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Past Medal Winners | Past
Certificate Winners
About the Lavender Certificate
2005 - 2016
The
Lavender Certificate was awarded from 2005-2016 to authors
early in their careers who, in the committee's opinion, had
outstanding "maiden" novels in print. The award
was intended to encourage new writers in their quest to let
their voices be heard, which until recently was not an easy
accomplishment. Nowadays, though, the volume of lesbian books
published is awesome, and the committee is unable to read
all of the incredible wealth of debut books, so as of 2017
the certificate was suspended. We are delighted that at long
last, there are plenty of books reflecting lesbian lives!
Biographical
Information
For Past Lavender Certificate Winners
Erica Abbott [1958
- 2020] (2013 Certificate Winner
for Fragmentary Blue )
was born and raised in the Midwest, and was a graduate
of the University of Denver. She was a government lawyer and
prosecutor, a college professor, sang mezzo-soprano on stage,
and played first base on the diamond. She liked dogs, cats,
music of all kinds, and playing bridge. She also had a love/hate
relationship with golf. Her first two novels, Fragmentary
Blue and Certain Dark Things, featured police officers
Alex Ryan/CJ St. Clair as did subsequent volumes. Novels One
Fine Day, Acquainted with the Night, Lay Your Zombie Down,
Desert Places, and Taken In were published by
Bella Books along with short stories in anthologies. Erica
lived near Denver, Colorado, before passing away on July 4,
2020. You can find out more about Erica's work at her publisher's
website.
Brenda Adcock [1951 - 2022]
(2007 Certificate Winner for Pipeline) published
17 novels, including four Golden Crown Literary Award Winners:
Redress of Grievances, The Sea Hawk, Soiled Dove,
and Picking Up The Pieces with her publisher, Flashpoint
Productions. Originally from the beautiful Appalachian region
of Eastern Tennessee, she lived with her partner, Cheryl,
in the Hill Country of Central Texas near Austin until her
death in 2022 from kidney failure. As a teen she wrote serial
stories to entertain her friends. She spent well over three
decades teaching high school social studies, eventually returning
to writing to entertain herself. When not working or writing,
she and her partner always enjoyed creating stained glass
and shooting pool at their favorite neighborhood bar. They
are the parents of four grown children and two lively grandchildren.
You can find out more about Brenda's work at her publisher's
website.
L-J Baker (2008 Certificate
Winner for Broken Wings) has lived in the
USA and the UK, but home is New Zealand with her civilly united
partner. In addition to Broken Wings, she has published
Lady Knight. She is currently writing more books and
hopes to soon have more novels in print. She writes in different
genres, but her first love is lesbian fantasy. She is delighted
when readers admit they don't normally like fantasy, but ended
up reading one of her books. You can find out more about L-J's
work at her website.
Miriam Ruth Black (2014
Certificate Winner for
Turtle Season) has a degree
in English from the University of Minnesota, which became
a ticket to work in a variety of settings including the American
International School in Israel and Los Angeles's inner city.
She earned a Master's in Educational Psychology and then acquired
a Marriage and Family Therapy License. Those degrees morphed
into a career in the Northwest as a lecturer in education,
substance abuse and mental health. Wherever she traveled,
she remained fascinated by the written word - as a reader,
story teller and writer. For years she wrote short stories
and filed them away imagining someday they would become a
collection. Instead, a new story emerged and became the novel,
Turtle Season. Through Anna Simon, the protagonist,
Miriam explored a constant preoccupation in her life - how
do we as humans manage the inevitable and often very surprising
events that change our lives? How do we rediscover or maybe
recreate ourselves? What keeps us resilient through the often
treacherous journey? She recently married her partner of twenty-eight
years. They live in Tucson in the winter season and in Minneapolis
during the summers. Learn more at her website.
Andrea Bramhall
(2013 Certificate Winner
for Ladyfish)
is a native of Stockport (near Manchester, UK). She took
her life in her hands a few years ago and crossed the great
North/South divide and now lives in Norfolk with her partner,
their two border collies, and two and a half cats (one isn't
sure if she wants to be theirs anymore as the lady down the
street feeds her Whiskas rather than whatever is on offer
at the supermarket, like Andrea does!). Andrea spends her
time running their campsite and hostel to pay the bills and
scribbling down stories during the winter months. She is an
avid reader and a keen musician, playing the saxophone and
the guitar (just to annoy her other half - apparently!). She
is also a recreational diver and takes any opportunity to
head to warmer climes and discover the mysteries of life beneath
the waves! Andrea is available on twitter, Facebook, on the
blog AndreaBramhall.wordpress.com), or you can find out more
about her work at her website.
Amy
Briant (2011
Certificate Winner for
Shadow Point)
is
a native Californian. She grew up in a part of San Diego called
Point Loma, which greatly resembles Shadow Point except
for the malevolent phantom. She now lives in the San Francisco
Bay area. Her second novel, Romeo Fails, is coming
from Bella Books in February 2012. Befriend her on Facebook
or you can find out more about Amy's work at her
website.
Nat Burns (2011
Certificate Winner for
Two Weeks in August)
has always been a huge fan of the written
word. A journalist for many years, she veered off into a career
of software instruction and editorial systems management as
she compulsively wrote fiction during every free moment. She
has two published novels with Bella Books, Two Weeks in
August and House of Cards, with three more slated
for 2012. Natty has recently moved from South Texas to New
Mexico where she writes full-time. You can find out more about
Nat's work at her website.
Marie Castle
(2015
Certificate Winner for
Hell's Belle) is
the Mississippi-born author of the lesbian paranormal romance
series The Darkmirror, which includes Book One:
Hell's Belle and Book Two: The Devil You Know.
Writing Book Three: Demons of a Feather is in progress.
Her works are published by Bella Books and can be found on
Bellabooks.com and other sites as well as a bookstore near
you. Hell's Belle was recently shortlisted for a Lambda
Literary Award in the LGBT Sci-Fi/Horror Category and received
a Golden Crown Debut Novel Award and a Golden Crown Paranormal/Horror
Award. To learn more about Marie, please visit her page at
Facebook.
Jaime Clevenger (2005 Certificate Winner
for The Unknown Mile) is the author
of Whiskey and Oak Leaves, Sign on the Line, All Bets Off,
Call Shotgun, and the Golden Crown Literary Award Finalist,
The Unknown Mile. She lives in Santa Cruz, California,
with her partner and three cats. She's an emergency veterinarian
who writes novels and short stories on her days off. She studies
public health issues with a focus on animal-related diseases
and has a horse named Sequoia that she loves to ride. She
teaches karate part-time and is interested in all forms of
martial arts. You can find out more about her work at her
website.
Jean Copeland (2016
Certificate Winner for
The Revelation of Beatrice Darby)
is an author from Connecticut. Her debut novel, The
Revelation of Beatrice Darby, is from Bold Strokes Books.
You can find out more about Jean at her blog.
Gina Noelle Daggett (2011
Certificate Winner for
Jukebox)
is an award-winning writer, director, producer, speaker,
and columnist in CURVE Magazine. A cum laude graduate
from Pacific University's Creative Writing Program, she won
a grant from POWER UP for her debut novel, Jukebox,
when it was a work-in-progress. She is currently adapting
the novel into a screenplay, which she plans to produce and
direct through her production company, Chateau Entertainment.
In 2010, Daggett won OUTtv's Hot Pink Shorts contest, which
enabled her to write and direct her first short film. OUTtv
also made a documentary out of the process. Gina is best known
under the penname "Lipstick" in the popular national
advice column Lipstick & Dipstick featured in CURVE.
Voted the No. 1 column by readers, Lipstick & Dipstick
have also published a book: Lipstick & Dipstick's Essential
Guide to Lesbian Relationships (Alyson Books 2007) and
speak regularly on college campuses. When Gina's not pounding
the keys of her computer, she's pounding the pavement with
her running shoes, skiing in Whistler, or beachcombing for
sea glass. She lives in Vancouver, BC. You can find out more
about Gina's work at her website.
Lea Daley (2014
Certificate Winner for
Waiting for Harper Lee), from
her earliest moments, has been motivated to create and to
communicate. She's written fiction and poetry while raising
two children, claiming a lesbian identity, earning a BFA in
painting, teaching preschoolers and college students, surviving
the death of her only daughter, and heading a nonprofit agency.
Daley resides in St. Louis with her long-time partner and
a very opinionated Poodle-Shih Tzu mix. To her immense regret,
her son and his family live five hours away. A hard-core liberal,
Daley follows politics and enjoys animated debates at the
dinner table. She loves to travel, reveling in both the clash
and culture of great cities, and the serenity and solitude
of ocean shores - especially those on Florida's "Forgotten
Coast." Because baking is a passion, her freezer almost
always contains homemade desserts and she's happy to share
recipes with anyone. Waiting for Harper Lee was published
in 2013. FutureDyke, Daley's second book, will be published
in 2014; other novels are in the queue. You can find out more
about Lea Daley's work via her publisher.
Jenny Frame (2016
Certificate Winner for
A Royal Romance)
is from the small town of Motherwell in Scotland, where
she lives with her partner, Lou, and their well loved and
very spoiled dog. She has a diverse range of qualifications,
including a BA in public management and a diploma in acting
and performance. Nowadays, she likes to put her creative energies
into writing rather than treading the boards. When not writing
or reading, Jenny loves cheering on her local football team,
which is not always an easy task. You can learn more about
Jenny at her website.
Catherine Friend (2008 Certificate
Winner for The Spanish Pearl)
is the author of two novels from Bold Strokes Books,
The Spanish Pearl and The Crown of Valencia,
with a third due out the end of 2008. Her memoir, Hit By
a Farm: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Barn,
was a 2007 Golden Crown winner and a finalist for both a 2007
Lambda Literary Award and the Publishing Triangle's Judy Grahn
Award. Her next nonfiction book, The Compassionate Carnivore:
Or How to Keep Animals Happy, Save Old MacDonald's Farm, Reduce
Your Hoofprint, and Still Eat Meat, will be released in
May, 2008. Catherine has written six children's books, and
the latest, The Perfect Nest, was a finalist for a
Minnesota Book Award and was chosen by the young reader programs
of California, Arizona, and Kansas. For her children's work,
she was the 2007 recipient of the Loft/McKnight Artist Fellowship
in Children's Literature. Catherine and her partner of 25
years raise sheep in southeastern Minnesota. You can find
out more about Catherine's work at her website.
Sophia French (2016
Certificate Winner for
The Diplomat), also
known as Eden Sophia French, is child of the late '80s, who
spent her formative years playing text adventure games while
bathed in the radiation of her mother's green-screen Amstrad.
She "matured" into a queer writer/coder/sci-fi geek
who likes to imagine she's really a cyborg because, following
a motorcyle accident, she had a titanium rod inserted in her
right leg. (It counts, okay?) She lives in Hobart, Tasmania,
with her two girlfriends, is a committed vegetarian and gender
rebel, and plays melancholy piano at midnight under the mistaken
belief that her neighbors think it sounds beautiful. Her previous
awards include a bunch of dull academic prizes and a Twin
Peaks costume competition. You can find out more about Sophia
at her website.
Gabrielle Goldsby (2005
Certificate Winner for The Caretaker's Daughter) is
an Oakland, California, native currently living in Portland,
Oregon, with her Partner of nine years. She is the author
of several short stories and four novels, The Caretakers
Daughter, Never Wake, Such a Pretty Face, and Wall
of Silence. Gabrielle is hard at work on her next novel,
Remember Tomorrow, scheduled to be released by Bold
Strokes Books in 2008. You can find out more about her work
at her website.
Regina Hanel
(2012
Certificate Winner for
Love Another Day)
was born in Germany and obtained her U.S. citizenship
as soon as she was of legal age. She grew up in New Jersey
and currently lives in the mountainous suburbs of Northern
New Jersey with her partner of ten years and their dog Scrapper,
a sweet pit bull terrier. Regina earned her Bachelors' degrees
majoring in accounting and biology, with a minor in German.
She's also a Certified Public Accountant and works for the
Federal Government protecting the taxpayer's interests. She
loves the outdoors and enjoys hiking, kayaking, reading, watching
football, and trying out new vegetarian recipes. You can find
out more about Regina's work at her website.
Nairne Holtz (2008 Certificate
Winner for The Skin Beneath) is a Montreal-based
fiction writer whose first novel, The Skin Beneath
(Insomniac, 2007), was a finalist for Quebec's McAuslan First
Book Prize. She is also the co-editor of No Margins: writing
canadian fiction in lesbian (QPress, 2006), which was
shortlisted for a 2007 Lambda Literary Award. Currently, she
is working on her second book, This One's Going to Last
Forever. You can find out more about Nairne's work at
her publisher's website.
Cari Hunter (2012
Certificate Winner for
Snowbound)
lives in the Northwest of England with her partner, two
cats, and a pond full of frogs. She works full-time as a paramedic
and dreams up stories in her spare time. Snowbound
was originally written as a Christmas present for her partner
before it accidentally became a novel after a successful submission
to Bold Strokes Books. Cari enjoys long, wind-swept, muddy
walks in her beloved Peak District and forces herself to go
jogging and swimming regularly. In the summer she can usually
be found sitting in the garden with her feet up, scribbling
in her writing pad. She also loves hiking in the Swiss Alps
and hanging out in various television fandoms. Although she
doesn't like to boast, she will admit that she makes a very
fine Bakewell Tart. Cari is a recent addition to Facebook
and you can find out more about Cari's work at her website.
D. Jackson Leigh (2011
Certificate Winner for
Bareback and Long Shot)
grew up barefoot and happy, swimming in farm ponds and
riding rude ponies in rural south Georgia. Her love of reading
was nurtured early on by her grandmother, an English teacher
who patiently taught her to work New York Times crossword
puzzles in the daily paper, and by her mother who stretched
the slim family budget to bring home grocery store copies
of Trixie Belden mysteries and Bobbsey Twins adventures that
Jackson would sit up all night reading. It was her passion
for writing that led her quite accidentally to a career in
journalism and, ultimately, North Carolina where she now feeds
nightly off the adrenaline rush of breaking news and close
deadlines. She shares her life with her blue-eyed partner,
a very wise Jack Russell Terrier, and "the cat"
who made herself at home when Jackson and the dog weren't
watchful.You can find out more about Jackson's work at her
website.
D.L. Line
(2010 Certificate Winner
for On Dangerous Ground)
has been many things at different times in her life: a
musician, a pharmacy technician, a bartender, a student, a
restaurant owner, a marching band director, and a dog sitter
to name a few. Through it all, she has always been a storyteller.
D.L. lives in Virginia with her family, including Snickers
the Wonderdog. On Dangerous Ground is her first novel.
You can find out more about D.L.'s work at her website.
M E Logan (2014 Certificate
Winner for Lexington Connection)
was born and raised in the Midwest. While she always wrote,
she wasn't so interested in being published. So instead she
worked for state and local governments usually in the support
capacity, in a variety of fields (which has been great for
writing), co-owned a small freight company and did driving
and delivery, and worked for a supplemental airline. She raises
and shows dogs, doxies. For hobbies, she collects books and
dabbles in genealogy. She moved to Florida for a year's duration
and now, thirty years later, she's still there. Her second
book, Revenge, is schedule for release in April 2014
and her third, Tempered Steele, for sometime in 2015.
You can find out more about her at her website.
Jaime Maddox (2015
Certificate Winner for
Agnes) is a recovering
ER doctor who gave up the adrenaline rush of critical care
medicine to open her very own walk-in clinic. She doesn't
miss the night and holiday shifts at all, but when pressed
for the truth will admit to fantasies involving breathing
tubes and large IV catheters. Some time ago she was swept
off her feet by an amazing woman. For some reason neither
of them can recall, they decided to have children. They now
spend much of their time providing parental supervision to
their twin boys, Jamison and Maddox. She lives in Northeastern
Pennsylvania, plays golf and floats on kayaks, and murders
plants in her garden. She also likes to bake, travel and write
fiction. Her first novel, Agnes, was a Rainbow Award
finalist, and her second novel, The Common Thread has
been highly praised. Since writing is her therapy, she'll
likely continue to pen fiction for many years to come. To
learn more about Jaime, please visit her publisher's
website or Facebook.
Kristin Marra (2011
Certificate Winner for
Wind and Bones)
was born and raised in a microscopic town in northern
Montana where she developed a voracious reading habit. The
wind blew her from there when she reached adulthood. She spent
the next eighteen years becoming educated and a lesbian in
the western Montana mountains. She finally accepted that cold
and snow were never going to be fun for her, so she moved
to Seattle to try out gray and rain. She likes that better.
Kristin started writing fiction occasionally in the 1990s
but never took it seriously until the plot for Wind and
Bones lodged in her head. A series of lucky breaks led
Wind and Bones to publication by Bold Strokes Books.
Kristin is now hooked on writing fiction. Her second book,
78 Keys, will be published in May 2011. She hopes to
have a sequel to Wind and Bones completed sometime
in 2011.You can find out more about Kristin's work at her
blogspot.
Gill McKnight (2009
Certificate Winner for Falling Star and Green-eyed
Monster) is Irish and moves between
Ireland, England, and Greece in a non-stop circuit of work,
rest, and play. She loves messing about in boats and has secret
fantasies about lavender farming. With a BA in Art and Design
and a Masters in Art History it says much about her artistic
skill that she now works in IT. Falling Star was her first
published novel, and Green-eyed Monster her second. You can
find out more about Gill's work at her website.
Ann McMan (2012
Certificate Winner for
Jericho) is
a writer by day, and a closet librarian by night. She was
born in the mountains of Pennsylvania, but spent much of her
childhood below sea level in northern Delaware. She now lives
halfway between the mountains and the sea in central North
Carolina, but dreams of one day relocating to Vermont-where
the colder climate might help her keep better. When she isn't
working, writing, or rereading Pride and Prejudice,
she's cruising the circulation desk of her local public library-hoping
to be discovered. Ann is the author of two novels, Jericho
and Dust, both published by Bedazzled Ink. Aftermath,
the much-anticipated sequel to Jericho, will be published
in the summer of 2012. For a complete list of her stories
and essays and more about Ann's work, visit her website.
Colette Moody (2010
Certificate Winner for
The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of
Original Sin) is an avid
fan of history and politics. When she isn't doing research
or crafting scenes for her next romp of a novel, she can be
found doing one or more of the following: watching classic
films; sequestered in the kitchen eagerly trying to prove
that everything DOES taste better with bacon; meticulously
recreating cocktails from the 30s and 40s; or planning her
next trip to Disneyland. By day, her alter ego toils at what
she fondly refers to as her "crap job." She lives
in Virginia with her very naughty dog and her only slightly
less naughty partner of 10 years. Her novels include The
Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin, The Seduction
of Moxie, and the upcoming Parties in Congress.
You can find out more about Colette's work at her website.
Maggie
Morton (2013 Certificate Winner
for Dreaming of Her)
Maggie's erotic short fiction has been published in a
variety of anthologies. Her interests include psychology,
Buddhism, river otters (according to her partner, her totem
animal), and delicious food. Her reading encompasses biography
and memoir as well as speculative fiction and, in particular,
novels written about mysterious books. Her first novel is
Dreaming of Her, published by Bold Strokes Books. She
lives in Northern California with her partner and their Japanese
Bobtail. You can find out more about Maggie's work at her
blog.
AJ Quinn (2012
Certificate Winner for
Hostage Moon)
AJ Quinn is a transplanted Cuban who moved to Canada
at an early age. After living in numerous places, she now
calls Toronto the place where she lives, works, and plays.
In other words, home. When not working as a consultant, she
can be found indulging in her passions for travel, photography,
and most of all, writing. Hostage Moon is her first
published novel. You can find out more about AJ's work at
her website (which is currently under construction, but we'll
get the link up as soon as it's available).
C. Paradee (2005 Certificate
Winner for Deep Cover) Carol resides in
Northeast Ohio. Carol saw her first episode of Xena in season
three and quickly found fan fiction. It inspired her to try
her hand at writing, and The Agent was her first story. She
also wrote Chasing Shadows, which is now out of print. Some
things she enjoys are: Xena, reading, and writing. She can
be reached in care of her publisher.
Jenna Rae (2013
Certificate Winner for
The Writing on the Wall)
is a northern California native who has traveled enough
to know she wants to see much more of the world. An indoor
enthusiast who enjoys reading, sewing, crocheting, and collecting
more books than she has time to read, Jenna also enjoys baking
complicated pastries and vegetarian dishes and foisting both
on her gracious friends and neighbors. Jenna teaches English
and devises various strategies for avoiding grading papers,
with little success. You can reach Jenna at her website.
Amy
Dawson Robertson (2011
Certificate Winner for
Miles to Go)
is a native Virginian and
graduated from St. John's College in Annapolis. She lives
in the Washington DC area, and her writing interests include
genre fiction, short stories, and graphic novels. She creates
strong female characters in action-packed stories drawn on
current events. Miles to Go is Amy's first novel. Her
second novel in the Rennie Vogel Intrigue series, Scapegoat,
will be released late 2011.You can find out more about Amy's
work at her website.
Del Robertson (2009 Certificate
Winner for Taming The Wolff) is
a thirty-something retail store manager living in San Antonio,
Texas. Although not a native Texan, she has resided in the
state for over fifteen years. A voracious reader and writer,
it is difficult to find her without a notebook in her possession
and a pen tucked behind one ear for when inspiration strikes.
To date, Del Robertson has a filing cabinet full of unpublished
work, as well as fifty-odd stories listed on the Internet.
Taming The Wolff is her first published novel. You
can find out more about Del's work at her publisher's
website.
Pol Robinson (2012
Certificate Winner for
Open Water) is
a writer cleverly disguised as a college professor in Southern
California. A Wisconsin native and a fan of rowing, Pol was
stunned to be recruited to the USC Rowing squad, an opportunity
she hated to turn down, but one that served to rekindle her
sporting spirit. From that and her participation in Master's
rowing events was born her first novel, Open Water.
Her second novel, Thin Ice, focuses on another of Pol's
sports, short-track speed skating, and is scheduled for future
release by Bella Books. Pol's published work includes several
scholarly articles written about fanfiction and its impact
on popular culture. Her Master's thesis examined the storytelling
aspect of fanfiction and how the genre fills a need in the
homosexual community for representation of our stories in
popular culture. You can connect with Pol on Facebook or find
out more about her work at her website.
Robin
Silverman (2013 Certificate Winner
for Lemon Reef)
is a psychologist, and she has a law degree. Her writings
until now have been non-fiction and have appeared in professional
books and journals. She lives in Berkeley with her son. Lemon
Reef is her first novel.
Rebecca Swartz (2013
Certificate Winner for
Everything Pales in Comparison)
was born in Winnipeg, Canada, and raised in and around
that city. She's always been passionate about books and always
wanted to be a writer, but had to go through several other
career experiments, including dental assistant, DJ in a women's
club, and dog obedience trainer before arriving at that goal.
She is currently working on her second novel. You can find
out more about Rebecca's work at her website.
Carsen Taite (2010
Certificate Winner for
truelesbianlove.com)
works by day (and sometimes night) as a criminal defense
attorney in Dallas, Texas. Though her day job is often stranger
than fiction, she can't seem to get enough and spends much
of her free time plotting stories. She is the author of three
novels: truelesbianlove.com, It Should be a Crime, and
Do Not Disturb (due out in June 2010), all published by
Bold Strokes Books. She is currently working on her fourth
novel, Nothing but the Truth, which, like It Should
be a Crime, is a romance with a heavy dose of legal drama,
drawing heavily on Carsen's experience in the courtroom. Carsen
is married (Canadian-style), and she and her spouse live near
White Rock Lake in Dallas where they enjoy cycling and walking
the trails with their four-legged children. You can find out
more about Carsen's work at her website.
Cynthia Tyler (2006 Certificate
Winner for Descanso) was born and raised
in Southern California. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology
and a master's degree in family therapy. She lives in Pasadena,
California with her partner and their dogs. In her spare time
she reads, hikes in the desert, and throws tennis balls for
her Golden Retriever. She is currently at work on a new novel.
You can find out more about her work at her website.
Brandy
T. Wilson (2016
Certificate Winner for
The Palace Blues)
is the author of The Palace
Blues: A Novel (Spinsters Ink), a 2015 Lambda Literary
Award Finalist in Lesbian Fiction. She earned her PhD at Florida
State University. Brandy was an Astraea Emerging Lesbian Writers
Fund Finalist, a Lambda Literary Retreat Emerging LGBT Voices
Fellow in fiction, and a recipient of three Bread Loaf Writer's
Conference scholarships. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming
in Robert Olen Butler's From Where You Dream, Ninth
Letter, G.R.I.T.S. Girls Raised in the South, Pank Magazine,
Sinister Wisdom, and Lumina. Originally from Paris, Texas,
she currently lives in Memphis, Tennessee, with her wife and
their new son. She teaches writing, literature, and Gender
& Women's Studies at the University of Memphis. To learn
more about Brandy, visit her website.
Diane Wood (2014
Certificate Winner for
Web of Obsessions) was
raised by British parents between New Zealand, England, Scotland
and Australia. At fifteen she fled to far North Western Australia
where, by falsifying her birth certificate and qualifications,
she won a position with an outback mining company. Returning
to the UK as a seventeen year old, Diane worked on the London
buses, joined the Army, got kicked out of the Army for being
a lesbian, joined the Prison Service and spent many years
enjoying the gay life in London before returning to Australia.
Losing both parents within weeks of each other as a teenager
and years later, her brother to murder, Diane found an outlet
in writing, and shortly after her brother's death began the
process of writing her first novel, Web of Obsessions,
which was published by Bella Books in 2013. Diane now lives
on the Central Coast of New South Wales with her partner of
thirty-one years, and Toffee their adopted cat. Diane's second
novel, The Fortune Teller's Daughter is due for release
by Bella Books in March, 2014, and she is currently close
to finishing the first draft of her latest novel, tentatively
called Fey Beach. Diane does not have a website at
this stage, but is available on Facebook.
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