Introducing Lambda Literary’s 2016 Emerging Writers Retreat Fellows
Once more giving voice to the LGBT community, the 2016 class of the Emerging Writers Retreat for LGBTQ Voices will spend a week in Los Angeles this summer, from July 24-31.
Sixty talented up-and-coming LGBT writers will be working on their books, collections and plays in workshops led by some of the community’s leading LGBT authors/mentors.
The five sections include fiction, nonfiction, poetry, genre fiction and playwriting.
Emerging writers give voice to the LGBT community
Lambda Literary believes LGBTQ literature is fundamental to the preservation of LGBTQ culture, and that LGBTQ lives are affirmed when the stories are written, published and read.
The retreat was established in 2007 and is the first ever offered to LGBTQ writers: a one-week intensive immersion in their craft.
Likewise, the retreat is an opportunity to be mentored by the very best writers in the community.
The mentors will help the writers develop their craft, as well as make connections with publishing industry professionals amidst a strong community of peers.
This year’s fellows have outstanding writers in each workshop.
Emerging writers: New LGBTQ names and faces
The Fictionists, with Andrew Holleran as their faculty, include: Caitlin Bagwell, Carson Beker, Markus Tran Degnan, Daphne Gottlieb, Cary Alan Johnson, Juliana Delgado Lopera, Jonathan Mack, Edmond Manning, Frederick McKindra, Mike Miksche, Whitney Porter, and Robert Smith.
The Nonfiction writers, with Sarah Schulman as their teacher, include: Cooper Lee Bombardier, Clayton Delery-Edwards, Candace Eros Diaz, Kai M. Green, Tennessee Jones, Kathleen Nacozy, Nashon Anderson, Daniel Shannon, Natalia Vigil, Rosie Wilby, and Ashley Young.
The Young Adult Fictionists, headed by Benjamin Alire Saenz, include: Damian Alexander, Laura Carpenter, Kate Goka, C.B. Lee, Paul J.S. Oliveria, Emil Ostrovski, Alexis Smithers, Sophie Gertrude Strohmeier, Christina Tesoro, Peyton Thomas, Molly Thornton, Pam, and Karen Yin.
The Poets, with Joy Ladin, include: Nico Amador, Portia Elan, Chen Chen, Sam Corfman, Elaina Ellis, Janelle Fine, Jennifer Hanks, Sally J. Johnson, Taylor Johnson, Steven Riel, Brian Rigg, and Julia Tranchina.
Lastly, the Playwrights, with Robert O’Hara, include: Wayne Bund, Catherine Frost, Keelay Gopson, Jeremy O’Brian, Javier, Georgette Kelly, Hannah Merrill, Kristian O’Hare, Azure D. Osborne-Lee, Baruch Porras Hernandez, Chris Puglisi, and Charles Stephens.
In addition, the writers in residence for the Emerging Writers Retreat are Celeste Chan, Sarah Fonseca, Liz Demi Green. Sarah Jimenez, and C. Kevin Smith.