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Read This! Excerpt from the delicacy of embracing spirals by mimi tempestt

Suzi Garcia
Excerpts
20 min read
We are thrilled to share an excerpt from Lambda Literary fellow mimi tempestt's second book the delicacy of embracing spirals (City Lights, 2023), which "presents a blend of theatre and melodrama, narrative and lyricism,and ranges from a confrontation with abusive lovers and predatory promoters, to an excoriation of police brutality and gender oppression, to a critique of the commodification of Black artists for white consumption."  Read More
Banner that says September's Most Anticipated LGBTQIAP+ Books and the 8 covers

September’s Most Anticipated List

Edit Team
New In List
9 min read
From grade school to parenthood, September attracts a similar attention distinct from any other month throughout our lives. It’s like the friend who cancels plans at the last minute, then complains that they never do anything ‘exciting’. It’s the raisin in an oatmeal cookie disguising itself all too well as a Hershey’s chocolate chip. It’s the parking curb that’s always just a hair closer to your hubcap than you think. In sum, September is the party-pooper: the quasi-autumnal spoilsport of a season full of warmth, fun, and laxed responsibility. Read More

With a Love Letter to Queer Black Folx, Dior Stephens Draws a Velvet Rope Around the Table They Set for Their Community

Stephen Patrick Bell
Interviews
10 min read
Dior Stephens' CRUEL/CRUEL is a meticulously arranged series of poems that contrasts playful lightness with the heavy weight of racial conflict and tension in a form that is both startling and familiar in its restrained mix of anger and hope. Each poem's eye is turned inward with an intensity that burns through the self, revealing a brilliant mirror reflecting the world through the Black body. To watch Stephens perform is an ecstatic delight, and I was fortunate enough to speak with them after their initial tour. Read More
Stack of books with some open

The Sealey Challenge 2023

Suzi Garcia
Features
2 min read
The Sealey Challenge is upon us! The Sealey Challenge, begun by noted poet Nicole Sealey in 2017, asks readers to try to read a poetry book a day for the month of August. In particular, they ask you to consider marginalized writers, such as those queer, BIPOC, disabled, or otherwise disfranchised. It has spread like wildfire all over social media and beyond, and you can even grab Sealey Challenge Bingo cards and Certificates now!  Read More

Aim Toward the Infinite: A Review of Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia

Walter Holland
Reviews
5 min read
Manuel Ulacia (1953 – 2001) was the grandson of Manuel Altolaguirre and Concha Mendez, two artists in Spain’s “Generation of ’27,” associated with the liberal leftist reform movement of Spain and persecuted by Franco at the start of the Spanish Civil War. Ulacia’s family first fled to Cuba and then settled in Mexico, where the poet was raised. Manuel received a master’s and Ph.D. in Hispanic literature at Yale in the 1970s, where he specialized in the poetry of the gay Spanish poet Luis Cernuda. Ulacia would then return to Mexico, teach at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, become a protégé of Octavio Paz, and eventually become president of PEN’s Mexico chapter, where he actively supported dissident writers. Furthermore, Ulacia was gay. He died in 2001 at age 48, swept out to sea while swimming off a Mexican beach.  Read More

Award-winning Poet Sjohnna McCray Has Died

Edit Team
Remembrances
1 min read
Sjohnna McCray, the accomplished poet, has died  (March 7, 1972 – June 21, 2023). McCray won the 2015 Academy of American Poets First Book Award (previously known as the Walt Whitman Award) for his book Rapture. According to the Academy of American Poets, judge Tracy K. Smith said of his writing, Read More

What We’re Reading: Pride Edition

Suzi Garcia
Features
11 min read
Happy June! There are so many exciting events around the corner, including the Lambda Literary Awards. But as you recoup from Pride or if you just want to celebrate from your couch, we have some great recommendations straight from the staff of Lambda Literary! Read More

June’s Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Books

Suzi Garcia
New In List
7 min read
And it's that time of year again! As the rainbow paraphernalia officially hits Target and everyone under the (at times sweltering) sun begins prepping their floats and their costumes, so do the shelves of your local bookstores' queer section creak under the weight of all the new titles released just in time for Pride. This June's list features an excellent selection of compelling and urgent queer writing across every genre! From Lambda Fellow Katie Jean Shrinkle's atmospheric and haunting new thriller cowritten with Jessica Alexander, to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anne Hull's wistful coming-of-age memoir; from Norman Erikson Pasaribu's whimsical short stories to Elliot Page's bold and buzzy memoir; June is sure to rouse you from your reading slump and lengthen your TBR. Read More

May’s Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Books

Suzi Garcia
New In List
5 min read
May means the start of freedom for so many of us. No school, no teaching-- even summer Fridays! But for us who are still 9-5ing it, we remember what the smell of cut grass meant to us as kids: reading in the park, or long visits to the library. And we have just the books to scratch that itch! This list is full of exciting and intriguing writing, including a memoir by the Inaugural J. Michael Samuel Prize, Jobert Abueva; new YA from Lammy winner Abdi Nazemian; and new books from Lammy finalists Stephanie Adams-Santos and Nicole Melleby Read More