The Founder Of The Lambda Literary Awards Speaks His Mind

Deacon Maccubbin founded the Lambda Literary Awards in 1988.

Here is his entire comment he made over on The Little Lost Lamb(da)s –Some thoughts by Victor J. Banis

Deacon Maccubbin
September 30th, 2009 on 9:43 am

Just to keep the historical record clear, when I founded the Lambda Literary Awards in 1988, they were specifically intended to honor “the writers, editors and publishers of gay and lesbian literature”. There was no litmus test of the sexual or affectional orientation of those writers, editors and publishers. It was only necessary that a nominated book be of interest to gays and lesbians (and, later, to bisexuals and transgenders as additional categories were added). That was true for the first five years of the Lammy Awards. I believe it was true even after we turned the awards program over to the new non-profit Lambda Literary Foundation; I don’t know at what point the criteria might have changed, but I think it would be wise to return to the original vision.

Also, in those heady early years of the Lammys, they were definitely not New York-centric. The awards program was developed in Washington DC under the auspices of the Lambda Book Report and Lambda Rising Bookstores. It was built on the extensive framework of more than 200 glbt and lesbian feminist bookstores that then existed around the country, who helped gather nominations and also provided a large number of the judges, chosen in part for their geographical representation as well as their experience in the literary marketplace. That’s the way the Lammys operated over its first five years under my guidance and, I believe, for some years after. But I have not been actively involved with the Foundation in recent years, haven’t been able to even attend the Lammy Awards for several years, and have no insight into its current operations.

Tags: Lambda Literary Foundation, Wank