Lambda Literary Foundation Announces OUTWRITE! Series

Today the Lambda Literary Foundation announced OUTWRITE!, a special celebration of Los Angeles LGBT literary pioneers - Malcolm Boyd, Lillian Faderman, Katherine V. Forrest, John Rechy and Patricia Nell Warren --to be held on Saturday, April 27,
at the West Hollywood Public Library. The evening, marking the 25th anniversary of the organization, begins at 7 PM. A catered reception in the forecourt of the library begins at 6 PM. This celebration is being made possible through the generous support of the City of West Hollywood.

This special event features a rare West Coast performance by Mx. Justin VivIan Bond, who was nominated for a 2007 Tony Award and is one of the nation's top cabaret performers, as well as celebrations of each of the honorees by their contemporaries and rising names from the worlds of entertainment, politics, letter and the arts.

Tickets ($85) are now on sale and can be purchased at www.lambdaliterary.org/25th-la-event. Proceeds benefit the Foundation's work which includes its annual summer Emerging Writers Retreat for aspiring young LGBT writers.

The event is preceded by a free public reading at the library from 3 pm to 4:30 pm, by the regional 2013 nominees for the Lambda Literary Awards, which are given out later in the year in New York City.

West Hollywood Mayor Pro Tempore, Abbe Land, will open the program. Among the evening's distinguished presenters are Rt. Rev. Jon Bruno, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles; Eloise Klein Healy, Los Angeles Poet Laureate; Torie Osborn, Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles; Gregory Hinton, filmmaker and writer; Joseph R. Hawkins, President of the ONE Archives Board of Directors and lecturer at USC; Michael Kearns, actor and author; and Chris Freeman, Professor of English at USC.

The five legendary authors being honored are:

Rev. Canon Malcolm Boyd - memoirist, essayist and editor has charted his life in over 30 works, coming out as a gay man in light of his religious beliefs and work as a priest after a career in Hollywood. His works have shed light on the search for religious meaning by gay men, both his contemporaries and those who have come after. He is also known as an activist in the Civil Rights and anti-war movements of the 1960s. Boyd will observe his 90th birthday in June.

Lillian Faderman- a scholar whose works on lesbian history have won numerous awards. She is best known for her works, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America (1991) and Surpassing the Love of Men: Romantic Friendship and Love Between Women from the Renaissance to the Present (1981). Faderman has held professorships at Cal State Fresno and UCLA, following her education at UC Berkley and UCLA.

Katherine V. Forrest - novelist and editor, best known for her popular Kate Delafield mysteries and her Daughters of a Coral Dawn series of novels, as well as her tireless work at Naiad Press as an editor of lesbian fiction anthologies. Forrest is currently acquisitions editor at Spinsters Ink and supervising editor at Bella Books. Forrest is also President Emeritus of the Lambda Literary Foundation.

John Rechy - groundbreaking gay fiction author and award-winning memoirist and playwright. Best known for his novel City of Night and the non-fiction book, The Sexual Outlaw, Rechy has received much acclaim for his work, and has lectured widely in addition to teaching at the graduate writing program at USC. Rechy is generally acknowledged as one of the LGBT community's most famous and important authors.

Patricia Nell Warren - prodigious author, activist and journalist, known best for her novels The Front Runner, The Fancy Dancer and The Beauty Queen, the first of which inspired the gay and lesbian running clubs entitled FrontRunners across the nation. Warren has served as a constant inspiration to generations of LGBT writers.

Now celebrating its 25th anniversary, The Lambda Literary Foundation nurtures, celebrates and preserves LGBT literature through programs that honor excellence, promote visibility and encourage development of emerging writers. Learn more by visiting www.lambdaliterary.org.

Mx Justin VivIan Bond is a writer, singer, painter and performance artist. Mx Bond is the author of the Lambda Literary Award-winning memoir TANGO: My Childhood, Backwards and in High Heels, published by The Feminist Press (2010). V's debut CD DENDRPOPHILE was released on WhimsyMusic in 2011 and was followed by SILVER WELLS in 2012. In 2011 Justin Vivian's art exhibit "The Fall of the House of Whimsy" was presented at Participant Inc. in New York City. Mx Bond was nominated for a Tony Award for Kiki & Herb: Alive On Broadway in 2007.

The West Hollywood City Council Chambers are at street level in the AutoCourt of the Library at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. Free validated parking for the event will be provided for the five-story West Hollywood Public Parking Structure accessible from El Tovar Place.

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