Lambda Literary
I served on the Board of Directors of Lambda Literary from 2014-2020; four of those years on the executive committee and three of those years as president of the Board.
Lambda Literary traces its beginnings back to 1987 when Lambda Rising Bookstore in Washington, DC, published the first Lambda Book Report, which brought critical attention to LGBTQ books. The Lambda Literary Awards were born in 1989. The purpose of the Awards was to identify and celebrate the best lesbian and gay books in the year of their publication. The Awards gave national visibility to a literature that had established a firm if nascent beachhead through a network of dynamic lesbian and gay publishers and bookstores springing up across America.
In 2007, Lambda Literary founded its Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices: a residency designed to offer intensive and sophisticated instruction to selected writers over a carefully designed one week period. It is one of Lambda’s most important initiatives: it represents the future of LGBTQ literature.
In 2012, led by Executive Director Tony Valenzuela, Lambda Literary launched the LGBTQ Writers in School program, where LGBTQ writers visit K-12 classrooms to discuss LGBTQ literature with young people.
When the global COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, Lambda survived thanks to a tremendous outpouring of support for our community. Under the leadership of Executive Director Sue Landers, Lambda pivoted all programming from in-person to virtual, built a financial safety net, and embarked on a new strategic roadmap that takes the organization where our community needs and wants us to go. It was during Sue’s time as ED that my term ended as a Board member. I continue to support their efforts.