LOS ANGELES – Today, the Lambda Literary Foundation, the nation’s leading national nonprofit organization promoting LGBT literature and writers, announced the recipients of the 2014 Dr. James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize and the Dr. Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award. This year the Mid-Career Novelist Prize recognizes Michael Thomas Ford and Radclyffe; the Emerging Writer Award recognizes Imogen Binnie and Charles Rice-Gonzalez.
The judges for the Mid-Career Prize were Lammy Award winning author and USC professor, Chris Freeman, and best-selling author and preeminent feminist writer on sexual politics, Susie Bright. Commenting on Michael Thomas Ford, Bright stated, “What distinguishes Ford beyond his prodigy, is his remarkable empathy for the most tender and outrageous expressions of humanity, his ability to channel and articulate, with eloquence and un-erring authenticity. He is a writer’s writer and reader’s dearest friend. If he did nothing but sit in a garret with pen in hand, we would be lucky- but Michael has also been a colleague, mentor, and ally to other writers like few others. Our respect for his devotion and imagination, from his earliest efforts to today, is without compare.”
Commenting on Radclyffe, Freeman stated, “Prolific and multi-faceted, Radclyffe has published more than forty novels. She has also edited more than a dozen anthologies, through which she nurtures and promotes the work of other writers. At Bold Strokes Books [which she founded in 2004], there are more than sixty authors who have published upwards of 300 titles in romance, mystery, sci-fi/fantasy/erotica, and young adult … For a decade, Radclyffe has conducted writing workshops and participated in countless panels, where she is a generous supporter of the work of her students and peers alike.”
The Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize, made possible by James Duggins, PhD, consists of two cash prizes of $5000. To qualify, recipients must have published at least three novels or two novels and substantial additional literary work such as poetry, short stories, or essays.
To learn more about the Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize visit website.
To learn more about the Emerging Writers Award visit website
2014 Dr. James Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize Winners
 |
|
Michael Thomas Ford
|
Michael Thomas Ford is the author of more than sixty books for both young readers and adults. He is best known for his novels Suicide Notes, Last Summer, Looking for It, Full Circle, Changing Tides, What We Remember, and The Road Home, his trio of comic novels about Jane Austen living as a modern-day vampire (Jane Bites Back, Jane Goes Batty, and Jane Vows Vengeance), and for his five essay collections in the Trials of My Queer Life series. His work has been nominated for 12 Lambda Literary Awards–twice winning for Best Humor Book, twice for Best Gay Romance Novel, and once for Best Gay Mystery–and he has also been a finalist for the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award (for his novel The Dollhouse That Time Forgot) and a Gaylactic Spectrum Award (for his short story “Night of the Werepuss”). He currently lives in Texas with four badly-behaved dogs.
 |
|
Radclyffe
|
Radclyffe has written over forty-five romance and romantic intrigue novels, dozens of short stories, and, writing as L.L. Raand, has authored a paranormal romance series, The Midnight Hunters. She has also edited Best Lesbian Romance 2009 through 2015 as well as multiple other anthologies.
She is an eight-time Lambda Literary Award finalist in romance, mystery, and erotica-winning in both romance and erotica. A member of the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame, she is also an RWA Prism, Lories, Beanpot, Aspen Gold, and Laurel Wreath winner in multiple mainstream romance categories. In 2004 she founded Bold Strokes Books, an independent LGBTQ publisher with 170 authors and an active title list of over 700. In 2013 she founded the Flax Mill Creek Writers Retreat offering writing workshops to authors in all stages of their careers.
2014 Dr. Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award Winners
 |
|
Imogen Binnie
|
 |
|
Charles Rice Gonzalez
photo by Jose Ramon
|
Charles Rice-González, born in Puerto Rico and reared in the Bronx, is a writer, long-time community and LGBT activist, co-founder of BAAD! The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance and a Distinguished Lecturer at Hostos Community College – CUNY. He received a B.A. in Communications from Adelphi University and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Goddard College. His debut novel, Chulito (Magnus 2011), has received awards and recognitions from American Library Association (ALA) and the National Book Critics Circle. He co-edited From Macho to Mariposa: New Gay Latino Fiction (Tincture 2011) with Charlie Vázquez. He is also an award-winning playwright and his play I Just Love Andy Gibb will be published in Blacktino Queer Performance: A Critical Anthology co-edited by E. Patrick Johnson and Ramón H. Rivera-Servera in 2015. Charles serves on the boards of the Bronx Council on the Arts and the National Association of Latino Art and Cultures.
