I went to the award ceremonies for the Benjamin Franklin Award and Lambda Literary award in New York in June, but
Venus of Chalk didn't win. (My friends Judith Frank [
Crybaby Butch, lesbian debut fiction] and Alison Smith [
Name All the Animals, lesbian nonfiction], did bring home lammies, which was wonderful!) I was cheery about the bennies (who could take getting beat by a book of legal advice from the American Bar Association hard?), but not getting the lammy hurt more than I expected. I cried.
I've been thoroughly consoled by lovely friends, generous strangers, art, and jumping into the lake at the DAR state forest, which represents jumping back into my work and felt good just as getting wet and cooling down, too. There was a fine path of interesting human connections through the award ceremonies and BookExpoAmerica (a huge publishing world convention which was in New York City this year at the same time as the award ceremonies) for me that made negotiating the publishing world easier and more productive than it had ever been, strong feelings and all. I had real conversations – the nuanced, sustaining kind. I don't know what's coming next, but something interesting will.
And:
• I went back to Manhattan on June 15 to be part of reading for the queer affinity group at Time, Inc with my friend Alison Smith (
Name All The Animals), Stacey D'Erasmo (
A Seahorse Year) and Damian McNicholl (
A Son Called Gabriel). The event coordinator, Alexandria Jaeger, had a background in lesbian publishing, and we all had an interesting conversation about the current state of women's and queer publishing.
• Sarah Browning, a fine poet as well as Associate Director of the Fund for Women Artists, did wonderful interviews with writer Sharon Bridgforth, realist painter Lenore Chinn and me in the June Pride newsletter from the Fund.
Here's a link to the interview.
They're also having a drawing this month to win either my book,
Venus of Chalk, or Kate Clinton's latest,
What the L? If you want to enter, simply send them an email and say which book you're interested in – see directions on page one of the newsletter through the link above. Tell them you heard it from me!
• I'm reading at a cabaret at
Food For Thought Books in Amherst on July 9 at 6 pm. My participation (in my fancy awards ceremony outfit), is a direct result of running into Erika Arthur from Food for Thought (and formerly of the Center for Popular Economics!) at the BEA in New York. This is a benefit for Arise for Social Justice, and Erika is performing, too, among others. See what I mean about a human path? If you're local and would like to come, it'd be great to see you. I'll be reading new work.
• The beautiful writer Sally Bellerose not only jumped into the lake with me, she published a story in the June 10 issue of
Hampshire Life that featured me and a bunch of shirtless young men doing push-ups in Pulaski Park in downtown Northampton. Oddly enough, it's true.
Thrive.
Susan
