Lambda Literary is pleased to announce that poet Hannah Ensor and journalist Robert Fieseler have been named winners of the 2019 Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBTQ Writers.
The award recognizes
LGBTQ-identified writers whose work demonstrates their strong potential
for promising careers. Each award includes a cash prize of $1,000. The judges for this year's prize were authors Chen Chen and Nahshon Dion Anderson.
About
Hannah Ensor, judge Nahshon Dion Anderson shared, "Hannah Ensor is a
lustrous young talent. She showcases her interest in the world and the
media via her debut book of poetry, Love Dream With Television, which
demonstrates breathtaking breadth and depth. She is emerging in every
sense of the word. Ensor's evocative and propulsive poetry, her
exemplary devotion to LGBTQ communities, and her goodwill approach to
thinking and existing demonstrate how richly deserving she is of
celebration."
On Fieseler, judge Chen Chen wrote, "Robert Fieseler’s nonfiction work, Tinderbox,
is a critical and beautiful intervention, bringing not only the light
of extensive research to the Up Stairs Lounge and the LGBTQ community of
1970s New Orleans, but also—and crucially—the warmth of precise
detail. Fieseler is a skilled storyteller, never forgetting the
people-sized dimensions of the people he writes about, while weaving
their narratives into larger histories. Fieseler’s dedication to
storytelling is key to his approach to activism, as well—fighting to
preserve queer documents and archives, and sharing his own experiences
with GSAs and other student-led organizations. In Fieseler’s hands,
memory is an act of protest."
Ensor and Fieseler will be recognized as the winners of the Judith A. Markowitz prize at the 31st Annual Lambda Literary Awards ceremony on June 3 in New York City.