The Alice B Readers Award

The Alice B Readers Award[1] is given annually to living writers of lesbian fiction whose careers are distinguished by consistently well-written stories about lesbians. Named for Alice B. Toklas, the award is given once, only, in appreciation of career achievement. In addition to the medal, each recipient is given a lapel pin and a significant honorarium.

Alice B Medal
Alice B Medal Awarded Annually
Websitewww.alicebawards.org

The Award was founded by Roberta "Sandy" Sandburg, who died of cancer at the age of 72 on June 16, 2009. Sandburg envisioned the Alice B Awards a decade or so ago, and in 2004 decided to make the awards a reality by committing funds from "an anonymous donor". A lifelong reader who was passionate about lesbian fiction, Sandburg wanted to thank and reward the authors who had given her so much joy, and she did so by establishing the Alice B fund and gathering a group of women who became the Alice B Readers Appreciation Committee.

In addition to Alice B Medals, until 2016 the Committee awarded Alice B Lavender Certificates to up-and-coming authors who do not yet have a body of work but who have published a remarkable work or two deserving of notice. Winners of the certificate received an honorarium of $50. After 2016, the Lavender Certificate was suspended. Due to the overwhelming number of debut writers, the committee was no longer able to read so many debut books.

By 2021, the Committee acknowledged that so many lesbian books were being published each year that they could no longer keep up and came to believe they were missing writers of great merit. In 2021, the committee began inviting readers, publishers, and authors to submit any book that they believe is a "Best Work of Fiction" by an author and representative of the author being named as deserving of a medal for lifetime achievement.[2]

Significance of the award

Historically, lesbians have rarely had their voices heard in the fiction or nonfiction of modern society,[3] (except perhaps as footnotes in medical journals regarding pathology). As Bertha Harris, author of many novels including Lover, once wrote: "Between the time of Sappho and the birth of Natalie Clifford Barney lies a 'lesbian silence' of twenty-four centuries."[4] It was not until the 1970s and the establishment of Naiad Press (after the Stonewall riots in 1969), that books by, for, and about lesbians began to be regularly published. Still, it was a long hard road with little recognition and to this day, considerable difficulties and discrimination face authors of lesbian works.

The Alice B Award is one small contribution toward overcoming discrimination. As Martha Nell Smith wrote:[5]

The trajectory of lesbian literature for the first two-thirds of the twentieth century can be described as a movement from encrypted strategies for expressions of the love that dare not speak its name to overtly political celebrations of woman-for-woman passion that, by the late 1960s, refused to be denied, denigrated, or expunged.

The Alice B Award exists to honor and recognize forerunners of modern lesbian fiction including Ann Bannon, Jane Rule, Marijane Meaker, Sandra Scoppettone, Katherine V. Forrest, and Lee Lynch, as well as to the new voices who are providing information, entertainment, and enlightenment to lesbians around the world.

The Alice B Awards Committee

The Alice B Awards Committee is an anonymous group of avid lesbian readers located around the US. The award is made possible by an anonymous donor. The donor and committee share a common goal: to reward and thank writers of lesbian fiction for their contribution to lesbian community, culture, and identity.

At least two Medals are given out annually. Selections are made from lists compiled by the committee members’ to include their all-time favorite living authors currently publishing and also those with a substantial body of excellent work, even if they are not now publishing.

Winners of the Alice B Award

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018
  • Penny Hayes
  • Barbara Johnson
  • Rachel Spangler

2017
  • Melissa Brayden
  • Jaye Maiman
  • Ann McMan

2016
  • Justine Saracen
  • Carsen Taite
  • Pat Welch

2015

2014
  • Marianne K. Martin
  • Susan X. Meagher
  • Ann Roberts

2013

2012


2011
  • Erin Dutton
  • Fran Heckrotte
  • Ali Vali

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006
  • Jennifer Fulton
  • Claire McNab
  • Ann Allen Shockley
  • Sheila Ortiz-Taylor

2005

2004

Winners of the Lavender Certificate

2005
  • Jaime Clevenger for The Unknown Mile
  • Gabrielle Goldsby for The Caretaker's Daughter
  • C. Paradee for Deep Cover

2006
  • Cynthia Tyler for Descanso

2007
  • Brenda Adcock for Pipeline

2008
  • L-J Baker for Broken Wings
  • Catherine Friend for The Spanish Pearl
  • Nairne Holtz for The Skin Beneath

2009
  • Del Robertson for Taming the Wolff
  • Gill McKnight for Falling Star and Green-eyed Monster

2010
  • DL Line for On Dangerous Ground
  • Colette Moody for The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin
  • Carsen Taite for truelesbianlove.com

2011
  • Amy Briant for Shadow Point
  • Nat Burns for Two Weeks in August
  • Gina Noelle Daggett for Jukebox
  • D. Jackson Leigh for Bareback and Long Shot
  • Kristin Marra for Wind and Bones
  • Amy Dawson Robertson for Miles to Go

2012
  • Regina Hanel for Love Another Day
  • Cari Hunter for Snowbound
  • Ann McMan for Jericho
  • AJ Quinn for Hostage Moon
  • Pol Robinson for Open Water

2013
  • Andrea Bramhall for Ladyfish
  • Maggie Morton for Dreaming of Her
  • Jenna Rae for The Writing on the Wall
  • Robin Silverman for Lemon Reef
  • Rebecca Swartz for Everything Pales in Comparison

2014
  • Miriam Ruth Black for Turtle Season
  • Lea Daley for Waiting for Harper Lee
  • M E Logan for Lexington Connection
  • Diane Wood for Web of Obsessions

2015
  • Marie Castle for Hell's Belle
  • Jaime Maddox for Agnes

2016
  • Jean Copeland for The Revelation of Beatrice Darby
  • Jenny Frame for A Royal Romance
  • Sophia French for The Diplomat
  • Brandy T. Wilson for The Palace Blues

References
  1. Home - Alice B Awards - The Website for the Alice B Reader's Appreciation Committee
  2. Alice B Readers. "History and Organization: Submission of Worthy Books". Retrieved 21 July 2021.
  3. Alice B Awards Winners. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
  4. Bold Strokes Alice B Award Winners Archived 2008-05-13 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
  5. Alice B Award Winner Lori L. Lake. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.

Notes


1. The Lesbian History Portal. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
2. Bertha Harris on glbtq.com Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
3. American Literature: Lesbian, 1900-1969. Martha Nell Smith. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
4. The Alice B Medal Current Winners Biographical page. Retrieved on 2014-02-14.

5. The Alice B Medal Past Winners Page. Retrieved on 2014-02-14.

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