Librarians-a-go-go

June 26th, 2007 | Uncategorized

stonewall award brunch

Yesterday was the Stonewall Awards brunch, where the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association presented me with the Israel Fishman nonfiction award for Fun Home. Andrew Holleran won the fiction award for his book Grief, but he wasn’t there. It was a great honor, and a lot of fun hanging with the librarians.

I went to the ALA convention itself for a while in the afternoon and signed books. Then in the evening I did a reading a signing at Lambda Rising which turned out to be really great. At first it felt like it was going to be a disaster–there weren’t that many people, and I was in an awkward space right up by the door to the street and it was noisy. But as the reading went along, more and more people came in, and the room got quieter and quieter and the chaotic store turned into a rapt audience. It was cool. I don’t have any pictures of the nice people because I had my hands full juggling my powerpoint and signing books and stuff. We sold all their books except for one volume of DTWOF.

Then some of the ALA GLBTRT folks took me out to Ruth’s Chris steak house. (no, I am not a vegetarian, though I was for a long time.) Those librarians can get pretty raucous.

15 Responses to “Librarians-a-go-go”

  1. Sarah says:

    Woohoo! I was at Lambda Rising, and it was great–I feel so lucky to have been there. I only heard about the event a couple of days earlier, and went back and forth on whether I should broadcast this great news to the internets, but then I remembered how tiny the store is, and selfishly kept the information to myself (other than telling a few friends).

    Actually, I subscribe to your blog feed, and I could have sworn you had an entry in which you announced your stop at Lambda Rising, but when I went back to check later, the post seems to have disappeared.

  2. Aunt Soozie says:

    Looks like you were a lezzie librarian magnet.

    Looking forward to hearing you read tonight and getting lots of copies of the paperback for friends…they’ll be available there, right?

    Hope to meet a bunch of y’all from the blog.
    I might be too shy in person to wear a red carnation or to actually shove my computer mouse into my back pocket but I’ll look for Doc E. and other people wearing red carnations.

    Later,
    Auntie

  3. Dr. Empirical says:

    I don’t know where to get a red carnation, and my mouse is a big, bulky trackball, but there’s a picture of me (in a derby hat) at http://www.popthought.com/

    Feel free to say “Hello!”

  4. K.R. says:

    Hey, you weren’t just a lezzie librarian magnet, but a queer librarian magnet in general! (Hi, I was one of the raucous steak people, except I had chicken. [Is that sentence too cryptic?])

    I hope your next reading goes as well as the DC one.

  5. jay in chicago says:

    Hey, that’s my friend K.R. in that picture! (And look, he’s already posted here.) How cool of you both to get a chance to meet.

  6. MS says:

    I was at Lambda Rising last night, too. It definitely got crowded! The reading was great, and it was a treat to hear you read, and to pick up the extra level of meaning in the inflections of your voice and tone and so on. It made me want to go do a graphic novel of my own! (Except that I can’t write. Or draw.) Thanks for making the appearance! 🙂

  7. Roz Warren says:

    Soozie, I’m too shy to wear a carnation too but my photo is on my website (wwww.rosalindwarren.com) — please say hi if you see me!!
    Roz

  8. Aunt Soozie says:

    Okay Roz…I’ll look for you!

  9. April says:

    Great reading at Lamdba Rising last night! My roommate and I were really excited to meet you (we’re the gals from Renovo). Thanks for creating such an awesome book and allowing us to hear you read it. Good luck with the rest of your tour!
    Also, congrats on the Stonewall Award!! If you have time, check out our library’s blog: http://gmuacl.wordpress.com

  10. Dave says:

    Congrats. Sorry I was so consumed by trying to raise money for the Stonewall Book Award Endowment that I didn’t stay around, but I loved what you said, and it is an honor to be able to continue to promote such great GLBT literature. Keep it up. http://dave92264.blogspot.com/

  11. riotllama says:

    I had a red something. I was recognized. Sorry this Lesbo librarian doesn’t drink. Mayhaps another time the lot of us could try for some tea. Miss Soozie, do you remember Franny’s place? (from back in the day)

    Next time AB comes to philly, we must all tattoo whales on our legs to recognize each other.

  12. Aunt Soozie says:

    Hey RL,
    I’m glad your red something caught my eye.
    I don’t remember Franny’s place. I remember Sneakers.
    and Mamzelles. Hmmm…there was this tea house I went to in Philadelphia…was that Franny’s?

    I’ve been thinking of a tattoo but a whale might be too large a mammal for a tat newbie…doncha think? Maybe a mouse. A carnation would be too…uhm…sissy-ish.

    Speaking of sissies…my sister just celebrated her 39th birthday and she wants me to take her to get a tattoo. So write to me and tell me if you have a suggestion about where to go in Philadelphia. phoebephiles@mac.com

    And one more inane topic…do you believe that I already got junk mail at that alias? that I just created for Alison’s reading in Philadelphia? the phoebephiles were being solicited to promote their website!!

  13. Ani says:

    I love the book, and I loved hearing you read from it!

  14. ro708ck says:

    m653k

  15. Lisa from ALA says:

    Hi Alison,

    Thank you again for spending an evening with 4 librarian fans. I was so pleased you were not the typical lesbian with all of those stereotypical dietary restrictions. A great evening– I was verklempt.