Poly Planet GAIA | ecosexual love | arts of loving | global holistic health | eros | dissidence: March 2012

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Press Release: 24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced

Dear Earthlings,
yours truly is a finalist at the Lambda Literary Awards, with Jonathan Alexander.  Our book is an edited collection, Bisexuality and Queer Theory.  Check Bi Nonficion, with Susie Bright and other bi magicians.  BQT is a collaborative effort, a labor of love.  We post the Press Release with permission and wish to thank all the contributors from our heart.   Join us on June 4th at CUNY for the Awards and at Bi Lines to read the day before.  

Namaste,

Serena

Press Release

March 21, 2012

24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced

Posted on 20. Mar, 2012 by in Foundation Updates

Finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards were announced today by the Lambda Literary Foundation (LLF) in Los Angeles.  Books from major mainstream publishers and from academic presses, from both long-established and new LGBT publishers, as well as from emerging publish-on-demand technologies, make up the 119 finalists for the “Lammys.”  The finalists were selected from a record number of nominations.
The awards, now in their twenty-fourth year, celebrate achievement in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) writing for books published in 2011. Winners will be announced at a Monday evening, June 4th ceremony in New York at the CUNY Graduate Center (365 Fifth Avenue) with an after-party at Slate (54 West 21st Street).
Lambda set a record in 2010 for both the number of LGBT books nominated (520) and the number of publishers participating (about 230). That record has been surpassed this year, with more than 600 titles represented from about 250 publishers.
“For three consecutive years we have broken the records for both book nominees and publishers, which is extremely heartening in a time of uncertainty for the publishing industry as a whole, and LGBT publishing, in particular,” said LLF Board of Trustees Co-Chair, David McConnell.
More than 90 booksellers, book reviewers, librarians, authors, previous Lammy winners and finalists, and other book professionals volunteered many hours of reading time, critical thinking, and invigorating shared discussion to select the finalists in 24 categories.
“The Lambda Literary Awards would not be possible without the time, energy, and intelligence of our volunteer judges who put countless hours of reading into selecting our finalists,” said Lambda Executive Director, Tony Valenzuela. “Because of their hard work, this day is a celebration of our finalists, whose outstanding books extend the fabric of our literature and enrich our community. Congratulations to these talented authors on their tremendous achievement.”
Pioneer Award honorees, the master of ceremonies, and presenters will be announced the second week of April.
Tickets for the Lambda Literary Awards ceremony and after-party go on sale today.  For more information click here.

24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists

Lesbian Debut Fiction
The Girls Club, by Sally Bellerose, Bywater Books
Megume and the Trees, by Sarah Toshiko Hasu, Megami Press
My Sister Chaos, by Lara Fergus, Spinifex Press
Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation, by Christine Stark, Modern History Press
Zipper Mouth, by Laurie Weeks, The Feminist Press at CUNY

Lesbian General Fiction
The Dirt Chronicles, by Kristyn Dunnion, Arsenal Pulp Press
The Necessity of Certain Behaviors, by Shannon Cain, University of Pittsburgh Press
Six Metres of Pavement, by Farzana Doctor, Dundurn Press
When She Woke, by Hillary Jordan, Algonquin Books
Wingshooters, by Nina Revoyr, Akashic Books

Lesbian Memoir/Biography
How to Get a Girl Pregnant, by Karleen Pendleton Jimenez, Tightrope Books
Sheepish: Two Women, Fifty Sheep, and Enough Wool to Save the Planet, by Catherine Friend, Da Capo Press/Lifelong Books
Small Fires: Essays, by Julie Marie Wade, Sarabande
Taking My Life, by Jane Rule, Talonbooks
When We Were Outlaws: A Memoir of Love & Revolution, by Jeanne Córdova, Spinsters Ink

Lesbian Mystery
Dying to Live, by Kim Baldwin & Xenia Alexiou, Bold Strokes Books
Hostage Moon, by AJ Quinn, Bold Strokes Books
Rainey Nights: A Rainey Bell Thriller, by R.E. Bradshaw, R.E. Bradshaw Books
Retirement Plan, by Martha Miller, Bold Strokes Books
Trick of the Dark, by Val McDermid, Bywater Books

Lesbian Poetry
15 Ways to Stay Alive, by Daphne Gottlieb, Manic D Press
Discipline, by Dawn Lundy Martin, Nightboat Books
Love Cake, by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, TSAR Publications
Milk and Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry, edited by Julie R. Enszer, A Midsummer Night’s Press
The Stranger Dissolves, by Christina Hutchins, Sixteen Rivers Press

Lesbian Romance
For Me and My Gal, by Robbi McCoy, Bella Books
Ghosts of Winter, by Rebecca S. Buck, Bold Strokes Books
Rescue Me, by Julie Cannon, Bold Strokes Books
Storms, by Gerri Hill, Bella Books
Taken by Surprise, by Kenna White, Bella Books

Lesbian Erotica  
The Collectors, by Lesley Gowan, Bold Strokes Books
Lesbian Cops: Erotic Investigations, edited by Sacchi Green, Cleis Press
A Ride to Remember & Other Erotic Tales, by Sacchi Green, Lethe Press
Story of L, by Debra Hyde, Ravenous Romance

Gay Debut Fiction
98 Wounds, by Justin Chin, Manic D Press
Dirty One, by Michael Graves, Chelsea Station Editions
Have You Seen Me, by Katherine Scott Nelson, Chicago Center for Literature and Photography
Mitko, by Garth Greenwell, Miami University Press
Quarantine: Stories, by Rahul Mehta, Harper Perennial

Gay General Fiction
The Empty Family, by Colm Tóibín, Scribner
The Great Night, by Chris Adrian, Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Leche, by R. Zamora Linmark, Coffee House Press
The Stranger’s Child, by Alan Hollinghurst, Alfred A.Knopf
The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov, by Paul Russell, Cleis Press

Gay Memoir/Biography
Celluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito Russo, by Michael Schiavi, University of Wisconsin Press
For the Ferryman: A Personal History, by Charles Silverstein, Chelsea Station Editions
Halsted Plays Himself, by William E. Jones, Semiotext(e)
If You Knew Then What I Know Now, by Ryan Van Meter, Sarabande Books
The Jack Bank:  A Memoir of a South African Childhood, by Glen Retief, St. Martin’s Press

Gay Mystery
The Affair of the Porcelain Dog, by Jess Faraday, Bold Strokes Books
Blue’s Bayou, by David Lennon, Blue Spike Publishing
Boystown: Three Nick Nowak Mysteries, by Marshall Thornton, Torquere Press
Malabarista, by Garry Ryan, NeWest Press
Red White Black and Blue, by Richard Stevenson, MLR Press

Gay Poetry
Dear Prudence: New and Selected Poems, by David Trinidad, Turtle Point Press
Double Shadow: Poems, by Carl Phillips, Farrar, Straus & Giroux
A Fast Life: The Collected Poems of Tim Dlugos, edited by David Trinidad, Nightboat Books
Kintsugi, by Thomas Meyer, Flood Editions
The Other Poems, by Paul Legault, Fence Books

Gay Romance
Every Time I Think of You, by Jim Provenzano, CreateSpace/Myrmidude Press
Settling the Score, by Eden Winters, Torquere Press
Something Like Summer, by Jay Bell, Jay Bell Books
Split, by Mel Bossa, Bold Strokes Books
Tinseltown, by Barry Brennessel, MLR Press

Gay Erotica
All Together, by Dirk Vanden, iloveyoudivine Alerotica
Backwoods, by Natty Soltesz, Rebel Satori Press
Best Gay Erotica 2012, edited by Richard Labonte, Cleis Press
George Platt Lynes: The Male Nudes, edited by Steven Haas, Rizzoli New York
History’s Passions: Stories of Sex Before Stonewall, edited by Richard Labonte, Bold Strokes Books

Transgender Fiction
The Book of Broken Hymns, by Rafe Posey, Flying Rabbit
The Butterfly and the Flame, by  Dana De Young, iUniverse
I am J, by Cris Beam, Little, Brown Books for Children
Static, by L.A. Witt, Amber Allure/Amber Quill Press
Take Me There: Trans and Genderqueer Erotica, edited by Tristan Taormino, Cleis Press

Transgender Nonfiction
Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex, edited by Eric A. Stanley and Nat Smith, AK Press
Letters For My Brothers: Transitional Wisdom in Retrospect, edited by Megan M. Rohrer and Zander Keig, Wilgefortis Press
Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics and the Limits of Law, by Dean Spade, South End Press
Re-Dressing America’s Frontier Past, by Peter Boag, University of California Press
Tango: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels, by Justin Vivian Bond, The Feminist Press at CUNY

Bisexual Fiction
Boyfriends With Girlfriends, by Alex Sanchez, Simon & Schuster
The Correspondence Artist, by Barbara Browning, Two Dollar Radio
Have You Seen Me, by Katherine Scott Nelson, Chicago Center for Literature and Photography
Triptych, by J.M. Frey, Dragon Moon Press
The Two Krishnas, by Ghalib Shiraz Dhalla, Magnus Books

Bisexual Nonfiction
Big Sex Little Death: A Memoir, by Susie Bright, Seal Press
Bisexuality and Queer Theory: Intersections, Connections and Challenges, edited by Jonathan Alexander & Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio, Routledge
The Horizontal Poet, by Jan Steckel, Zeitgeist Press
Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature, edited by Qwo-Li Driskill, Daniel Heath Justice, Deborah Miranda, and Lisa Tatonetti, University of Arizona Press
Surviving Steven: A True Story, by Ven Rey, Ven Rey

LGBT Anthology
Ambientes: New Queer Latino Writing, edited by Lazaro Lima & Felice Picano, University of Wisconsin Press
The Fire in Moonlight: Stories from the Radical Faeries, edited by Mark Thompson, White Crane Books/Lethe Press
Gay Latino Studies: A Critical Reader, edited by Michael Hames-García and Ernesto Javier Martínez, Duke University Press
Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme, edited by Ivan E. Coyote & Zena Sharman, Arsenal Pulp Press
Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit Literature, edited by Qwo-Li Driskill, Daniel Heath Justice, Deborah Miranda, and Lisa Tatonetti, University of Arizona Press

LGBT Children’s/Young Adult
Gemini Bites, by Patrick Ryan, Scholastic
Huntress, by Malinda Lo, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
I am J, by Cris Beam, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
PINK, by Lili Wilkinson, HarperCollins
Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy, by Bil Wright, Simon & Schuster

LGBT Drama
Letters to the End of the World, by Anton Dudley, Playscripts, Inc.
A Menopausal Gentleman: The Solo Performances of Peggy Shaw, by Peggy Shaw, University of Michigan Press
Secrets of the Trade, by Jonathan Tolins, Samuel French, Inc.
The Temperamentals, by Jon Marans, Chelsea Station Editions
The Zero Hour, by Madeleine George, Samuel French, Inc.

LGBT Nonfiction
Gay in America: Portraits by Scott Pasfield, by Scott Pasfield, Welcome Books
God vs. Gay?: The Religious Case for Equality, by Jay Michaelson, Beacon Press
The H.D. Book, by Robert Duncan, University of California Press
A Queer History of the United States, by Michael Bronski, Beacon Press
Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories, by Wanda M. Corn and Tirza True Latimer, University of California Press

LGBT SF/F/H
The German, by Lee Thomas, Lethe Press
Paradise Tales: and Other Stories, by Geoff Ryman, Small Beer Press
Static, by L.A. Witt, Amber Allure/Amber Quill Press
Steam-powered: Lesbian Steampunk Stories, edited by JoSelle Vanderhooft, Torquere Press
Triptych, by J.M. Frey, Dragon Moon Press

LGBT Studies
Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex, edited by Eric A. Stanley and Nat Smith, AK Press
Freedom with Violence: Race, Sexuality, and the US State, by Chandan Reddy, Duke University Press
Sister Arts: The Erotics of Lesbian Landscapes, by Lisa L. Moore, University of Minnesota Press
Techniques of Pleasure: BDSM and the Circuits of Sexuality, by Margot Weiss, Duke University Press
¡Venceremos?: The Erotics of Black Self-making in Cuba, by Jafari S. Allen, Duke University Press

24th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Host Committee
David McConnell – Co-Chair
Don Weise – Co-Chair
S. Chris Shirley – Co-Chair
Charles Rice-Gonzalez – Ceremony Director
Jamie Brickhouse – Publicity Chair
Brad Boles
J.Brooks
Mario Lopez-Cordero
David Gale
James Hannaham
Wayne Hoffman
Michele Karlsberg
Dean Klinger
Jay Moore
Dan Manjovi
Bill Miller
Heather O’Neill
Pauline Park
Lori Perkins
Jay Plum
Melanie La Rosa
Patrick Ryan
Eddie Sarfaty
Liz Scheier
Bob Smith
Linda Villarosa
Warren Wilson

Literature is the heart of democracy, the art of writing to truly understand who we are.  And LGBT literature reveals more ways to practice love.  Thanks for getting this, Lammy!

Did you enjoy the post?  Let us know!  Yours truly appreciates your attention.  The comments box is open.





Read the Release on the Lambda site: http://bit.ly/GCuj7E.
Come back!  And stay tuned for more wonders.

Namaste,
 
Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD
Gilf Gaia Extraordinaire
Author of Gaia, Eros, and many other books about love
Professor of Humanities
University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

Join Our Mailing List
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Author's Page/Lists all books: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JS1VKA 
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Tuesday, March 20, 2012

6 of 8 - Snippetts of Eros - Crossing the Color Lines

Dear Earthlings:

The year of wonders is what 2012 is supposed to be.  Yours truly offers snippets of her favorite books.  All on yesterday's forbidden themes.  Let's see if their mysteries are revealed.

Eros is a story that staved the loneliness of her first years in the Caribbean, when she was missing her former Matrias,  California and Italy.  

What is "color"?  Who are our ancestors?  How did our genetic pools get all mixed up over time, journeys, and generations?  People of different colors have fallen in love with one another since time immemorial.  Yet the very question has become a taboo.  Why?  Loving oneself in another is how that other gets to love the other one hides within.  Crossing the color lines is how we produce love.  Isn't that a win-win?  A world where it is safe to cross the color lines is a world where it is safe to love.  

Here are yours truly's reflections back in 2007.  Eros: A Journey of Multiple Loves, has the full story. 

Eros Cover"Cynthia had been my first African-American friend in the UCR compound, her daughter, Sharma, was Sara's favorite playmate.  Cheryl [her sister] was extremely handsome, with an elegance, LA style, that matched her proud deportment.  [We became housemates.]  At my department, colleagues, all male and white, asked me about my housing arrangements and I soon realized that none of them had ever shared their living quarters with a person of color.  The janitor of the building was an African American and . . . when he was in the elevator, I was the only one to share the ride. I wondered why his eyes would remain lowered, and later learned t was a Southern custom. Lynching was a memory that loomed still large, and a black man would not be found looking a while woman in the eye" (56).

The narrative continues as racial crossing becomes a staple of Gaia's practice of love.  Oh blessed be! 

Dear Earthlings:

Education is the heart of democracy.  And that includes education to love.  It comes in many forms.  Including learning about Eros and journeys of multiple loves.


Eros: A Journey of Multiple Loves was a Lambda Finalist in 2007.  It is now being considered for translation in to Spanish by a press in Madrid.  Access to this memoir would be a great gift to Spanish speakers across the globe.  If you agree, leave a comment and we will let the publisher know.  Gracias!  

Did you enjoy the post?  Let us know!  Yours truly appreciates your attention.  The comments box is open.

Come back!  And stay tuned for more wonders.

Namaste,
 
Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD
Gilf Gaia Extraordinaire
Author of Gaia, Eros, and many other books about love
Professor of Humanities
University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

Join Our Mailing List
 GaiaCoverFullSize  
Follow us in the social media
Poly Planet GAIA Blog: 
http://polyplanet.blogspot.com/ 

Be Appraised of Ecosex Community Project PostaHouse 
Become a Fan: www.facebook.com/GaiaBlessings 
Author's Page/Lists all books: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JS1VKA 
YouTube Uploaded Videos: http://www.youtube.com/SerenaAnderlini
 
Find us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterView our profile on LinkedInView our videos on YouTubeVisit our blog

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

5 of 8 - Snippetts of Eros - Fear of Love and "Infect" Mythologies

Dear Earthlings:

The year of wonders is what 2012 is supposed to be.  Yours truly offers snippets of her favorite books.  All on yesterday's forbidden themes.  Let's see if their mysteries are revealed.

Eros is a story that staved the loneliness of her first years in the Caribbean, when she was missing her former Matrias,  California and Italy.  

What is AIDS?  What mythologies have been created around this epidemic?  How have they contributed to the criminalization of love?  To the impoverishment of nations?  How can the world be cured of this fear?  What does authentic science say?  And to what interests has institutionalized science prostituted itself?  These questions are on the agenda today, as the ecosexual movement reinvents natural ways to love.  Isn't that a win-win?  A world where it is safe to love is a world where it is safe to live.

Here are yours truly's reflections back in 2007.  Eros: A Journey of Multiple Loves, has the full story. 

Eros Cover"We didn't know exactly what to be afraid of.  I remember once at an overseas conference in West Berlin, the typical place where one would for sure get laid, having played the game as usual, and having found the right guy to take to my bedroom.  And then, the paralysis: was kissing okay? How do you get your juices going if you can't even touch the other person?  Yes, our condoms were ready, but how do you get there when bodily fluids can't be exchanged?  It was the first time that I felt powerless in the game of sex.  I compared myself to those people who are rendered frigid by religious upbringing or repressive education.  The paralysis ended in a nonevent, which threw me in one of the worst hypoglycemia crises I ever had" (36).

The narrative continues as Gaia becomes an expert safer-sex educator and eventually a convinced AIDS Dissenter.  Oh blessed be! 

Dear Earthlings:

Education is the heart of democracy.  And that includes education to love.  It comes in many forms.  Including learning about Eros and journeys of multiple loves.


Eros: A Journey of Multiple Loves was a Lambda Finalist in 2007.  It is now being considered for translation in to Spanish by a press in Madrid.  Access to this memoir would be a great gift to Spanish speakers across the globe.  If you agree, leave a comment and we will let the publisher know.  Gracias!  

Did you enjoy the post?  Let us know!  Yours truly appreciates your attention.  The comments box is open.

Come back!  And stay tuned for more wonders.

Namaste,
 
Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio, PhD
Gilf Gaia Extraordinaire
Author of Gaia, Eros, and many other books about love
Professor of Humanities
University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

Join Our Mailing List
 GaiaCoverFullSize  
Follow us in the social media
Poly Planet GAIA Blog: 
http://polyplanet.blogspot.com/ 

Be Appraised of Ecosex Community Project PostaHouse 
Become a Fan: www.facebook.com/GaiaBlessings 
Author's Page/Lists all books: http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B001JS1VKA 
YouTube Uploaded Videos: http://www.youtube.com/SerenaAnderlini
 
Find us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterView our profile on LinkedInView our videos on YouTubeVisit our blog