December 4, 2017
Delighted to announce that A LONG CURVING SCAR WHERE THE HEART SHOULD BE is nominated for the prestigious and culturally visionary Lammy Awards by Lambda Literary. I am honored by the association of tremendous path-forging artists. The book explores my family legacy of queerness within the mixed-race, genderqueer outskirts of Charlottesville, Virginia in the 1930s. Part fiction, speculative memoir, and family history, the novel explores the shifting sexualities and identities of a family whose marginalizes status yields persecution as well as underground opportunities for liberation, self-expression, and agency.
The Lambda Literary Awards (the “Lammys”) identify and celebrate the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books of the year and affirm that LGBTQ stories are part of the literature of the world. The Lammys, which receive national and international media attention, bring together 600 attendees—including nominees, celebrities, sponsors, and publishing executives—to celebrate excellence in LGBTQ publishing. It is the most prestigious and glamorous LGBTQ literary event in the world.
The Guardian newspaper said: “… Steeped as they are in celebrity and ceremony, the Lammys aren’t as stuffy or straight as many LGBT awards shows often are: they were unabashedly, gleefully queer, representing the many facets of queer life.”
Here is a Lambda Literary feature on my previous collection of hybrid stories and photographs, THE HOPE OF FLOATING HAS CARRIED US THIS FAR, which can be ordered anywhere books are sold but a direct order from Coffee House Press supports independent publishing while divesting in corporate behemoths.
And here is a Lambda Literary review of THE HOPE OF FLOATING: “In The Hope of Floating Has Carried Us This Far, Quintan Ana Wikswo proves herself unafraid of the depths.”
Thank you, Lambda Literary!