Publicity Contact: chloe feffer, Program Manager, Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices
Phone: (213) 277-5755
Email: retreat@lambdaliterary.org
96 Emerging LGBTQ Writers to Join Lambda Literary’s 2025 Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices
New York, NY—For over 35 years, Lambda Literary has championed LGBTQIA+ books and authors based on its belief that lives are affirmed and culture preserved when our stories are written, published, and read. Since 2007, Lambda Literary has offered the Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices—the nation’s premier LGBTQIA+ writing residency, which brings together emerging poets, playwrights, screenwriters, essayists, novelists, cross-genre writers, and memoirists in a safe, welcoming, and love-centered community.
Our fellows have the opportunity to make connections, form a community, workshop writing under the tutelage of our talented faculty, attend a variety of panels and craft talks, and participate in a public reading of their work. This year, the Writers Retreat is returning to a virtual program.
Lambda Literary is pleased to announce the 2025 Fellows and Scholars to attend its prestigious Writers Retreat.
Fiction
The 2025 Fellows to study fiction under Fatimah Asghar’s tutelage are:
Alana Francis-Crow
Chiara Kaufman
Emily/楊佳諭 Yang
Henry Hicks IV
Mayookh Barua
Noel Quiñones
Poonam Dhir
Roman Johnson
Sanchari Sur
Shana Turner
Tanisha Tekriwal
Virginia Lee Wood
Nonfiction
The 2025 Fellows to study nonfiction under Aisha Sabatini Sloan’s tutelage are:
Alejandro Moran
Asya Graf
August Owens Grimm
Ayodeji Otuyelu
Chisom Job
J.T.F. Richardson
Jasmine Vallejo-Love
Jenevieve Ting
Lawrence Everett Forbes
Meredith L. King
Neon Mashurov
Raesin Caine
Playwriting
The 2025 Fellows to study playwriting under Hansol Jung’s tutelage are:
Diana Khong
Helen Everbach
Hess Love
Holly Zhou
Kara Hadden
Kristy Lin Billuni
Lisa Alves
Lisa Konoplisky
Nan Joubá
Nathaniel Hanula-James
Timothy E. Bradley
Utkarsh Rajawat
Poetry
The 2025 Fellows to study poetry under Kay Ulanday Barrett’s tutelage are:
Amir McClam
Briana Grogan
Cai Sherley
Emdash Gao
Ezra Fox
Isa Borgeson
Kaitlin Hsu
Mickie Kennedy
MT Vallarta
Sarah M. Sala
Venus Cohen
Zuggie Tate
Screenwriting
The 2025 Fellows to study screenwriting under Stephen Canal’s tutelage are:
Albe Gilmore
Brendan Logan
Emanuel Xavier
Jerry Hsu
Juniper Johnson
Krystal Banzon
Matteo Mascanzoni
Oscar K.
Rose Marie Torres
Sam Mistry
Sophie Mutiara Nova
Van Newman
Screen/Play/Writing
The 2025 Fellows to study screenplay writing and playwriting under Roger Q. Mason’s: tutelage are:
A’raelle Flynn-Bolden
Ale Flores
Angela Bey
Eliot Colin
Gina Stella dell’Assunta
Julian Bernhardt
Marie Bland
Mike Talplacido
Nay Harris
Sache Satta
Sam Heyman
Syd Rushing
Speculative Fiction
The 2025 Fellows to study Speculative Fiction under Nisi Shawl’s tutelage are:
Ayida Shonibar
Blue Guldal
Catherine Buck
Chloe Colbert
Gwendolyn Hicks
Kate Tooley
Niv Sekar
Osmani Ochoa
Shaawan Francis Keahna
Simo Srinivas
Susanne Salehi
Vinny Rose Pinto
Young Adult Fiction
The 2025 Fellows to study young adult fiction under Aiden Thomas’s tutelage are:
Alexander Casey
Aryn Scanlon
Ben Greene
Dani Castonzo
Dev Jannerson
Jasmine Zou
Jessica Martinez
Kc Castañeda
Nathalie De Los Santos
Noelle Monét
Rory G.
Stephanie Chang
Scholarship Winners
The following donor-funded scholarships provide Retreat Fellows and Writers in Residence with financial support to attend the Writers Retreat without cost. Recipients are selected from a myriad of applicants who meet each scholarship’s respective criteria. We are grateful to all of our supporters who make this possible.
The Academy Scholarship
The Academy Scholarship, offered by the Academy of American Poets, supports a woman and/or femme poet who attends the 2025 Writers Retreat.
The Academy Scholarship recipient is Zuggie Tate.
Zuggie Tate (she/her) is a poet and spoken word artist with a BA in Sociology from Case Western Reserve University. Rooted in her identity as a Black, Trans, Larger-Bodied, Poverty-Born Woman with invisible disabilities, her work affirms Black Trans Women and invites others into empathy and re-education. Her poetry appears in Black Midwest Anthology, Wasteland Review, and more. She’s a 2025 Verge and Amplify Fellow, 2023 Living Heritage Award recipient, and Twelve Literary Arts fellow. Zuggie is working on her debut collection, Abomination Pink, and hopes to pursue an MFA and residencies to continue uplifting Black Trans voices.
The Cody John Laplante Scholarship
This full scholarship supports writers who uplift marginalized voices through creative and compassionate actions, continuing Cody’s legacy of empathy and inclusion.
The Cody John Laplante Scholarship honors a talented poet and compassionate individual who passed away at 27. Cody’s work, including the multimedia project, Triple Slash: ///, a collaboration with Nigel Nolan, preserves his artistic legacy and enduring impact. As an ESL teacher for Somali immigrants in Portland, Maine, Cody went beyond the classroom – he often shared meals and slept in parks with those experiencing homelessness. He formed deep connections with individuals whom society often overlooked.
“Art seduces us, relieves us. We know that we don’t believe in all of the same things but we have faith that we believe in THIS same thing. Let’s share what we make with others. Let’s engage in the beauty of being.“ – Cody John Laplante
The 2025 Cody John Laplante Scholarship recipient is Chisom Peter Job.
Chisom Peter Job is a writer-researcher and curator who works at the intersection of culture, art and identity. They were named an African No Filter Kekere Storyteller in 2022 and in the same year nominated for The Future Awards for Africa prize for journalism where they were the youngest nominee.
They were previously Managing Editor at STATEMENT Africa, Editor-in-Chief at Living Free U.K, and Creative Director at Obodo Nigeria where they worked as curator and archivist. Their writing has appeared in The New York Times, Teen Vogue, Queerty, The Washington Post, and more.
You can find them exploring different hobbies when they aren’t working. They are on Instagram, @chisompeterjob.
Erica Landis Memorial Scholarship
The Erica Landis Memorial Scholarship supports a Black Fellow in any genre attending the Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices.
The 2025 recipient of the Erica Landis Memorial Scholarship is Cai Sherley.
Cai Sherley (he/him) is a Black trans poet-educator. Cai is a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee, with work published in Best New Poets 2022, swamp pink, Peach Mag, and My Loves: A Digital Anthology of Queer Love Poems from Ghost City Press. His poetry focuses on excavating Black trans masculine histories, and has been supported by The Watering Hole, Brooklyn Poets, and Tin House. Cai has facilitated poetry workshops with schools & organizations across the East Coast and provides professional development for educators looking to use poetry in the classroom. Cai has an MFA from NYU and lives in Chicago, where he serves as a Poet in Residence at the Chicago Poetry Center. @crsed_poet everywhere.
Emerge Editorial Scholarship
The Lambda Literary Emerge Editorial Scholarship recognizes a Fellow who has an interest in literary editing and whose past work shows considerable promise. The 2025 Emerge Editorial Scholarship Fellow will edit this year’s Emerge Anthology. The Lambda Literary Emerge Editorial Scholarship recognizes that if we want LGBTQIA+ writers to feel at home in the literary landscape and for publishing to be full of our many perspectives, we must provide LGBTQIA+ writers the opportunity to learn about and take part in the editorial process.
The 2025 recipient of the Lambda Literary Emerge Editorial Scholarship is Holly Zhou.
Holly Zhou is a writer and mixed-media artist from the California desert, the unceded territory of the Cahuilla and Mojave peoples. Holly’s poetry has appeared in Black Warrior Review, Foglifter, The Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. Their collaborative poetry and art zines have been showcased at the Bluestockings Comic Fest and at the San Francisco Zine Fest. When not writing, they can be found exploring rocks by the ocean or in the mountains.
The Jeanne Córdova Words Scholarship
The Jeanne Córdova Words Scholarship, in memory of the beloved activist and author, is given annually. The scholarship is awarded to a lesbian-identified queer or trans woman of color working on text with lesbian content in any of the workshop categories excluding poetry.
The 2025 Jeanne Córdova Words Scholarship recipient is Tanisha Tekriwal.
Tanisha Tekriwal is a writer and filmmaker from Ahmedabad and Mumbai interested in stories of family, language, gender, and empire. They have a story in On the Brink of Belief, a Penguin anthology of queer writing from South Asia. Tanisha’s writing has been supported by a Tin House Residency and scholarships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and the Granta Short Fiction Workshop. They were the Octavia Butler Scholar for the 2024 Clarion West Summer Workshop, and selected for The Queer Writer’s Room, co-programmed by The Queer Muslim Project and the Iowa International Writing Program. They are currently working on their first novel. You can find them @tanishatekriwal on Instagram.
The Justin Chin Memorial Scholarship
Sponsored by Alexander Chee and Christine Hyung-Oak Lee, The Justin Chin Memorial Scholarship is offered annually in memory of the late author Justin Chin and supports queer, Asian American Pacific Islanders writers who write queer content in any genre.
The 2025 Justin Chin Memorial Scholarship recipient is Jenevieve Ting.
Jenevieve Ting is a writer from California who now lives in New York. They were a finalist for the 2020 Stories x Not a Cult Award for Poetry, and their work appears or will appear in the ONE National Gay & Lesbian Archives, Haymarket Books, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, Indiana Review, The Offing, Fugue, Almanac Journal, NAVEL, and the Asian American Justice & Innovation Lab. Their work investigates the queer spaces where lineages die, death lives, and our gender dissident bodies seek what is im/possible and il/logical. @tingrolls / tingroll.com
Lavender Public Relations Package
Sponsored by Lavender Public Relations, this offering covers six months of public relations services for a debut author whose book is slated to be published by an indie house in 2026. This includes a six-month pro-bono publicity campaign spearheaded by one of Lavender PR’s leads, for a debut book in any genre to be published in 2026 by an independent publisher, with “independent” defined as NOT an imprint of one of the Big Five publishing houses (Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, HarperCollins, and Hachette). The campaign will begin six months before the book’s publication date and remain active until one month after the book comes out. Learn more about Lavender PR at their website.
The 2025 Lavender Public Relations Package recipient is Sophie Mutiara Nova.
Final Girl fanatic Sophie Mutiara Nova is a Queer, half-Indonesian, SLE-diagnosed Writer-Director. (Writing Fellow of ACEX TV Initiative, Finalist of Emmy’s TV Academy Foundation Directing Program). Their TV series have won the Launchpad Pilot Competition, ScreenCraft Horror Competition & more, w/ film work screening internationally. Their monster book CATCH LILI TOO was spotlighted by the Golden Crown Literary Society with PHONING FAUST upcoming. Originally from Chicago, Sophie’s now in Los Angeles (Dartmouth College BFA & MFA Film Directing CalArts). When not writing or rocking out, they practice Indonesian traditional dance with Burat Wangi. Find them in a haunted house and @thesophiewhit.
Lili Elbe Scholarship
Honoring the life and legacy of transgender pioneer Lili Elbe, the annual Lili Elbe Scholarship recognizes a trans Lambda Literary Fellow in any genre whose work shows considerable talent and promise. A Danish trans woman, Lili Elbe was one of the earliest recipients of gender confirmation surgery. The scholarship is sponsored by David Ebershoff, whose first novel about Elbe, The Danish Girl, won the Lambda Literary Award for transgender fiction and was adapted into an Oscar-winning film.
The 2025 Lili Elbe Scholarship recipient is Ezra Fox.
Ezra lives and writes in San Francisco, CA. Ezra’s writing explores the tensions between lineage, queer identity, and spirituality as they intersect with concepts of impermanence and non-duality. Their work appears in TriQuarterly, EcoTheo Review, Zócalo Public Square, Zone 3, and elsewhere. They were also a Birdcoat Quarterly Poetry Prize finalist. Ezra holds an MFA from Indiana University.
Apart from writing, Ezra maintains a practice of reconnecting with their inner child: roller-skating, playing drums, and enjoying animated films and theme parks. In quieter moments, they can be found sharing cups of tea and sweet treats with beloveds.
Find Ezra at ezrafox.net or @ezraxfox on Instagram.
The Stemmler/Dennis LGBT& Scholarship
The Stemmler/Dennis LGBT& Award, established by Sigma Tau Delta members Dr. Kevin Stemmler and Dr. Larry Dennis, honors exceptional creative and critical works that represent or celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. This annual award addresses the historical marginalization of LGBTQ+ voices in academia, providing recognition for both creative and scholarly contributions. The award’s name incorporates an ampersand, inspired by GLAAD’s “&Together” campaign, symbolizing inclusivity and unity among diverse identities.
In partnership with Lambda Literary, LGBT& Award-winners in the “creative” category will be short-listed to attend Lambda Literary’s Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, further supporting and amplifying LGBTQ+ narratives in literature. One LGBT& Award-winner each year will be selected to attend the Writers Retreat.
The 2025 recipient of the Stemmler/Dennis LGBT& Scholarship is Alejandro Moran.
Alejandro Moran is a transgender Ecuadorian author living in Florida. He enjoys finding a balance between satire and earnestness to explore his identity and heritage. He began by writing fiction, and though he would often incorporate queer narratives into his stories, it wasn’t until he began writing poetry and creative non-fiction that he discovered untapped wells of inspiration. Through further readings of these genres, he grew more observant of his surroundings, appreciating fleeting moments and noting often ignored presences in our world. He wants his stories to help others find their place in the world like he was able to find his.
You can find his work at https://alex741309.carrd.co.
Additional Scholarships
Lambda Literary received donations from many generous donors to cover the full tuition of three 2025 Fellows and half tuition of ten 2025 Fellows. The Fellows supported by these donations are:
Emily Yang
Utkarsh Rajawat
Sam Mistry
Henry Hicks IV
Noel Quiñones
Poonam Dhir
Jasmine Vallejo-Love
Meredith King
Anonymous
Nathalie De Los Santos
A’raelle Flynn-Bolden
Angela Bey
Gina Stella dell’Assunta
To learn more about the Fellows and Writers in Residence, visit our website.
In community,
chloe feffer
Program Manager
Lambda Literary
