My first encounter with Lambda Literary was in 2014 after my first book, Happiness, Like Water, won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction.
In accepting my first major book award, I was welcomed into a new space of being. I found in Lambda a welcoming abode, one where I felt simultaneously supported and challenged about self-acceptance.
Prior to this, I had written in support of LGBTQ+ communities, but I had been hesitant to speak from a personal angle. With Lambda by my side, though, I knew I had the advocate and champion I needed to allow myself to be more personal in my writing and public life.
In Lambda Literary, I have found family and a home, just as thousands of other LGBTQ writers have. Which is why I am asking you to support Lambda Literary today.
Whether you can give $50 or $500, every dollar you give will amplify the voices and ideas of our LGBTQ community—an act that is more necessary than ever.
My relationship with Lambda Literary has deepened since winning a Lammy.
I have been on faculty at the organization’s Writers Retreat for Emerging Voices, which brings extraordinary, up-and-coming LGBTQ authors together for a weeklong writing residency. In their writing I see the future of literature.
I’ve also joined Lambda’s LGBTQ Writers in Schools program, which invites authors into K-12 classrooms to talk about LGBTQ books and our lives. It provides a critically positive and safe space for queer youth. Having once been that youth in need of an LGBTQ+ mentor, I cherish the opportunity to offer students what I did not have.
No other arts nonprofit organization in the world does more to support LGBTQ writers and readers. Help Lambda Literary continue their vital work.
