Now that the Inauguration is over, I can breathe a lil’ easier:

Whewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

Thought I’d squeeze in a last-minute January post. Good stuff is happening in the weeks to come, but I’ll start with my excitement over the first annual Randall Kenan Prize for Black LGBTQ Fiction, to be awarded by Lambda Literary, the community’s top cultural institution for creative writing.

As I shared last fall, I was deepy saddened by the passing of Randall Kenan. I wanted to make sure that something was done in his memory to encourage the kind of storytelling and representation that Randall embodied and championed. (Randall himself received the 1992 Lambda Literary Award in Gay Fiction for his first short story collection, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead).

I reached out to Lambda’s Deputy Director, William Johnson, with the idea for a prize, which was brought to life through his enthusiastic leadership!

I’m looking forward to celebrating the Prize’s first recipient later this year. Meanwhile, please spread the word to any eligible authors--the deadline for entries is February 15th!