LGBTQWIS FAQ

 Lambda Literary’s LGBTQ Writers in Schools program is dedicated to fostering enriching interactions between LGBTQ+ authors, their books, and educational settings. Through both virtual and in-person formats, this program extends its reach to classrooms, book clubs, and schools. This experience serves as a critical platform for LGBTQ+ students and their allies to engage with impactful literature and explore their identities within safe and supportive spaces.

Upon admission, you can anticipate a comprehensive package that encompasses multiple aspects:

• • Professional Development: Acquire valuable tools and insights for guiding discussions on LGBTQ literature and related subjects.

• • Author Interaction: Engage in a real-time interaction with a prominent LGBTQ+ author, either virtually or in person, creating an immersive experience for students.

• • Classroom Book Set: Receive a complete set of the chosen LGBTQ+ title for your classroom, enabling students to explore the material more deeply.

• • Standard Visits: Accommodate up to 35 students and 2 educators, fostering an intimate and engaging environment. This includes a curricular visit (a visit to a class) or an extracurricular visit (a visit to a self-selected book club or gathering such as a GSA).

• • • • Curricular visits accommodate up to 35 students and 2 educators.
      • Extracurricular visits accommodate up to 20 students and 1 educator.

• • Larger Group Visits: Options available for larger group visits involving 2-4 classes, facilitated by a single author.

• • All-School Visits: Limited opportunities for all-school visits also exist.

• • Visit and Workshop: You may fill out an application for a visit or mini-poetry workshop and an application for the 8-week writing workshops to enhance the educational impact.

The program operates through a structured two-part framework:

Part One (August to November/Early December):

During this initial phase, the application, acceptance, professional development, and author selection process take place. This involves educators applying for the program showcasing their interest, capabilities, and readiness to implement LGBTQ+ inclusive curriculum for their students. Lambda Literary collaborates closely with the New York City School Library System to review and adjudicate applications. The selection process reflects educators’ dedication to fostering a secure and affirming environment for all students. Within this period, educators also participate in a comprehensive professional development workshop. This workshop equips them with information about the program mission, information, and process with the tools and insights necessary to create a safe space for discussion as well as preparation for the visit. Additionally, the author selection and scheduling process takes place during this phase, ensuring a seamless alignment of resources and scheduling for the visits.

Part Two (January 21, 2025, to June 26, 2025; Writing Workshops and LGBTQ+ Youth Poet Laureate Residency begins the week of January 13, 2025):

The second phase spans from January 21, 2025, to June 26, 2025. This is when the program’s visits occur. After acceptance into the program, educators are provided with a well-curated catalog featuring age-appropriate and culturally sensitive LGBTQ+ titles. Educators have the autonomy to select a specific author and book from this catalog, aligning with their classroom objectives and student demographics. Lambda Literary then takes the lead in arranging and facilitating all aspects of the author visit. This includes logistical coordination, support, and guidance throughout the visit. Post-visit evaluations are also administered to assess the impact of the visit and gather valuable insights for the program’s continuous enhancement.

This comprehensive approach ensures a well-structured and impactful experience for educators and students alike. It empowers educators to incorporate LGBTQ+ literature into their curriculum effectively while fostering a safe and validating learning environment for students.

As part of our yearly program, we offer several elements including a visit with an LGBTQ author to discuss their LGBTQ book. Our standard author visits serve curricular classrooms and extra-curricular clubs or gatherings like a GSA (Gender and Sexuality Alliance). 

Mini poetry workshop

We offer one-hour poetry workshops tailored for grades K-12 in NYC public schools, adaptable for both curricular and extracurricular contexts. These workshops prioritize a comprehensive understanding of poetic craft and facilitate the creation of original poems. Our skilled poet instructors may draw upon their own work or utilize pieces from LGBTQ+ poets and LGBTQ+-centered literature as reference material, as required. Each workshop accommodates a maximum of 35 students, ensuring an engaging and focused learning experience.

As part of the workshop, students will also receive a selection of poems, enhancing their exposure to diverse voices and perspectives within the LGBTQ+ literary realm. This initiative aims to cultivate students’ creative expression, deepen their grasp of poetry, and foster an inclusive and enriching learning environment.

8-Week Writing Workshop

These workshops are intended to foster creativity, artistic commitment, mentorship, performance, and literary citizenship for LGBTQ+ high school students.

High School LGBTQ+ Writing Workshop (open to grades 9-12; max 12 students)

The writing workshop is open for LGBTQ+ students to learn the craft and technique of creative writing. The workshop is an open and safe atmosphere where they can discover their queer voices through creative expression. A queer-identified writing mentor will lead in-school queer-centered writing workshops in a specific genre including fiction, poetry, and personal narrative. The end goal for each in-school residency is to produce a finished piece to be included in a professionally designed ebook anthology of the student’s writing. Our 2024 student anthology is here.

LGBTQ+ Youth Poet Laureate Virtual Residency (open to students in grades 9-12)

The aim of the residency is to help LGBTQ+ youth poets improve their poetry, perform their work, engage in literary citizenship, and commit to their own artistic practice. LGBTQ+ Youth Poet Laureate. This fellowship is open to all poets including spoken word poets.

This program is exclusively for LGBTQ+ high school students within New York City Public Schools. It offers a transformative 4-month poetry mentorship led by LGBTQ+ teaching artists. 

The workshops are designed to delve into craft elements and generative writing, ultimately guiding participants in creating 3-5 polished poems. A central highlight of the program is the public reading, providing a platform for participants to showcase their work. Additionally, one distinguished LGBTQ+ poetry fellow will have the chance to be considered for publication.

This initiative aims to empower LGBTQ+ high school students, nurturing their poetic skills, fostering a sense of community, and celebrating their unique voices in the literary landscape.

We choose one poet participating in the residency as our LGBTQ+ Youth Poet Laureate who shows exceptional promise in the poetic form. We also choose an LGBTQ+ Civic Poet Laureate

Currently, we are serve the NYC Department of Education. If you are interested in bring this program to your district, please contact Monica Carter, mcarter@lambdaliterary.org. If you are a private school interested in participating please fill out our interest form so we can contact you when we begin to serve private schools.

Yes! We support educators and librarians to learn more about supporting your LGBTQ Inclusive curriculum. If you’re interested, please fill out this form so we can send you our LGBTQ Inclusive curriculum guides. 

Yes, please sign up for quarterly email newsletter here!

We are always wanting to bring new titles and authors into the program. Here are our guidelines for participation:

• Your work must be LGBTQ+ centered.

• Must commit to doing visits from January to June.

• Must communicate with the educator about the structure and content of the visit.

• Must be comfortable speaking to students and adhere to age-appropriate behavior norms.

• Must supply bio, headshot, and W-9 when filling out the intake form.

• Must be based in or close to the NYC area for in-person visits.

• If not based in NYC and the surrounding area, must be able to do visits virtually. Also, if living outside of NYC and would like to do in-person visits, they must pay for their own travel. We will work with you to schedule visit blocks to make the trip worth your while.

• We consider authors based in the United States and Canada.

• We strongly encourage queer authors of color to apply.

We recruit our authors beginning July 1 of each year. If you’re interested in participating, please send an email to Monica Carter, mcarter@lambdaliterary.org. If you have a digital copy, feel free to attach that to the email.

If you’d like to see a list of authors and titles we’ve used in the program, please visit the LGBTQ Writers in Schools Program landing page.

Comfortability. Must be comfortable speaking to K-12 students and adhere to age-appropriate behavior norms.

Adaptability. There are many variables that go into a virtual/in-person visit and it’s best to be comfortable adapting. We do as much as we can to prepare educators and students for the visit, but situations occur that are out of our control. These variables include student preparedness, unexpected school events, technical issues, levels of familiarity with queer language and experience, time and date changes, and communication styles.

Communication. We ask the educators to initiate communication with authors to discuss the details of the visit including structure, content, and facilitation, but we expect authors to check in before the visit to make sure everyone understands what the visit will look like.

Preparedness. There are different scenarios that can impact the visit and the author should be prepared to respond. Situations like students being shy and quiet, technical issues preventing the use of a slide presentation, students/educators asking a question that is too personal, an educator/student misgendering the author or someone else, etc and it is important to know your boundaries and be able to communicate those clearly at the moment. Any awkward or uncomfortable moments should be handled at the moment.

When we choose titles for our next school year, we aim for diverse and inclusive representation that includes titles with different races, gender expressions, sexual orientations, ages, classes, communities, experiences, and intersectionality. We specifically advocate for non-white and trans authors. The title must have either queer characters, a queer storyline, or encompass queer issues and identities in some way to be considered.

Title Consideration:

• Does it represent the student population we serve?
• Does it foster an open dialogue and discussion about culturally and age-appropriate themes?
• Does it fill a need in representation or genre?
• Other factors include publication date, price, availability, length, and category.
• We rarely consider self-published books.

Reading levels we look for:

• Elementary (K-5)
• Middle Grade
• YA
• Adult Crossover:  Books that appeal to both adults and a YA audience. Examples: Coming-of-age stories, memoirs, certain graphic novels, and poetry.

Categories:

• Fiction: romances, coming of age, fantasy, social issues, science fiction, historical fiction, etc.
• Nonfiction
• Memoirs
• Graphic novels
• Graphic memoirs
• Poetry
• Bilingual books (specifically Spanish children’s and middle-grade titles)