Earlier this week, I had the honor of participating in a Lambda Literary Award finalist reading in Los Angeles. The Lambdas (or more colloquially, “The Lammys”) are considered the preeminent book awards for LGBT writers, and it was exciting to be there, among eight other finalists. Most were from the L.A. area but there was one fellow writer from the Pacific Northwest—Stephanie Adams-Santos of Portland. Two of the authors—CB Lee and Jeff Garvin—are finalists for the LGBTQ Children’s/Young Adult category. Lee read from her nominated young adult fantasy novel, Not Your Sidekick, which is about a high school girl who is frustrated as a result of not having inherited her parents’ super powers. Garvin read from his young adult novel, Symptoms of Being Human, which describes the angst of a young trans protagonist who struggles with the demands of conformity imposed by his or her (readers are left deliberately in the dark as to the protagonist’s gender) politician father.
Poets also made a strong showing at the reading. Jos Charles, a finalist in trans poetry, read beautiful work about their relationship to their parents, and Stephanie Adams-Santos, a finalist in lesbian poetry, read very interesting and moving work about mental illness. I read from my poetry book, The Body’s Alphabet, which is a finalist in bisexual nonfiction, and Kate Partridge and Alyse Knorr read gorgeous poems about moose, bears, and the Alaska landscape from the anthology, Building Fires in the Snow: A Collection of Alaska LGBTQ Short Fiction and Poetry, a finalist in the LGBTQ Anthology category.
Finally, Elizabeth Hall, also a finalist in bisexual nonfiction, read from her book, I Have Devoted My Life to the Clitoris, which is a fascinating combination of history and memoir, and J. Aaron Sanders, author of an historical mystery about Walt Whitman, read a poignant essay comparing Walt Whitman’s grief about losing men to war to his own grief at being geographically separated from his children after divorce.
Beyond listening to everyone’s incredible work and feeling like I was part of something much bigger then myself, I was also excited to see that there were at least three bi-identified authors reading. Although bisexuals comprise the largest segment of the LGBT community by most counts, we are often invisible in LGBT spaces. This time, however, we were out in force. CB Lee had even died her hair in bi colors--purple and blue! It was also great to read in an official space--the West Hollywood City Council Chambers. That felt very legitimizing after all my years as an outsider writer.
I’m looking forward to attending the Lambda Literary Awards ceremony as well as the Bisexual Book Awards ceremony in New York City next month. I'm grateful to Lambda Literary Awards, the Bisexual Book Awards, my publisher Headmistress Press, and to everyone else that made this possible.
Many congratulations, Ann, for this well-deserved recognition of your sensitive work. You represented us well at the Lammys!
Posted by: Monica Eppinger | June 01, 2017 at 03:00 PM