Ellen Wittlinger has written a provocative piece in the July/August The Horn Book Magazine in which she responds to the Lambda Literary Foundation's decision to only give their yearly award for LGBT books to LGBT-identified authors.
Wittlinger is the author of three books that have been nominated in the past--one of which won (Hard Love). She writes: "Winning an award is not the bottom line here. What this new policy feels like to me is a misunderstanding of my intentions in writing the books I do and a rejection of my abilities as a writer. When I speak to students in Kansas City and Spokane (and maybe someday even in South Carolina) and when these teens read my books, I am sometimes the first author they’ve encountered who is willing to address the topics of sexual and gender identity. And they are hungry to talk about it."
So, if this the new policy, suppose Will Grayson, Will Grayson wins . . . what then?
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