And The Nominees Are

Twenty-one books are finalists for the seven categories of awards given by the Publishing Triangle. Here’s the list of nominees:

A Palace of Pearls by Jane Miller (Copper Canyon) The Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry
Branwell by Douglas A. Martin (Soft Skull Press) The Ferro-Grumley Awards for Fiction: Men
Brian in Three Seasons by Patricia Grossman (Permanent Press) The Ferro-Grumley Award for Fiction: Women
Choir Boy by Charlie Anders (Soft Skull Press) The Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction
Collected Poems with Notes Toward the Memoirs by Djuna Barnes, edited by Phillip Herring and Osias Stutman (University of Wisconsin Press) The Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry
Crashing America by Katia Noyes (Alyson Books) The Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction
Crush by Richard Siken (Yale University Press) The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Male Poetry
Cut Off the Ears of Winter by Peter Covino (New Issues) The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Male Poetry
Directed by Desire by June Jordan, edited by Jan Heller Levi and Sara Miles (Copper Canyon) The Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry
Gotta Find Me an Angel by Brenda Brooks (Raincoast Books) The Ferro-Grumley Award for Fiction: Women
Loose End by Ivan E. Coyote (Arsenal Pulp Press) The Ferro-Grumley Award for Fiction: Women
My One-Night Stand with Cancer by Tania Katan (Alyson Books) The Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction
On the Ice by Gretchen Legler (Milkweed Editions) The Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction
Setting the Lawn on Fire by Mack Friedman (University of Wisconsin Press) The Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction
Star Dust by Frank Bidart (Farrar Straus Giroux) The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Male Poetry
Still Life With June by Darren Greer (Cormorant Books) The Ferro-Grumley Awards for Fiction: Men
The First Verse by Barry McCrea (Carroll & Graf) The Ferro-Grumley Awards for Fiction: Men
The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde by Neil McKenna (Basic Books) The Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction
The Tricky Part by Martin Moran (Beacon Press) The Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction
Wild Girls by Diana Souhami (St. Martin’s Press) The Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction
Words to Our Now by Thomas Glave (University of Minnesota Press) The Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction

Ninety-eight books were nominated for the Lambda Literary Awards: Here’s a list of the nominees:

Acqua Calda by Keith McDermott (Carroll & Graf) Gay Men's Fiction
And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell & Justin Richardson (Simon & Schuster) Children's/Young Adult
Antonio's Card/La Tarjeta de Antonio by Rigoberto Gonzalez (Children’s Book Press) Children's/Young Adult
Artist’s Dream by Gerri Hill (Bella Books) Romance
Babyji by Abha Dawesar (Anchor Books) Lesbian Fiction
Best Gay Erotica 2006, ed. by Matt Bernstein Sycamore and Richard Labonte (Cleis) Erotica
Best Lesbian Erotica 2006, ed. by Eileen Myles and Tristan Taormino (Cleis) Erotica
Beyond Recall by Mary Meigs and Lise Weil (Talonbooks) Biography
Beyond the Down Low by Keith Boykin (Carroll & Graf) Nonfiction
Bilal's Bread by Sulyman X (Alyson) Gay Men’s Debut Fiction
Bliss by Fiona Zedde (Kensington) Lesbian Debut Fiction
Blue on Blue Ground by Aaron Smith (Pittsburgh) Gay Men's Poetry
Bullets and Butterflies: Queer Spoken Word Poetry, ed. Emanuel Xavier (Suspect Thoughts) Anthology
Cajun Snuff by W. Randy Haynes (Publish America) Gay Men's Mystery
Choir Boy by Charlie Anders (Soft Skull Press) Transgender/GenderQueer
Close Contact by Sean Wolfe (Kensington) Erotica
Crashing America by Katia Noyes (Alyson) Lesbian Debut Fiction
Crush by Richard Siken (Yale) Gay Men's Poetry
Darkness Descending by Penny Mickelbury (Kings Crossing) Lesbian Mystery
Daughters of an Emerald Dusk by Katherine Forrest (Alyson Books) Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror
Deliver Me from Nowhere by Tennessee Jones (Soft Skull Press) Transgender/GenderQueer
Desert Blood: The Juarez Murders by Alicia Gaspar De Alba (Arte Publico) Lesbian Mystery
Directed by Desire: Collected Poems by June Jordan (Copper Canyon) Lesbian Poetry
Distant Shores, Silent Thunder by Radclyffe (Bold Strokes) Romance
Don't Get too Comfortable by David Rakoff (Doubleday) Humor
Everything I Have is Blue: Short Fiction by Working-Class Men, ed. Wendell Ricketts (Suspect Thoughts) Anthology
Eye of Water by Amber Flora Thomas (Pittsburgh) Lesbian Poetry
Faith for Beginners by Aaron Hamburger (Random House) Gay Men's Fiction
February House by Sherrill Tippins (Houghton Mifflin) Biography
Five Books of Moses Lapinsky by Karen Tulchinsky (Raincoast Books) Lesbian Fiction
Fledgling by Octavia Butler (Seven Stories) Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror
For Dust Thou Art by Timothy Lui (Southern Illinois) Gay Men's Poetry
Freedom in the Village: 25 Years of Black, Gay Men’s Writing, ed. E. Lynn Harris (Carroll & Graf) Anthology
Fumbling Toward Divinity by Craig Hickman (Annabessacook Farm) Spirituality
German Officer’s Boy by Harlan Greene (Wisconsin) Gay Men's Fiction
Gore Vidal’s America by Dennis Altman (Polity Press) Nonfiction
I Am This One Walking Beside Me by Daniel Gebhardt (The Pilgrim Press) Spirituality
In a Queer Time and Place by Judith Halberstam (NYU Press) Transgender/GenderQueer
In Too Deep by Ronica Black (Bold Strokes) Lesbian Debut Fiction
Invasion of Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel, (Alyson Books) Humor
Juicy Mother by Jennifer Camper (Soft Skull Press) Humor
Just Add Hormones by Matt Kailey (Beacon Press) Transgender/GenderQueer
Just Like That by Karin Kallmaker (Bella Books) Romance
Justice Served by Radclyffe (Bold Strokes) Lesbian Mystery
Lesbian Communities Festivals, Rvs And the Internet, edited by Esther D. Rothblum and Penny Sablove (Harrington Park Press) LGBT Studies
Lesbian Pulp Fiction, ed. Katherine Forrest (Cleis) Anthology
Life Mask by Jackie Kay (Bloodaxe Books) Lesbian Poetry
Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson (Harcourt) Lesbian Fiction
Love’s Rite: Same-Sex Marriage in India and the West by Ruth Vanita (Palgrave Macmillan) LGBT Studies
Manstealing for Fat Girls by Michelle Embree (Soft Skull Press) Lesbian Debut Fiction
Mother of Sorrows by Richard McCann (Pantheon) Gay Men’s Debut Fiction
My One Night Stand with Cancer by Tania Katan (Alyson Books) Belles Lettres
New and Selected Poems, Volume II by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) Lesbian Poetry
No Sister of Mine by Jeanne G’Fellers (Bella Books) Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror
Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted: The Life of Brion Gysin by John Geiger (The Disinformation Company) Biography
One of These Things is Not Like the Others by D. Travers Scott (Suspect Thoughts) Gay Men's Mystery
Qu(e)erying Evangelism by Cheri DiNovo (The Pilgrim Press) Spirituality
Quicksands: A Memoir by Sybille Bedford (Counterpoint Press) Belles Lettres
Rainbow Road by Alex Sanchez (Simon & Schuster) Children's/Young Adult
Raising Boys without Men by Peggy Drexler (Rodale) Nonfiction
Red Light: Superheroes, Saints, & Sluts, ed. Anna Camilleri (Arsenal Pulp Press) Anthology
Revenge of the Paste Eaters by Cheryl Peck (5 Spot, Warner Books) Humor
Rode Hard But Away Wet: Lesbian Cowboy Erotica edited by Sacchi Green & Rakelle Valencia (Suspect Thoughts) Erotica
School of the Arts by Mark Doty (HarperCollins) Gay Men's Poetry
Setting the Lawn on Fire by Mack Friedman (Wisconsin) Gay Men’s Debut Fiction
Shapers of Darkness by David B. Coe (Tor) Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror
Stolen Moments: Erotic Interludes 2, edited by Stacia Seaman and Radclyffe (Bold Strokes) Erotica
Sugar by Martin Pousson (Suspect Thoughts) Gay Men's Poetry
Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai (Tundra Books) Children's/Young Adult
Tab Hunter Confidential by Tab Hunter, with Eddie Muller (Algonquin) Belles Lettres
Temple Landfall by Jane Fletcher (Bold Strokes) Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror
The Actor’s Guide to Greed by Rick Copp (Kensington) Gay Men's Mystery
The Beautifully Worthless by Ali Leibegott (Suspect Thoughts) Lesbian Debut Fiction
The Fabulous Sylvester by Joshua Gamson (Henry Holt) Biography
The First Verse by Barry McCrea (Carroll & Graf) Gay Men’s Debut Fiction
The Iron Girl by Ellen Hart (St. Martins Minotaur) Lesbian Mystery
The Paper Mirror by Dorien Grey (GLB Publishers) Gay Men's Mystery
The Price of Temptation by M. J. Pearson (Seventh Window) Romance
The Riddle of Gender by Deborah Rudacille (Pantheon) Transgender/GenderQueer
The Seven Sisters of the Pleiades by Munya Andrews (Spinifex) Spirituality
The Sluts by Dennis Cooper (Carroll & Graf) Gay Men's Fiction
The Tricky Part by Martin Moran (Beacon Press) Belles Lettres
Totally Joe by James Howe (Simon & Schuster) Children's/Young Adult
Walt Loves the Bearcat by Randy Boyd (West Beach Books) Romance
What the L ? by Kate Clinton (Carroll & Graf) Humor
What We Do is Secret by Kief Hillsbery (Villard) Gay Men's Fiction
When Heroes Love: The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David by Susan Ackerman (Columbia) LGBT Studies
When I Knew, edited by Robert Trachtenberg, illustrated by Tom Bachtell (Regan Books) Belles Lettres
Where the Apple Falls by Samiya Bashir (redbone press) Lesbian Poetry
White Tiger by Michael Allen Dymmoch (St. Martins Minotaur) Gay Men's Mystery
Why I Hate Abercrombie and Fitch by Dwight A. McBride (NYU Press) LGBT Studies
Wild Dogs by Helen Humphrys (W. W. Norton) Lesbian Fiction
Wild Girls: Paris, Sappho, & Art by Diana Souhami (St. Martins) Biography
With or Without You by Lauren Sanders (Akashic) Lesbian Fiction
Women of Mystery edited by Katherine Forrest (Haworth) Lesbian Mystery
Women Together/Women Apart by Tirza True Latimer (Rutgers) Nonfiction
Words to Our Now by Thomas Glave (Minnesota) Nonfiction
You Are Not the One by Vestal McIntyre (Carroll & Graf) Gay Men’s Debut Fiction
Zest for Life: Lesbians’ Experience of Menopause by Jennifer Kelly (Spinifex) LGBT Studies

March Publishing Notes

The buzz: Andrew Lang will produce a film adaptation of Peter Lefcourt’s 1992 gay-themed baseball novel The Dreyfus Affair. Stone Village Pictures has optioned the film rights to A.M. Homes’s This Book Will Save Your Life. Rock singer Marilyn Manson plans to play author Lewis Carroll in his self-penned “arthouse horror” film Phantasmagoria — The Visions of Lewis Carroll. The two shirts worn by the stars of Brokeback Mountain garnered a record $101,100.51 for Variety, the Children’s Charity of Southern California, in a recent eBay auction. Gay philanthropist and Hollywood memorabilia collector Tom Gregory placed the winning bid. The Broadway opening of Lestat, the Elton John musical based on the Anne Rice vampire-themed novels, has been moved to March 25. In July 2006, a new translation of Mother Courage by Tony Kushner will be presented by at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park as part of the Public Theater’s summer season. Directed by George C. Wolfe it will feature Meryl Streep. Author and former Out Traveler editor Matt Link is launching a new travel magazine in conjunction with the Sherman’s Travel organization. After 10 years at the helm of Philadelphia Gay News, editor Patti Tihey says goodbye to the weekly newspaper. Window Media President William Waybourn has stepped down as president of the newspaper chain. Peter Polimino will be the new President. Author Greg Herren has started a regular column on writing for Erotica Readers & Writers Association website. Greg was also recently mentioned on the floor of the Virginia state legislature in an attempt by state Republicans to ban GSA alliances in high schools. Despite the controversy over the unmasking of author J.T. LeRoy, San Francisco publisher Last Gasp is moving ahead with their next LeRoy work, Labour, a novella illustrated by Australian artist Cherry Hood. Scribner and Pocket Books will publish Blind Fall, the upcoming novel from Christopher Rice, in early 2008. The new book deals with an Iraq veteran searching for redemption following the brutal murder of a comrade he betrayed. Rose MacMurray’s The Distant Strains of Thunder, a coming of age novel about a girl’s friendship with Emily Dickinson, will be published by Little, Brown. Courtney Love’s Dirty Blonde, journals and photos, is forthcoming from Farrar Straus & Giroux. Editors Christopher Anderson and Alecia Oleyourryk’s are on board for Boink: The Book, forthcoming from Warner books. Based on the controversial college magazine, a sex-positive, lifestyle publication, Boink: The Book will feature edgy narratives, prescriptive advice, provocative photos, and confessions from real college students. After 6 volumes of daily gay romance comic strips, Young Bottoms in Love, created by Tim Fish in August 2002, is coming to an end at the PopImage website. Howard Cruse, the renowned underground comix artist, drew the final webisode which debuted in February.

New Owner for Favorite Haunt: Kim Brinster, manager of the Oscar Wilde Bookshop for ten years, is now the owner of the bookstore. Brinster purchased the landmark Greenwich Village Bookshop at 15 Christopher Street on February 1, 2006 from Lambda Rising Bookstores. “It’s a thrill,” Brinster told Bookselling This Week. “I worked really hard to bring the store to where it is today, and I’m happy to know it’s mine. It’s played an historic role [in gay and lesbian history], and it’s so special to so many people.” “This is an exciting time for New York’s favorite and oldest gay bookstore,” said Deacon Maccubbin, Lambda Rising’s owner, in a statement. “Three years ago, Oscar Wilde was in imminent danger of closing forever when, at literally the last hour, Lambda Rising stepped in to rescue the historic bookstore. In the time since, Lambda Rising, working closely with Kim Brinster and the New York store’s staff, has brought the store back from the brink and restored financially sound operations.” The Oscar Wilde Bookshop has been in continuous operation in Greenwich Village since 1967.

The Place to Be: The fourth annual Saints and Sinners Literary Festival is moving forward as scheduled. The dates are May 12-14, 2006 in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The 2006 speakers and presenters include Achy Obejas, Martin Pousson, Karl Soehnlein, Radclyffe, Emanuel Xavier, and many others. This year there will be sessions led by Michelle Tea, Steven Saylor, and Greg Herren. For more information, visit www.sasfest.com. Pink Ink, the Publishing Triangle’s queer book festival in New York City, returns June 9-11, 2006. A reading series and twelve workhops and panels are being planned. Visit www.publishingtriangle.org for more details and updates.

Kudos: Alan Bennett has been nominated as Author of the Year in the British Book Awards. Martin Moran’s The Tricky Part is a nonfiction nominee for the Barnes & Noble Great New Writers Award. Authors Greg Wharton and Simon Sheppard were short-listed for the Rauxa prize for best erotic short story. Karla Jay received the Distinguished Faculty Award at the Tenth Annual Dyson Distinguished Achievement Awards, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences at Pace University. Ellen DeGeneres and her daytime talk show were nominated for 11 daytime Emmys. Brokeback Mountain was named Queer Favorite Feature Film on the recent voting on The Derek and Romaine Show heard on Sirius OutQ. At the British Academy awards (BAFTAs), Brokeback Mountain was honored for Best Film and Best Adapted Screenplay. Ang Lee won Best Director honors and Jake Gyllenhaal was named Best Supporting Actor. Philip Seymour Hoffman won for Best Actor for Capote. Brokeback Mountain was also cited for Best Adapted Screenplat by the Writers Guild of America.

Open calls: Eric Summers is editing an anthology of erotica based on original superheros for STARbooks Press. Deadline is December 31, 2006. For guidelines and submissions, visit the Starbooks Press Web site or e-mail Eric at eric@starbookspress.com. Nominations for the 2006 Rauxa Prize Award are due by August 15, 2006. Given annually to an erotic short story of exceptional literary quality, the award carries a prize of $1000. Visit the Web site for more details. This year an additional prize for erotic poetry will be awarded and carries a $300 prize.

Play it Again, Ben: Gay composer Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) wrote the music for a 1937 English broadcast that included the W. H. Auden poem “Roman Wall Blues,” about a disillusioned soldier on guard duty in the northern extremes of the ancient empire. The recently uncovered score is set to be displayed in England at the Aldeburgh Festival in June and perhaps performed next year at the Sage Gateshead concert hall, near Newcastle, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the broadcast and the centenary of the birth of Auden, The Guardian of London reported. The search for the score was initiated by John Mapplebeck, a filmmaker whose company plans a project about the broadcast. Fifteen years after his newspaper appeal for information proved fruitless, Mapplebeck happened to mention his search to Philip Pendrel-Smith, a retired banker whom he drives to evensong every Sunday. Pendrel-Smith, once an actor, was involved in the original broadcast and picked up and kept the music after the airing. The score has been sent to the Britten-Pears Library in Aldeburgh. “It’s a treasure,” said the librarian, Chris Grogan.

Passages: Octavia Butler, considered the first black woman to gain national prominence in the United States as a science fiction writer, died February 25, 2006. She was 58. Butler fell and struck her head on the cobbled walkway outside her home. The lesbian writer, who suffered from high blood pressure and heart trouble and could take only a few steps without stopping for breath, was found outside her home in the north Seattle suburb of Lake Forest Park. Butler began writing at age 10, embracing science fiction after seeing a schlocky B-movie called Devil Girl From Mars and thinking she could write a better story. In 1970 she took a bus from her hometown of Pasadena, Calif., to attend a fantasy writers workshop in East Lansing, Mich. Her first novel, Kindred, in 1979, featured a black woman who travels back in time to the U.S. South to save a white man. She went on to write about a dozen books, plus numerous essays and short stories. Her most recent work, Fledgling, an examination of the Dracula legend, was published last fall. In 1995 Butler was the first science fiction writer granted a “genius” award from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which paid $295,000 over five years.