The Lambda Literary Foundation is inviting applicants for its 2014 Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices. The retreat will be held Aug. 3-10 on the campus of the American Jewish University (AJU) in Los Angeles.
The faculty includes Lucy Jane Bledsoe teaching the Fiction workshop, Randall Kenan teaching the Non-Fiction workshop, Eduardo C. Corral teaching the Poetry workshop, and Elizabeth Sims teaching Genre Fiction (an emphasis on mysteries and thrillers). Applications must be submitted by April 1. The application form and details about the process are available online.
LLF’s Writers Retreat is expanding the week-long residency by inviting Lambda Fellows (graduates of previous retreats) to return to the program without requiring enrollment in one of the four workshops. Over 240 LGBTQ writers have graduated from Lambda’s retreat since it began in 2007. These Fellows will be allowed to return with discounted tuition and use the week to write and to participate in the guest lecture series and social activities, as well as have the opportunity to form peer led workshops if they desire. Lambda Fellows will continue to have the option of reserving a space in a faculty-led workshop.
“Inviting Lambda Fellows to return to the retreat without enrolling in a workshop is a major development of the program,” said LLF Executive Director Tony Valenzuela. “The faculty-led workshops in fiction, non-fiction, genre fiction and poetry are already popular and very competitive among emerging writers. Now, retreat graduates will be able to return with discounted tuition to be among their community of LGBTQ writers with more publications under their belt, more real-world publishing experience and with an opportunity for seven days of uninterrupted time in a peaceful setting to write, write and write.”
This year LLF also is launching an annual e-book anthology of writing by participants of the Emerging Writers Retreat to be published in December of each year and made available on Amazon.com. LLF is offering a full scholarship including tuition, room and board (not travel) to applicants interested in being editor of the anthology. Only one editor will be chosen. Duties will include creating a publication timeline, collecting submissions from workshop participants (48 max), editing and asking for rewrites, collecting bios, writing an introduction and bibliography and creating an edited, final, error free copy. The editor does not need experience with the technical aspects of building an e-book. For more information, download the Retreat application.
The Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices was established in 2007 and is the first of its kind offered to LGBT writers. Applicants of submit 20 pages of fiction/non-fiction or ten pages of poetry that are evaluated for craft, creativity and originality. Twelve students per workshop are accepted into the program where they spend the week working on their manuscripts and attending guest lectures led by publishing industry professionals. Ability to pay is in not part of the decision-making process and scholarships are available. The LLF Writers Retreat Fellows have gone on to publish an impressive array of works.
