIV/AIDS prevention among gay men by launching an international debate regarding responsible sex without condoms and continues to this day to be a leading voice in the gay men’s health movement.  For his work on sexual politics, Out Magazine listed him among the “Out 100” of 1997, naming Valenzuela one of the gay community’s most influential leaders.  In the early 2000’s Valenzuela wrote, produced and performed his acclaimed one-man show, “The (Bad) Boy Next Door,” a second generation AIDS narrative which toured in a dozen cities in the U.S.  He has continued to publish essays, fiction and journalism and is currently working on a memoir.  He lives in Los Angeles with his husband, Rob Ferrante, and their dog, Boo.

Clarification of Lambda Literary Foundation Policy Guidelines  of Nominations, 2009 Lambda Literary Awards, From Katherine V. Forrest, Interim President, Board of Trustees

September 25, 2009 - The Board of Lambda Literary Foundation, under the leadership of Christopher Rice, spent much of last year discussing how our literature has evolved, and the actual mission of the Foundation given the perilous place we find ourselves in with our drastically changed market conditions.  We also took into consideration the despair of our own writers when a heterosexual writer, who has written a fine book about us, wins a Lambda Award, when one or more of our own LGBT writers may have as a Finalist a book that may be the only chance in a career at a Lambda Literary Award.

We discussed two essential questions: who we are, what we are here to accomplish.  We discussed every single word of this, our Mission statement: The Lambda Literary Foundation is dedicated to raising the status of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people throughout society by rewarding and promoting excellence among LGBT writers who use their work to explore LGBT lives.

Lambda Literary Foundation is a service organization for our writers.  Our LGBT family of writers.  We celebrate those who support our writers, those in all the allied areas of our literature: our readers, publishers, booksellers, publicists, agents, etc.  We celebrate straight allies of every kind and always have throughout our history, with the Bridge Builder Award, Small Press Award, Publishers Service Award, Editor's Choice Award, among other awards and acknowledgments, and we'll continue to do so.

Today we continue to be excluded in heterosexual society as we have been historically.  Our books are taken from the shelves of libraries all over the country and even from the website of Amazon.com this year.  It is more difficult to be an LGBT writer now than it has been in many decades, more difficult to make any income from our written words, much less a living.  Publishers have closed, stores have closed, the markets seem to be shrinking with each passing day.  It seems more urgent than ever that LLF be as active and supportive a service organization as we possibly can be for our own writers, and that's what we're working on, with a Board that could not be more passionate in our commitment.  We will soon have a new, far more comprehensive website connecting all segments of our publishing world, and we're determined to restore our Writers Retreat for emerging writers, the single most important initiative we've undertaken next to the Lambda Literary Awards.

As to what defines LGBT?  That is not up to anyone at Lambda Literary Foundation to decide.  The writers and publishers are the ones who will be doing the self-identifying.  Sexuality today is fluid and we welcome and cherish this freedom.  We take the nomination of any book at face value: if the book is nominated as LGBT, then the author is self-identifying as part of our LGBT family of writers, and that is all that is required.  There are many permutations of LGBT and they're all welcome as that LGBT term we've all adopted makes clear. 

We hope this will clarify our policy and answer some of your questions and concerns.  We welcome your comments.

Contact: Tony Valenzuela, info@lambdaliterary.org

Mailing Address for Lambda Literary Remains the Same

September 24, 2009--Apologies for the confusion, but we're staying put. Our mailing address remains 5482 Wilshire Blvd, #1595, Los Angeles, CA 90036. Phone, fax, and email remain the same (323-936-5876 & info@lambdaliterary.org).

Richard Labonté To Administer 22nd Lambda Literary Awards

September 15, 2009 -- The Board of Trustees has announced that Richard Labonté will administer the 22nd cycle of the Lambda Literary Awards.

"As a long-time judge, Lammy finalist and winner, bookseller, journalist, and critic, Richard brings an amazing breadth of knowledge and integrity to our awards program," Board member Katherine V. Forrest states. "We are thrilled he will be the administrator of this year's awards."

Richard Labonté has edited more than two dozen anthologies for Cleis Press, including the thrice-nominated, twice-Lambda Literary Award-winning Best Gay Erotica series; coedited (with Lawrence Schimel) The Future is Queer, First Person Queer (also a Lammy winner), Second Person Queer, and I Like It Like That: True Tales of Gay Desire, for Arsenal Pulp Press; writes a fortnightly book review column distributed to about a dozen papers by Q Syndicate; reviews contemporary fiction, gay nonfiction, and books about the environment for Publishers Weekly; and transmutes turgid technical writing into bright golden prose for assorted clients.

In part one of his post-university life, from 1972 to 1979, he wrote and edited for the Citizen daily newspaper in Ottawa, Ontario. In part two, from 1979 to 2000, he help found and eventually managed A Different Light Bookstores in Los Angeles, West Hollywood, and San Francisco, while writing book reviews for outlets ranging from The Advocate and In Touch to Feminist Bookstore News and Planet Out; he also helped organize the first two OutWrite literary conferences in San Francisco, organized five Readers & Writers Queer Literary Conferences in SF (along with other staff from A Different Light), and served on the board of the San Francisco Bay Area Book Festival, while organizing the festival's gay programming for five years.

In part three-since returning to Canada in 2001-he has been self-employed as a freelance editor, reviewer, and publishing consultant. In 2007 he moved with his husband, Asa Liles, to Bowen Island, British Columbia (pop. 3,500, plus plenty of deer, dogs, ravens, and crows), where he has helped organize two years of the island's first ever literary conference (Write On Bowen!), sits on the Bowen Island Library Board, and walks a lot among the ferns in the island's temperate rainforest. He has been involved with the Lambda Literary Awards as an advisor and as a judge from the inception of the Lammys, and in almost four decades of association with books as a reader, bookseller, and reviewer, estimates he has read something like 8,000 queer-interest books.

Guidelines for the 22nd Lambda Literary Awards are now available.

September BOOK BUZZ now online

Check out the September installment of BOOK BUZZ, John Morgan Wilson's monthly column on LGBT publishing, including an interview with author Lucy Jane Bledsoe. Check it out!

Lambda Literary & Giovanni's Room to Host "Read-a-Thon" in Philadelphia, November 21

August 25, 2009--The Board of Directors of the Lambda Literary Foundation and Ed Hermance, owner of Giovanni’s Room, would like to invite you to our first “Read-a-thon.” The event, to be held at 7:30pm on Saturday November 21, 2009, at Giovanni’s Room in Philadelphia, will be a benefit for both the Foundation and the bookstore. LGBT authors will read from a recent or classic book and answer questions for approximately 15 minutes total for each author. 100% of the proceeds from the event will go to the two beneficiaries. We will be serving donated wine and snacks during the marathon reading. While the foundation and the bookstore can’t offset any expenses authors might incur participating in this benefit, we can possibly arrange housing in local homes. Both the Foundation and Giovanni’s Room will be very grateful for your help in these trying economic times. While this is a fundraising event, we’re hoping it will be a lot of fun for a community of people who treasure our words and writers.

The Lambda Literary Foundation is dedicated to raising the status of openly lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people throughout society by rewarding and promoting excellence among LGBT writers who use their work to explore LGBT lives. The Foundation sponsors the annual Lammy awards and has begun an writer’s workshop program.

Giovanni’s Room, located at 12th & Pine in Center City Philadelphia, is the oldest LGBT bookstore in the USA. The store is faced with a financial challenge as their front wall of their historic structure is being replaced. The queer community of Philadelphia, rather than lose their cherished bookstore, is organizing fund-raising events through the fall to ensure the store’s survival.

We hope that we’ve enticed you to participate at this, sure to be wonderful, event. If you would like to read, or have any questions/comments/suggestions, please contact Scott Cranin at scranin@tlavideo.com or call 267-765-9840

New Reviews . . .

While we're busy getting the new website ready, we thought you'd enjoy some reviews of new books in the meantime.

Check out the reviews of I Told You So by Kate Clinton, Lake Overturn by Vestal McIntyre, and The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin.

New Reviews the week of August 24:

Got 'til It's Gone by Larry Duplechan
Reviewed by Reginald Harris

The Queer Ear: Lesbian Audio Books
Feature by Karla Jay

My Diva: 65 Gay Men Write About the Women Who Inspire Them,
Edited by Michael Montlack
Reviewed by Jameson Currier

The Heart's Traffic: A Novel in Verse by Ching-In Chen
Reviewed by Jason Schneiderman

Watch for more reviews each week!

Photographs from the 21st Lambda Literary Awards

Check out the photo gallery from the May 28 ceremony for the 21st Annual Lambda Literary Awards.

For further information, contact
Christopher Rice: 323.632.2611

Lambda Literary Foundation Announces Departure of Charles Flowers

LOS ANGELES, CA, August 6, 2009 – The Board of Trustees of the Lambda Literary Foundation announced today that its current Executive Director, Charles Flowers, will be departing his post in the fall.

"I'm proud of the work the Board and I have accomplished over the past four years," Flowers said of his departure, "and I look forward to seeing Lambda Literary prosper even more in the future."

A respected publishing industry veteran before coming to Lambda Literary, Charles was an editor at several major publishing houses where his authors included Michelangelo Signorile and the late E. Lynn Harris. From 2001 to 2005 he served as the Associate Director for the Academy of American Poets. “During his time with us, Charles has been an intelligent and compassionate ambassador to the diverse community Lambda Literary serves,” said Board President and New York Times best-selling author Christopher Rice. “He helped shepherd Lambda Literary through a challenging transition period, and did a wonderful job of organizing the first writers retreat in history devoted to emerging LGBT writers. We wish him the best of luck in his endeavors.”

Rice will chair the committee in charge of conducting a national search for Flowers’ successor.  “The current uncertainty in the publishing industry has called upon Lambda Literary to do more, not less,” continues Rice. “And Charles helped bring us to a place where we can rise to meet these increased opportunities. This year’s Lambda Literary Awards in New York City saw record attendance. He also helped begin the development process for a dynamic, interactive new website which will connect readers with LGBT writers and is now set to launch later this year.”

Gratitude from the entire LGBT community of writers and readers is owed to Charles for his many contributions to Lambda Literary: his hard work in taking the Foundation from indebtedness to fiscal solvency; the continuation of the Foundation's signature program, the Lambda Literary Awards; restoration from suspended publication of the Lambda Book Report, the only LGBT review periodical of its kind in the country; and the Writers Retreat, programmed and conducted by Charles in 2007 and 2008, for which he assembled an outstanding faculty who worked directly with approximately 40 emerging writers and poets.  His well-liked demeanor and accessibility have won him affection and admiration throughout the LGBT community, and he will be missed. 

New Website Inspires a Challenge and a Gift from Activist Jeanne Cordova

August 7, 2009--We did it! We met and surpassed Jeanne Cordova's Challenge of raising $2,500 in a week -- by 9 am this morning, we had received $2,705 or 108% of our goal!

Thank you to the who've made a gift in the last week to match the Cordova Challenge:

Henry Alley
Anonymous
Karen Auerbach
David Bair
Henrietta Bensussen
Jim Berg
Pat Cronin
Robert Dawson
Stuart Falk
David Gardner
Gregory Gerard
Robert Giron
Roland C. Hansen
Kenneth Harvey
Mark Hawkins
Sean Heatherington
Karla Jay
Dawn Kimberling
Allan Marshall
Scot T. O'Hara
Richard Peterson
Scott Pomfret
Joe Rader
Faith Reidenbach
Kathy Smith & Denise Winthrop
Michael Walker

Nicola Griffith Receives Grant to Research Next Novel

July 27, 2009--Six-time Lammy winner Nicola Griffith has received a research grant from The Authors' Foundation (administered by the UK's Society of Authors) for her novel-in-progress about Hild of Whitby, also known as St. Hilda, who lived in seventh century Britain.

Nicola adds, "With luck I'll be fossicking about the north of England for a few weeks late next summer, absorbing the landscape, chatting to historians, maybe even meeting some medieval bloggers in the pub at the International Medieval Congress in Leeds."

Congratulations, Nicola! Discover more about her project at her blog about the novel.

Lambda Literary Now on Twitter!

July 6, 2009--It's true-- Charles has overcome his loathing of haiku and is now a committed twitterer (!). Follow us at: http://twitter.com/LambdaLiterary

O Brave, Brief New World!

Winners of the 21st Lambda Literary Awards Announced

May 29 , 2009—The Lambda Literary Foundation honored Leslie Feinberg, Andrew Holleran, Felice Picano, and Edmund White as this year’s recipients of its Pioneer Awards, at the 21st annual Lambda Literary Awards on May 28, 2009 in New York City.

Guest Presenters included Kate Clinton, Michelangelo Signorile, Jackie Woodson, Keith Boykin, Alice Quinn, and many more!

The Lambda Literary Awards seek to recognize excellence in the field of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender literature. Each year, over 80 judges -- writers, booksellers, librarians, journalists -- assess the entries in more than 20 categories.

This year, 105 finalists representing 72 publishers competed for awards in 22 categories.

LGBT Anthologies | LGBT Childrens/Young Adult

LGBT Drama | LGBT Nonfiction

LGBT Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror | LGBT Studies

Bisexual | Transgender |

Lesbian Debut Fiction | Gay Debut Fiction

Lesbian Erotica | Gay Erotica

Lesbian Fiction | Gay Fiction

Lesbian Memoir/Biography | Gay Memoir/Biography

Lesbian Mystery | Gay Mystery

Lesbian Poetry |Gay Poetry

Lesbian Romance | Gay Romance

BISEXUAL

• Open, Jenny Block, Seal Press
  

TRANSGENDER

• Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word), Thea Hillman, Manic D Press

LGBT ANTHOLOGIES

• Our Caribbean, edited by Thomas Glave, Duke University Press

LGBT CHILDRENS/YOUNG ADULT

• Out of the Pocket, Bill Konigsberg, Dutton

LGBT DRAMA

• The Second Coming of Joan of Arc, Carolyn Gage, Outskirts Press

LGBT NONFICTION

• Loving The Difficult, Jane Rule, Hedgerow Press
  

LGBT SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR

• Turnskin, Nicole Kimberling, Blind Eye Books
  

LGBT STUDIES

• Criminal Intimacy: Prison and the Uneven History of Modern American Sexuality, Regina Kunzel, The University of Chicago Press

LESBIAN DEBUT FICTION

• The Bruise, Magdalena Zurawski, Fiction Collective Two/University of Alabama Press

LESBIAN EROTICA

• In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip, Radclyffe and Karin Kallmaker, Bold Strokes Books

LESBIAN FICTION (a tie!)

• The Sealed Letter, Emma Donoghue, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
• All the Pretty Girls, Chandra Mayor, Conundrum Press

LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY

• Sex Talks to Girls: A Memoir, Maureen Seaton, University of Wisconsin Press

LESBIAN MYSTERY

• Whacked, Josie Gordon, Bella Books

LESBIAN POETRY

• love belongs to those who do the feeling, Judy Grahn, Red Hen Press
  

LESBIAN ROMANCE

• The Kiss That Counted, Karin Kallmaker, Bella Books

GAY DEBUT FICTION

• Finlater, Shawn Ruff, Quote Editions
  

GAY EROTICA

• Best Gay Erotica 2009, Richard Labonte & James Lear, Cleis Press
  
  

GAY FICTION

• We Disappear, Scott Heim, Harper Perennial

GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY

• Edward Carpenter:  A Life of Liberty and Love, Sheila Rowbotham, Verso Books

GAY MYSTERY

• First You Fall, Scott Sherman, Alyson Books

GAY POETRY (a tie!)

• Fire to Fire, Mark Doty, Harper
• Now You're the Enemy, James Allen Hall, Univ. of Arkansas Press

GAY ROMANCE

• Got 'til it's Gone, Larry Duplechan, Arsenal Pulp Press

Are You A G.E.M.?

As we brace for a turbulent 2009 economy, we’re creating ways for our friends to support us that are easy, flexible, and cost-effective. I hope you'll consider joining our G.E.M. (Giving Every Month) program by pledging a monthly gift that is automatically charged to the debit/credit card of your choice.

As a G.E.M., you’ll receive a monthly email with reviews of LGBT books and author interviews before they are published in Lambda Book Report or on our website. You’ll also receive our press releases first, including an early-bird announcement of Lambda Literary Award finalists (March 16) and winners (May 28).

Ruby? Emerald? Diamond? Join the G.E.M. Program today!

Lambda Literary Directory of Professional Services Launches

This is a new service from the Lambda Literary Foundation: a directory of professional literary services. This directory will provide a list of working professionals in the following areas, among others:

• Editors
• Literary Agents
• Publicists
• Graphic Designers
• Web Designers
• Writing Workshops
• Writers to Hire
  

Lists of publishers (Find a Publisher), literary journals (Find a Literary Journal), and bookstores (Find a Bookstore) are located elsewhere in the Resource Center. Additions to those lists may be sent to info@lambdaliterary.org.

If you are a literary professional who would like to be listed in the directory, the annual fee is $25. Consult the Directory Information page, and send any questions to info@lambdaliterary.org: