LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Lambda Literary has announced that it has been awarded a grant of $30,000 from the Amazon Literary Partnership for the eighth year in a row, a continuation of Amazon.com’s support for the Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices. This year’s Retreat will be held Aug. 5 through Aug. 12, 2017 on the campus of Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles.
Lambda Literary’s Writers Retreat is the only residency in the world established specifically for talented, emerging LGBTQ writers. Since 2007 when the program began, Lambda has graduated over 400 Fellows from its summer Retreat. For one rigorous, immersive week, Retreat students in fiction, genre fiction, nonfiction, poetry and playwriting work on their manuscripts or plays in small, individualized classes, gain mentorships, forge critical connections to publishing industry professionals, and build a community of peers on whom they’ll depend for years of encouragement, inspiration and friendship.
“Amazon Literary Partnership’s generous grants have helped to support a generation of emerging LGBTQ writers,” said Tony Valenzuela, Lambda Literary’s Executive Director. “Amazon’s funding has played a direct role in helping Lambda Fellows publish some of the most exciting debut novels of the past decade.”
“Amazon is thrilled to continue its support for Lambda’s one-of-a-kind retreat, which offers talented LGBTQ writers a rare opportunity to receive rigorous mentoring from some of the finest writers working today,” said Neal Thompson, Amazon’s director of Author and Publishing Relations. “It’s vital these days to make sure literary LGBTQ voices get heard. And the Lambda retreat does more than help emerging writers tell their stories, it develops writers’ careers.”
Amazon.com’s $30,000 grant is a significant contribution to the mission of Lambda Literary. As in years past, the grant will enable promising emerging writers to participate through scholarship funds. Without a scholarship, many students would not otherwise be able to attend the Retreat in Los Angeles. Amazon.com’s support ensures that these talented writers can take their spot in a workshop.
