‘Erased’ by Robbi McCoy
Erased opens with the quintessential
‘Abandon Me’ by Melissa Febos
Abandon Me is a fierce exploration of love and obsession
‘Blind Side of the Moon’ by Blayne Cooper
Dreams haunt Samantha Blackwell. At
‘Walk-in’ by T.L. Hart
If you like your mysteries filled with red herrings, twists, and turns, you’ll be thoroughly entertained by this book
‘State of Grace’ by Sandra Moran
State of Grace is just as unsparing and jarring as the experience of trauma itself.
‘Geographies of Soul and Taffeta’ by Sarah Sarai
In a recent issue of
‘Christmas Days: 12 Stories and 12 Feasts for 12 Days’ by Jeanette Winterson
For years, Winterson has written a new story every year at Christmastime, and here she collects them for the first time. The result is a book for cold, clear nights and roaring fireplaces.
A Poem by LA Warman
This week, a poem by LA Warman
‘Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady’ by Susan Quinn
In Quinn’s well-written and exhaustively researched book, Hick and Eleanor come across as a butch-femme Romeo and Juliet. The book’s rich detail and Quinn’s obvious passion will keep you turning the pages
Fingerplay and Handmaidens: The Queer and Subversive Pleasures of Reading Sarah Waters
In Sarah Waters’ writing, historical queer female desire is inferred, inserted, and re-imagined
‘Wedding Pulls’ by J. K. Daniels
Here we encounter poetry as archery: precise, adept: each enjambment taut as a bow, each image piercing as the head of an arrow
‘Indomitable: The Life of Barbara Grier’ by Joanne Passet
Grier’s life emerges as an interesting through line of lesbian activism in the twentieth century
‘The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories’ by A.C. Wise
The Kissing Booth Girl and Other Stories is achingly smart, sad, and weird in equal measure
‘The Missing Museum’ by Amy King
The Missing Museum is not an easy read, any more than an actual museum exhibit is a thought-free gimme of an experience. But, like the Smithsonian and the odd roadside attraction, it’s worth taking the time to explore.
Pioneering Activist and Writer Marie Kuda, 76, has Died
Kuda was a renowned historian, writer, and early champion of gay and lesbian rights
‘The Clancys of Queens’ by Tara Clancy
The Clancys of Queens is a family story that takes an unfiltered look at class differences. It’s also hilarious, inspiring, and that rarest of animals–a memoir full of honest good cheer.
‘Princess Princess Ever After’ by Katie O’Neill
Princess Princess Ever After is a warm-hearted graphic novel centered on the adventures of two strong-willed princesses. It is an adorable book whose fable-like story is perfect for any princess or prince in your life.
A Poem by Jen Levitt
This week, a poem from Jen Levitt’s The Off-Season , out this month from Four Way Books
‘Remarkable’ by Dinah Cox
Set in Oklahoma, the stories in this collection are sharp, precise, and surprising
‘Alphabet’ Edited by Jon Macy and Tara Madison Avery
Reading Alphabet will plunge you into the welcoming rainbow of queer comics.
‘Captain of Industry’ by Karin Kallmaker
Captain of Industry is subtle and engaging, a Kallmaker love story with the kind of angst to which we can probably all relate
‘Another Brooklyn’ by Jacqueline Woodson
Another Brooklyn is an absorbing, lyrical, beautifully written novel, which quietly draws the reader into its story of four friends “sharing the weight of growing up girl in Brooklyn” in the 1970s
‘Hellmaw: Of the Essence’ by Gabrielle Harbowy
This novel is only the
‘Here Comes The Sun’ by Nicole Dennis-Benn
How do you save your sister, your lover, your home and your ambition? In this brilliant debut novel, Nicole Dennis-Benn aims to present this riddle through rich prose, crackling dialogue, and the lives of three unforgettable Jamaican women
‘Read Me Like A Book’ by Liz Kessler
Author Liz Kessler highlights one young woman’s craving for love and validation to explore her emotionally charged world.
Read an Excerpt from Nicole Dennis-Benn’s Stunning New Novel ‘Here Comes The Sun’
Here Comes The Sun maps a family’s struggle to gain independence and freedom in a world where both don’t come easy
‘Sleeping Dogs Lie’ by E.J. Cochrane
Cochrane has given us an endearing, though somewhat self-deprecating sleuth, in Maddie Smithwick
‘Call Me By My Other Name’ by Valerie Wetlaufer
This book is what happens when aesthetics and activism are yoked in the finest possible literary form
‘Weekend’ by Jane Eaton Hamilton
What is especially wonderful about Weekend is the emotional adventure that occurs completely within the context of romantic and communal relationships
‘Lesbian Decadence: Representations in Art and Literature in Fin-De-Siecle France’ by Nicole G. Albert
Albert’s book is a treat for American LGBT Studies researchers. She provides us with a treasure trove of paintings, drawings, and cartoons that depict the French lesbian at the turn of the century
‘Walking the Dog’ by Elizabeth Swados
The book details the struggles of “former child prodigy and rich-girl kleptomaniac” Ester Rosenthal as she navigates a post-prison life as a high-end professional dog walker
Writer and Activist Michelle Cliff, 69, has Died
Cliff strove to create ambitious narratives for historically marginalized identities
‘Final Cut’ by Lynn Ames
Jamison Parker is a best-selling
‘Say Bye to Reason and Hi to Everything’ Edited by Andrew Durbin
With Say Bye to Reason and Hi to Everything, Andrew Durbin collects five individual chapbooks spanning poetic and essayistic forms, by five writers, all women: Dodie Bellamy, Cecilia Corrigan, Amy De’Ath, Lynne Tillman, and Jackie Wang
‘Infringe’ by Sarah B. Burghauser
In Infringe, the reader is taken through the journey of a girl who has been raised in an Orthodox Jewish home, whose faith and sense of identity is fractured by trauma
A Poem by Lisa Hiton
This week, a poem by Lisa Hiton.
Appreciations: Christina Hutchins’ “Vigil”
Every month, “Appreciations” looks closely at a poem or poems from recently-published books by LGBTQ poets
Nicole Dennis-Benn, Marlon James, Queer Robin Hood, and More LGBT News
Being queer and Jamaican, same gender loving Robin Hood, and more lgbt news…
‘Without Annette’ by Jane B. Mason
Josie and Annette have been
‘The Death of Fred Astaire’ by Leslie Lawrence
Leslie Lawrence’s essay collection offers poignant musings on the nature of memory
‘In Case of Emergency, Break Glass’ by Sarah Van Arsdale
Whether the stories take place on a snow bank in an unknown, prehistoric land or in a hotel in Barcelona, Van Arsdale’s novellas strike achingly close to home by reporting true narratives of people and their complications
Read Jewelle Gomez’s New Foreword for ‘The Gilda Stories: Expanded 25th Anniversary Edition’
“There were those who didn’t think a black lesbian vampire story—benevolent or not—was such a good idea politically.”
‘We Love You, Charlie Freeman’ by Kaitlyn Greenidge
That the novel is able to combine ASL culture, race, ambition, family, love, politics, and history is a marvel not to be missed
‘Felicity’ by Mary Oliver
Over her past few collections,
‘Juliana’ by Vanda
Juliana illustrates a poignant message: to be queer was to be anti-American, in a time where being anti-American meant isolation and ruination
‘Oscar of Between: A Memoir of Identity and Ideas’ by Betsy Warland
I. Betsy Warland’s new book
‘Confucius Jane’ by Katie Lynch
Lynch has given us a superb account of a struggling romance, the personal growth her characters must achieve in disastrous circumstances, and a community rich in tradition
‘Glitter & Grit: Queer Performance from the Heels on Wheels Femme Galaxy’ Edited by Damien Luxe, Heather María Ács & Sabina Ibarrola’
The essays and performance pieces in this anthology add to a collective tale while remaining essentially singular
Read an Excerpt from Ann McMan’s New Novel ’Backcast’
Humor and heart go hand in hand in Backcast, a new novel from writer Ann McMan
Reading ‘Stone Butch Blues’ on the First Anniversary of Leslie Feinberg’s Death
Stone Butch Blues is a book that demands with each reading new imaginative possibilities for how to live with and revolt against sex and gender in our world
Personal Advice from Author Karin Kallmaker: Is There a “Right” Way to Breakup With Someone?
“I don’t want to be a jerk and just ghost, but I am having the hardest time building up the courage to end it.”
‘The Repercussions’ by Catherine Hall
The Repercussions does not try to explain war, nor does it try to call us to action. It is simply a chronicle of the ways human beings mess each other up and what it takes, on an individual level, to keep on living
‘Pretty Much Dead’ by Daphne Gottlieb
This collection covers multitudes—the emotional and physical landscape of San Francisco, the politics of change, nontraditional intimacies, and stories of a city well-loved and well-complicated by the passing of time
A Bisexual Boxer Biopic, Transgender Sci-Fi, and Other LGBT News
The National Book Awards, Gay theater post-marriage equality, queer comics, and other LGBT news
‘Hurricane Days’ by Renée J. Lukas
Hurricane Days is a romantic and gut-wrenching political drama
‘Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home’ by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
Dirty River goes above and beyond being a story of survival; it is a femme manifesto
Gay Superheros, James Baldwin’s House, and Other LGBT News
Iceman discusses gay identity with Iceman, editors discuss what more can be done to increase diversity, and more LGBT news
Carrie Brownstein on the Joys and Agonies of Storytelling
“Music writing can be very frustrating, too, but for some reason, at the end of three hours of trying to write a song, if I’m unsuccessful, it doesn’t feel quite as degrading as not being able to write a successful paragraph.”
Chelsea Manning on Trans Lit, #ReadNaked, and Other LGBT News
Chelsea Manning on trans literature, the #ReadNaked campaign, and Larry Kramer bemoans the silence around great lgbt writers
‘Vienna’ by William S. Kirby
Vienna brings together the crime and intelligence of a Holmes story but with a twist: “Sherlock” and “Watson” appear as women—Vienna and Justine, respectively—and to further twist the usual, the unlikely duo are lovers
Reflections on the Lambda Literary Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices
We checked in with the some of this past year’s participants and asked them to provide their own personal take on their time at the 2015 Emerging LGBT Voices Retreat
‘I Must Be Living Twice’ by Eileen Myles
There is infrequently anything as marvelous as being taken with a writer to a place in a whirlwind—to be rushed through streets, through lives, through interactions, through memory
‘Uncovered: How I left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home’ by Leah Lax
Lax explores the ways in which men and women both encounter limitations in their lives through a fundamentalist religion and offers some insight into why they join.
Chinelo Okparanta: On Her New Novel ‘Under The Udala Trees’ and Being a Champion of Love
“It’s too bad that so many of us have a need to psychoanalyze love and destroy it in the process.”
‘The Gap of Time’ by Jeanette Winterson
Winterson—whose energetic literary career began with the sui generis coming-out novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and has ranged through many forms and eras since—has written a “cover version” of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale
Remembering Nene Adams,1966-2015
A born storyteller who found inspiration in everything around her, Adams took lesbian readers through the cobblestones of Victorian England, the brothels of Shogun Japan, and the wilds of the Yukon
‘The Gay Revolution: The Story of the Struggle’ by Lillian Faderman
In The Gay Revolution, Faderman takes on our collective LGBT history from the pre-Stonewall days through to now. It’s a massive undertaking and Faderman approaches it with diligence, tenacity and just the right touch of awe.
How the Words of Nikky Finney Help Get Us Through Breaking Up & Breaking Down
Candice Iloh on how the work of the poet Nikky Finney can help us navigate through the world
‘Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years of Movement Building with Barbara Smith’ by Alethia Jones and Virginia Eubanks with Barbara Smith
[Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around is] a collection of stories that stress not only the importance of a movement but also its role and influence in larger society and culture as a whole.
‘Dryland’ by Sara Jaffe
Adults and teen readers will appreciate this coming-of-age tale which captures a girl’s initial steps to finding her sexual identity and the emotional struggles of navigating adolescence
‘Dragon Horse War: The Calling’ by D. Jackson Leigh
The world has experienced 100
‘Prayer of the Handmaiden’ by Merry Shannon
It’s been awhile since we’ve
‘Under The Udala Trees’ by Chinelo Okparanta
Chinelo Okparanta has written a new classic of the lesbian novel, timeless in its risk and heart, immediate in its voice for the persecuted LGBT people of Nigeria
‘Let Me Explain You’ by Annie Liontas
Let Me Explain You is a story about relationships—between sisters, between countrymen, between people and place, between food and memory, between languages, between time and space
Author Quintan Ana Wikswo on the Limitations and Power of Labels
“Primarily, I wanted to see if I could write a book in which issues of love, erotics, desire, and sex could be momentarily liberated from conventional categorizations of gender identity.”
A Poem by Diana Hamilton
This week, a poem by
‘Barbara Gittings: Gay Pioneer’ by Tracy Baim
Baim’s book introduces this stalwart activist to a broad audience, and Gittings’ determination, achievement and love for her community shines through.
‘The Small Backs of Children’ by Lidia Yuknavitch
The plot centers on an orphaned child from a war torn Eastern European country, and how her life captivates and unsettles a group of western artists
“All Losses Are the Same” But Every Rediscovery of a Lesbian Poet Gives Us New Life
Catherine Breese Davis’ poems are taut and formal, with close attention to the power of compressed language
‘Looking for a Kiss: A Chronicle of Downtown Heartbreak and Healing’ by Kate Walter
Looking for a Kiss is about one woman’s herculean attempt to thrive in the face of tragedy and an uncertain romantic future
A Poem by Sarah Sala
This week, a poem by Sarah Sala
A Queer Look at Harper Lee’s ‘Go Set a Watchman’
The eighty-nine-year-old Lee has long been a lesbian literary icon, and her protagonist, Scout Finch, a.k.a. Jean Louise, has been—along with Carson McCullers’ Frankie Addams in The Member of the Wedding—a girl that every young American lesbian grew up reading
Out of the Dungeons and onto the Bookshelf: Leather Writers in a Post-‘Fifty Shades’ Literary World
Authors Sassafras Lowrey, Laura Antoniou, and Cecilia Tan discuss BDSM writing in a post-Fifty Shades literary world
‘The Song in My Heart’ by Tracey Richardson
The Song in My Heart is about finding passion in life. It’s about relationships and how what we may think we want isn’t always what’s best for us.
‘Night at the Fiestas’ by Kirstin Valdez Quade
At its best, Kirstin Valdez Quade’s new collection of stories, Night at the Fiestas, sidesteps cliché but keeps the grandeur of her setting by transposing it to her characters—people big as myth, opaque as Scripture
‘Two Augusts in a Row in a Row’ by Shelley Marlow
Two Augusts in a Row in a Row is a novel about gender, love, grief and magic.
Reader Meet Author: Personal Advice from Author Lashonda Katrice Barnett
“I worry that my friend’s dating standards are too high.”
‘The Conversation’ by Judith Barrington and ‘Love Will Burst Into a Thousand Shapes’ by Jane Eaton Hamilton
Together, The Conversation and Love Will Burst into a Thousand Shapes demonstrate some of the vibrancy of contemporary lesbian poetry.
‘Vera’s Will’ by Shelley Ettinger
“Don’t go. Let me show
Kevin Coval, Quraysh Ali Lansana, and Nate Marshall: On the Queer Aspects of Hip Hop
“I think the reality of hip hop is that women and queer people and a lot of folks who we think about being in the margins have always been at the center of the culture.”
‘Soul Selecta’ by Gill McKnight
Prepare to meet the unexpected in this plot that folds back on itself and brings with it more than one element of surprise.
‘The Ghost Network’ by Catie Disabato
The Ghost Network is a mystery, though less a whodunit than a philosophical koan. It’s a layered and twisted trip through the real and fictional, pop and political
‘I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, Part One: My Own Private Portland’ by Annie Murphy
The title of Murphy’s zineI Never Promised You a Rose Garden alludes to Portland’s nickname, “The City of Roses,” at the same time warning readers this book is not about petals and perfume.
‘The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled Into the Spotlight and Made History’ by Robin Givhan
The changes wrought by the designers and American fashion industry since Versailles make the reader realize, contrary to frequent accusations of frivolity, how serious the world of fashion can be.
‘The Hope of Floating Has Carried Us This Far’ by Quintan Ana Wikswo
The stories here beg borders. They are amorphous and esoteric. Many of them feel like shortwave radio dispatches from another Universe where the edges that separate us are constantly blurring and shifting.
Dawn Martin Lundy: On the Power of Forgetting and Her New Collection ‘Life in a Box is a Pretty Life’
“What I believe in is forgetting; it’s transformative, if not reformative, power. What does it mean to truly leave something behind? To excise a happening from not only your thoughts, but also from your body?”
‘Petticoats and Promises’ by Penelope Friday
Serena Coleridge comes from a
Kirsty Logan: On Moving Through Grief by Writing, the Art of Worldbuilding, and Her New Novel ‘The Gracekeepers’
“I think that the world of The Gracekeepers is as accepting and as intolerant as our own world–that is to say, some people are incredibly tolerant of difference, and others just shriek about burning the witch (whoever and whatever the witch may be).”
‘Erebus’ by Jane Summer and ‘Fanny Says’ by Nickole Brown
Two recent collections express documentary impulses in contemporary poetry
‘One Hundred Days of Rain’ by Carellin Brooks
In Carellin Brooks’ One Hundred Days of Rain, we meet a woman going through a divorce with a small son in Vancouver. Rain serves as a kind of co-narrator to the book; it’s both character and metaphor
Renowned Feminist Activist and Author Sidney Abbott, 77, Has Died
Sidney Abbott was a former member of the activist group the Lavender Menace and co-author of the pioneering book Sappho Was a Right-on Woman: A Liberated View of Lesbianism.
Whitney Houston and Robyn Crawford: An Incomplete Biography
The Houston and Crawford story speaks to the power of black female love (intimate or platonic) and the heights such unions can scale
‘The Argonauts’ by Maggie Nelson
The Argonauts, a slim book by poet and critic Maggie Nelson, contains multitudes. It’s an appreciation of her favorite queer thinkers. It’s a chronicle of first-time motherhood. It’s also the best kind of nonfiction read, the kind that enlarges one’s reading list by half.
‘Lost Boi’ by Sassafras Lowrey
Lost Boi is a counterculture fairy tale, but the way Lowery turns all expectations upside down and finds hope in the darkest corners is the real magic here.
‘Apocalypse Baby’ by Virginie Despentes
Apocalypse Baby, in the end, is a demanding read; Despentes’ words, plot, and ideas are contentious, confrontational, and very purposefully so.
‘Forever Faithful’ by Isabella
As Forever Faithful opens, we
‘The Gracekeepers’ by Kirsty Logan
It’s easy to lose yourself in The Gracekeepers. Logan’s rich tapestry of characters and storylines, her deft language and her exquisitely built world add up to a deep, intriguing, and accessible novel.
‘Like A Woman’ by Debra Busman
In prose as lucid and passionate as any manifesto, this contemporary feminist anthem offers us a hero who both charms and challenges readers by way of her acuity, grit and depth
‘Stranger’s Mirror: New and Selected Poems 1994-2014’ by Marilyn Hacker
A Stranger’s Mirror demonstrates Hacker’s continued formal mastery; she effortlessly spins one sonnet into two, then three, then seven, leaving readers always breathless for more.
‘Bright Lights of Summer’ by Lynn Ames
When Julie Newsome meets Theodora
Lesbian Mystery Lammy Finalists
Still catching up on the
“Too bright/ is the heaven I’m after”: A Review of Celeste Gainey’s ‘The Gaffer’
Celeste Gainey’s debut collection, The Gaffer, is a triumph of nouns—of people, places, things, and ideas presented to us in the most trenchant and timely ways.
‘Aquarium’ by David Vann
Ultimately, the characters in Aquarium are desperately struggling to move toward forgiveness and redemption—it’s a story you can’t help but be submerged in completely
‘Lies We Tell Ourselves’ by Robin Talley
Robin Talley’s Lies We Tell Ourselves is a beautiful yet painful reminder of America’s history of segregation, desegregation, and integration.
Helen Humphreys: On Her New Novel ‘The Evening Chorus,’ Her Creative Process, and the Solitary Act of Writing
“I struggle with writing because to write well you have to remove yourself somewhat from the life around you. It is a lonely business.”
‘Songs Unfinished’ by Holly Stratimore
As Songs Unfinished opens, Shawn
‘The Evening Chorus’ by Helen Humphreys
The power of The Evening Chorus is accumulation: a plot that unfolds at a comfortable pace, characters that feel usual, even ordinary, and thus interesting in their familiarity, and exquisite sentences
‘Love Is Enough’ by Cindy Rizzo
When Massachusetts Congressional Representative, Angie
“We inhabit the brutal. We are shattered every day./ We look askew”: A Review of Dawn Lundy Martin’s ‘Life in a Box is a Pretty Life’
One of the many things I admire about Dawn Lundy Martin’s poetry is her potent ability to puzzle the reader without losing the reader
‘How to Grow Up’ by Michelle Tea
For all of us late-to-the-party adults, for all of us stumbling around wondering how in fact to actually do this thing called adulthood, How to Grow Up is the book we’ve been waiting for
‘The First Bad Man’ by Miranda July
July’s talent exists in her ability to create such complex, bizarre relationships while always raising the stakes, but her carefully erected world does require a willful suspension of disbelief.
‘You’re Not Edith’ by Allison Gruber
If the autobiographical essays in You’re Not Edith are any indication, Allison Gruber has a surprisingly functional (not to mention intimate) relationship with all things strange and eccentric.
‘Blackmail, My Love’ by Katie Gilmartin
Blackmail, My Love is a book to read for the page-turning mystery, but to savor for the nuance and detail and heart-breaking reality of what it was to be a lesbian or a gay man in 1951
‘Carry the Sky’ by Kate Gray
Kate Gray has written a stunning book, a blazingly necessary work of fiction for a wounded world.
Shelly Oria: On Her New Collection ‘New York 1, Tel Aviv 0,’ Her Favorite Queer Writers, and the Power of Literature
“I’ve always thought that one of the biggest gifts literature offers us is the ability to hang out in another person’s mind. I mean, it’s a basic human fantasy, isn’t it?”
‘The War Within’ by Yolanda Wallace
The lives of four people
‘And a Time to Dance’ by Chris Paynter
As And a Time to
‘Positive Lightning’ by Laurie Salzler
Positive Lightning (Blue Feather Books) tells
‘Pissing in a River’ by Lorrie Sprecher
Amanda, the narrator of Lorrie
‘Nightingale’ by Andrea Bramhall
Charlie Porter is an out
In Remembrance: Nancy Garden
Nancy Garden, author, editor, LGBT activist, former theater maven and teacher, died suddenly on the morning of June 23 of a massive heart attack. She was 76.
‘Corona’ by Bushra Rehman
In her 2014 Lambda Literary
‘War of the Streets and Houses’ by Sophie Yanow
Sophie Yanow’s War of Streets and Houses pushes the boundaries of what a graphic novel can be by using comics to create an academic treatise.
‘Tiger Heron’ by Robin Becker
“Observant songs of history and elegy, these poems turn our faces to what we can do with love and language, and what we can’t.”
‘Wonderland’ by Stacey D’Erasmo
“[…]D’Erasmo does a rare thing with Wonderland: she combines the delightful worlds of literature and music while bringing out the best in both mediums.”
‘The Death of Lucy Kyte’ by Nicola Upson
Nicola Upson’s series of mysteries
‘Last Words from Montmartre’ by Qiu Miaojin
Miaojin, I know this letter
‘Viral’ by Suzanne Parker
How do you sleep when
Cheryl Clarke’s ‘Living as a Lesbian’: The Wherewithal to Tell It as It Is
“Clarke is a provocative poet who never asks permission to make her voice heard.”
‘Seneca Falls’ by Jesse J. Thoma
Seneca King has a past
Read an Excerpt from Alexis De Veaux’s New Book ‘Yabo’
Yabo lyrically maps the spiritual and physical borders between love, passion, sexuality, and gender.
‘Teaching the Cat to Sit’ by Michelle Theall
“Michelle Theall’s new memoir, Teaching the Cat to Sit, brings some big topics—God, sexuality, abuse, loneliness, love, family—to the page. It’s a rocky ride, full of contentious conversations, frank disclosures, and plenty of struggle.”
‘Breaking Up with Los Angeles’ by Raquel Gutiérrez
The demise of many long-term
‘100 Crushes’ by Elisha Lim
“Though we might have made lists, few of us could craft descriptions (or drawings) as deft as Lim’s.”
Lambda’s Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices: The 2013 Fellows Reflect
Lambda Literary checked in with the some of this year’s Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices participants and asked them to provide their own personal take on their time at the retreat.
‘Canary’ by Nancy Jo Cullen
Every story in Nancy Jo Cullen’s debut collection skates along the edge of weirdness. These characters are just a tiny bit off, drawing the reader into their delightful eccentricities.
‘Hungry Ghost: Tales of the Pack Book 2’ by Allison Moon
A sultry BDSM club. The
‘Melt’ by Robbi McCoy
Kelly Sheffield is a talented
Obituary as History: The Lost Lives of the Queer Dead
The impact of obituaries for those relegated to the margins of mainstream society cannot be overstated…
‘Damn Love’ by Jasmine Beach-Ferrara
The nine connected stories of Damn
Cannes Jury Hands Top Honor to Sex-Soaked Lesbian Epic
On May 25th, the Cannes
‘The Selected Letters of Willa Cather’ edited by Andrew Jewell and Janis Stout
In one of Willa Cather’s letters to her beloved brother Roscoe she writes, “As for me, I have cared too much, about people and places–cared too hard. It made me as a writer, but it will break me in the end.” Losing those near to her very nearly did break Cather, but it is our great fortune that she let herself care as much as she did.
‘Love by the Numbers’ by Karin Kallmaker
Love by the Numbers—a book
‘Harley Loco: A Memoir of Hard Living, Hair, and Post-Punk, from the Middle East to the Lower East Side’ by Rayya Elias
Millions of Syrian refugees have
‘The Fainting Room’ by Sarah Pemberton Strong
“Mister, I need a cup
‘The Princess Affair’ by Nell Stark
The Princess Affair (Bold Strokes
‘One Fine Day’ by Erica Abbott
“Two weeks ago, she was
‘The Bone Bed’ by Patricia Cornwell
A new Kate Scarpetta novel
‘Calling Dr. Laura: A Graphic Memoir’ by Nicole J. Georges
Nationally, Portland, Oregon is known
‘Murphy’s Law’ by Yolanda Wallace
Samantha “Sam” Murphy’s business is
Bits & Pieces: Spring Lesbian Mystery Roundup
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‘Gay Press, Gay Power: The Growth of LGBT Community Papers in America’ edited by Tracy Baim
Is there still a place for LGBT community newspapers in the world of social media? Tracy Baim’s edited volume Gay Press, Gay Power: The Growth of LGBT Community Papers in America provides a history of the LGBT press, but no easy answers as to its future.
Read Eileen Myles’ Excerpt from Lambda’s ’25 for 25′ E-book
Read Eileen Myles’ excerpt from Lambda’s Literary’s 25th anniversary anthology, 25 for 25, an E-book featuring some of the community’s leading LGBT authors.
‘Proxy’ by R. Erica Doyle
Don’t be deceived by the
‘The First Robin of Spring’ by Natalie London
The First Robin of Spring
‘Riot Lung’ by Leah Horlick
Leah Horlick’s first collection, Riot
‘Sagebrush & Lace’ by Sugar Lee Ryder and J.D. Cutler
In Sagebrush & Lace (Banty
‘L Is For Lion’ by Annie Rachele Lanzilloto
This sprawling narrative could be called an Italian memoir, a Bronx memoir, a cancer memoir, a veteran father memoir, a 1960s childhood memoir, a mother-daughter memoir, or a lesbian memoir.
‘Collected Poems’ by Naomi Replansky
Naomi Replansky’s Collected Poems gathers poems from her first two collections, published in 1952 and 1994, as well as new and previously uncollected poems.
‘Depression: A Public Feeling’ by Ann Cvetkovich
Though not always elegantly executed—perhaps on purpose, as Cvetkovich indicates early on in the text—Depression succeeds at opening up a public discussion on certain kinds of depression that are often dismissed as trivial…
‘The Ladder’ Makes History Again
The Ladder, the first lesbian
‘The Dragon Tree Legacy’ by Ali Vali
The Dragon Tree Legacy (Bold Strokes
‘A Simple Revolution’ by Judy Grahn
For over forty years, Judy
‘Makara’ by Kristen Ringman
Traversing from Ireland to India to Venice, Makara (Handtype Press) manages to be both ethereal and incredibly earthly at the same time. It is a coming-of-age story unlike any other.
‘The Retribution’ and ‘The Vanishing Point’ by Val McDermid
Some of our finest writers are authors of crime fiction. Russell Banks, James Ellroy, Patricia Highsmith, P.D. James and of course, Val McDermid. These writers don’t just tell a detective tale, they peel back the layers of human experience to reveal all the gory bits we try never to see up close.
‘Licking the Spoon’ by Candace Walsh
Food is, of course, the perfect metaphor for Walsh’s life: through much stumbling, there is a persistent desire to find the right dish, the perfect spice, the ingredient that brings it all together.
Lambda Literary Goes to the Movies: Filmmakers’ Favorite Books
In continuation of “Lambda Literary Goes to the Movies” week, here’s what some of our favorite directors had to say about the LGBT books they love…
‘Adaptation’ by Malindo Lo
If you had nightmares as
‘Heart Block’ by Melissa Brayden
Business owner and CEO Emory
Gerda Lerner: Founder of Women’s Studies Movement Dies at 92
In an interview with the Chicago Tribune 20 years ago, Gerda Lerner said, “When I started working on women’s history about 30 years ago, the field did not exist. People didn’t think women had a history worth knowing.”
Daniel Mendelsohn: Beyond Borders, Beyond Identities
“I learn things when people
‘Spit and Passion’ by Cristy C. Road
Not all LGBT coming of
‘Art on Fire’ by Hilary Sloin
Art on Fire is framed as a biography of Francesca deSilva, a reluctantly revolutionary artist. DeSilva is a character of Sloin’s own making, but under the author’s deft craftsmanship she is an uncannily realized creation.
Erin M. Bertram, “Shun Not My Arrows, & Behold My Breast”
This week, a new poem
‘Far from the Tree’ by Andrew Solomon
In Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search For Identity (Scribner), psychologist Andrew Solomon poses a fundamental question: How do you nurture a child who is nothing like you?
Eloise Klein Healy: The Poet Laureate of Los Angeles
“Part of my larger plan is to convey and bring forth a larger literary picture of Los Angeles.”
Earlier this month, renowned lesbian poet Eloise Klein Healy was selected by Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to be the city’s first poet laureate. Healy took a moment to talk with Lambda about the position of poet laureate and what she hopes to accomplish within the position.
‘Coal to Diamonds’ by Beth Ditto and Michelle Tea
Beth Ditto’s memoir is PUNK, which, after learning about her through the pages of this book, I think is probably what she would see as the best possible compliment about her work.
‘The Book of Eleanor’ by Nat Burns
The Book of Eleanor is
‘SATANICA’: Pleasure Seekers Wanted
At a loss on what
Oprah picks Ayana Mathis’ ‘Twelve Tribes of Hattie’ for Oprah’s Book Club 2.0
Author Ayana Mathis’ striking debut novel The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (Knopf) has been picked as Oprah’s latest book club selection.
‘The Dream of Doctor Bantam’ by Jeanne Thornton
Meet Julie Thatch, the teenage
‘Frozen’ by Carla Tomaso
In the front matter of
Queer Rites: November 2012
While reading Salman Rushdie’s Joseph
‘Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, & Me’ by Ellen Forney
An association between artistic creativity and mental illness is something many of us take for granted without questioning which came first or why the two should be linked. In her new graphic memoir, cartoonist Ellen Forney tackles that question in light of its impact on her work as an artist with Bipolar I Disorder.
‘All We Know’ by Lisa Cohen
Lisa Cohen’s lush biography, All We Know (Farrar Straus and Giroux), is a staggering labor of love that offers a triptych of three women of a queer persuasion. Cohen sets this story in the early 20th century, giving her audience a catalogue of the largely forgotten life during that time. Her subjects–the great intellectual Esther Murphy, the celebrity connoisseur Mercedes de Acosta, and the fashion maverick Madge Garland…
The Poem. The Poet. The People. Queer Women Poets On The Road: Revival 2012.
“A salon-styled tour of queer women artists, The Revival, is a literary search for those people, those women like me who don’t quite fit in where we’re supposed to. With dynamic performances from poets and musicians alike, The Revival weaves a night of artistry, libations and genuine fellowship. “
Lynne Gerber: Homosexuality and Weight Loss in the Evangelical Context
“… I think homosexuality and fatness are two items that have definitely been infused with intense feelings of disgust, moral feelings of disgust. Religion plays a part in that.”
Lynne Gerber is the author of the insightful, surprising new book, Seeking the Straight and Narrow: Weight Loss and Sexual Reorientation in Evangelical America (University of Chicago Press). The book is an astute examination of evangelical programs that have “attempted to contain the excesses associated with fatness and homosexuality. ”
Lambda took some time to talk with Gerber about the “sin” of being fat and/or gay, how she conducted the research for her latest book, and the morality of health.
‘Black Marks on White Paper’ by Michelle Antoinette Nelson (Love the Poet)
On the page, Love’s poems remind you that rhyme is the root word for rhythm. Contemporary poetry may have long shied away from the limits of rhyme, but Love’s wordplay is refreshing, executed with precision and a clear, performable quality. All of her poems have a direct relationship with their audience, relying on a rich sense of community instead of any writer-reader barrier.
‘Emma Goldman: Revolution as a Way of Life’ by Vivian Gornick
In Emma Goldman’s day, as in ours, many on the Left saw issues of sexuality, happiness, and what we might generally call the “personal” as peripheral to the class struggle. Yet Goldman herself demurred. She elucidated an anarchism that was a personal as well as a political platform, and, as the subtitle to Vivian Gornick’s book suggests, she lived it out in practice.
Nikky Finney: Heart, Truth, and Justice
Nikky Finney is an award-winning, southern-born poet, whose critically acclaimed work is imbued with a distinct sense of lyricism and recurring themes of both social justice and communal history.
She was recently awarded the 2011 National Book Award for her latest collection Head Off & Split. Finney took some time to talk with Lambda Literary Review about her now famous National Book Award speech, shoe shopping with Condoleezza Rice, and the dividing line between art and rhetoric.
‘Cow’ by Susan Hawthorne
Red cow, blue cow, black cow. A golden calf and a moon-jumping heifer. Figures that often grace pastoral landscapes or children’s books have wandered into the realm of poetry. Susan Hawthorne’s latest collection, Cow, blends the bovine figure with ancient mythologies to re-envision history for modern women.
Laura Goode: Making Mischief
“It’s that gay kid in Minnesota, surrounded by people who practice intolerance, who needs to know that there are adults out there rooting for him or her. That was a big motivator for me in writing a gay coming of age story, feeling like there are kids out there who need help…”
‘The Vicious Red Relic Love’ by Anna Joy Springer
Springer uses journals, letters, myth, and doodles from feminist class lectures to create a interlocking puzzle map that guides readers on an intoxicating journey through the dyke community in 90s San Francisco.
‘Small Fires’ by Julie Marie Wade
In Small Fires, Julie Marie Wade, who won a Lambda for her memoir Wishbone, considers family and memory with a poetic eye and unabashed tongue. With her carefully chosen words and a studied deliberateness, Wade proves unafraid to delve into her past—to skillfully reconstruct the events of her youth, from the horrifying to the sentimental to the self-conscious and beyond.
‘A Single Year’ by Dawn Mueller
As the joke goes, when
‘Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature’ by Emma Donoghue
Lambda Literary Award Finalist How
‘Wishbone: A Memoir in Fractures’ by Julie Marie Wade
Like the Ocean which literally
‘Jukebox’ by Gina Noelle Daggett
When one thinks of a
Kelley Eskridge: the Invention of ‘Solitaire’
“I’m fascinated by stories of
‘Earthquake Came to Harlem: Poems’ by Jackie Sheeler
The poems in Jackie Sheeler’s
Emma Donoghue’s ‘Endless Immersion’
From Shakespeare to Sarah Waters
‘the lake has no saint’ by Stacey Waite
The smell of crayons in
‘Tonight No Poetry Will Serve’ by Adrienne Rich
Do you remember the last
‘Parallel Lies’ by Stella Duffy
Lambda Literary Award Finalist Anyone
‘Unbearable Lightness’ by Portia de Rossi
I’ll approach any famous person’s
‘Amnesiac’ by Duriel E. Harris
Convention insists that I call
‘My Sweet Wild Dance’ by Mikaya Heart
My Sweet Wild Dance (Dog
‘Veritas’ by Anne Laughlin
In the tidy little whodunit,
‘Neighbour Procedure’ by Rachel Zolf
I’m tempted to begin with
Toni Mirosevich, “Giveaway”
For our first Poetry Spotlight
‘Citizen, Invert, Queer: Lesbianism and War in Early Twentieth-Century Britain’ by Deborah Cohler
Deborah Cohler’s Citizen, Invert, Queer:
‘Fever Of The Bone’ by Val McDermid
Lambda Literary Award Finalist One
Eileen Myles: On Her Own Terms
Poet. Professor. Thought-provoker. Don’t call
‘Above Temptation’ by Karin Kallmaker
For many lesbian readers, it
Inferno (a poet’s novel) by Eileen Myles
Well I’ll be a poet.
‘Dear John, I Love Jane’ by Candace Walsh and Laura André
Lambda Literary Award Finalist Dear
‘Love Is A Map I Must Not Set On Fire’ by Carol Guess
Love Is A Map I
‘Do Not Disturb’ by Carsen Taite
Greer Davis is a bad
‘Turn for Home’ by Lara Zielinsky
Turn for Home is a
‘Sometimes She Lets Me’ ed. by Tristan Taormino
The stories in Sometimes She
‘House of Cards’ by Nat Burns
In her complex and beautifully
Vanessa Libertad Garcia, “The B Job”
This week we’re featuring work
Remembering A Lesbian Legend
Jill Johnston died from complications
‘I Came Out for This?’ By Lisa Gitlin
Bywater Books has been making
Arisa White, “out of line”
For your reading pleasure today,
Monique Truong: Southern girl, Twice over
Monique Truong’s (author of The
‘Bird Eating Bird’ by Kristin Naca
Lambda Award Finalist At the
