Mickelbury Awarded Career Achievement Medal

Bywater Books would like to congratulate author Penny Mickelbury, who was named as a recipient of the Alice B Medal for career achievement in lesbian fiction.

Mickelbury was born in Atlanta, Georgia. Her Mimi Patterson/Gianna Maglione mystery novels, now published by Bywater Books, are twice Lammy finalists (Night Songs & Darkness Descending). The fifth book in the series, Death’s Echoes, was a 2019 Goldie finalist and also won the 2019 IndependentPublishers Association’s Bronze Medal in the Mystery/Thriller category. The sixth book, in the series,You Only Die Once, is slated for publication by Bywater in early 2021. Penny’s historical fiction novel, Two Wings to Fly Away, is a 2020 Goldie finalist in the Historical Fiction category. She has written a previous novel of historical fiction, six other mystery novels in two different series, a collection of short stories published in 2019, as well as half a dozen stage plays. Penny has been the recipient of both the Audre Lorde Estate Grant and a Hedgebrook Residency. She currently resides in Los Angeles. To find out more about her, visit her Wikipedia page or website.

Penny Mickelbury is joined by authors Jeanette Winterson and Lynn Ames in the 2020 class of Alice B. Medal recipients.

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The Alice B. Awards Committee is a mostly anonymous group of lesbians living in southern Arizona and Ohio who are avid readers. The award is made possible by money supplied by an anonymous donor. The donor and the committee share a common goal: To reward and thank writers of lesbian fiction for their contribution to the lesbian community, culture, and identity. The Alice B. Medal is given annually to living writers who have careers distinguished by consistently well-written stories about lesbians. The award is given once, only, in appreciation of career achievement. In addition to the medal, each recipient is given a lapel pin and a gift of $500. Past recipients include noted authors, Carol Anshaw, Ann Bannon, Alison Bechdel, Katherine V. Forrest, Nicola Griffith, Ellen Hart, Lee Lynch, Marianne K. Martin, KG MacGregor, Val McDermid, Ann McMan, Susan X. Meagher, Marijane Meaker, Lesléa Newman, Jane Rule, Joanna Russ, Ann Allen Shockley, and Sandra Scoppettone.

For more information about the Alice B. Awards or to see the full list of Medal winners and those awarded Certificates for Debut Fiction, please visit their website.