Sue Landers is Named Executive Director of Lambda Literary
Author: Edit Team
June 1, 2018
The Board of Directors of Lambda Literary is delighted to announce that Sue Landers has been selected to be the next executive director of Lambda Literary. She succeeds Tony Valenzuela, who announced last fall that he would step down as executive director after a nine-year tenure. Sue will assume the role on July 2, 2018.
Sue Landers brings an abundance of experience and a heartfelt, personal connection to the work of Lambda Literary. She has had an extensive career in nonprofit management and a long record of engagement in poetry and queer literary communities. Sue began her career at Lambda Rising bookstore in Washington, DC, which originated the Lambda Book Report and whose owners founded Lambda Literary. She has since worked primarily in the nonprofit sector, most recently in a variety of management roles at the College Board for sixteen years. An author as well as an editor, Sue recently published her third book, a hybrid work of poetry and prose about the racially diverse community in Philadelphia where she grew up.
“We are thrilled that Sue has agreed to lead us as we seek to build on our successes and further advance our impact and reach as the premier organization supporting LGBTQ readers and writers,” said Lambda Literary Board President Amy Scholder. “In light of the extraordinary and divisive political and cultural upheaval we are experiencing in our country, we need to ground ourselves in the power of our words and resist the forces that continue to try to undermine us. Nurturing our individual and collective artistic capacity will fuel and sustain our communities, and expand our rich creative legacies. Sue has the perfect blend of skill, energy, and vision that we need to lead Lambda Literary through these times.”
“I believe that LGBTQ writing is absolutely vital for our collective happiness and survival,” Sue Landers said, “For decades, Lambda Literary has fostered precisely the kind of radical imagination we need to build a more equitable world. I am honored to join this incredible organization and look forward to serving our LGBTQ+ community.”
“I have been an ardent supporter of Lambda Literary for many years,” commented Judith Markowitz, Lambda Literary Leadership Council member and sponsor of the Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBT Writers. “I am inspired by the steadily increasing reach and impact of the organization, and excited that the board has selected a new leader who is poised to take us even further. Sue will have my full support as she leads Lambda Literary through this incredibly important time of challenge and opportunity for our communities and our country.”
Lambda Literary will celebrate its thirtieth anniversary at the Lambda Literary Awards gala (aka “The Lammys”)in New York City on June 4, 2018. The organization has become highly regarded for its educational and cultural programs, and as a steward and ambassador for LGBTQ literature worldwide. In addition to the Lammys, Lambda Literary sponsors the growing LGBTQ Writers in Schools program, Lambda LitFest Los Angeles, the annual Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, the Lambda Literary Review, and the recently launched Nepantla, a journal dedicated to queer poets of color.
