Bywater Books author, Abigail Padgett, has been awarded the 2023 Alice B. Medal by the Alice B Awards Committee.
The Alice B Awards Committee is a mostly anonymous group of avid lesbian readers living in four different states in the US. 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.
Other 2023 Alice B. Medal awardees include Georgia Beers, now writing with Bold Strokes Books, and Lee Winter of Ylva Publishing.
The Alice B Medal: This award is given annually to living writers who have careers distinguished by consistently well-written stories about lesbians. The award is given only once in appreciation of lifetime career achievement. In addition to the medal, each recipient is given a monetary honorarium.
To qualify, a writer must have published at least five books.
The Lavender Certificate: 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. As of 2017, the Lavender Certificate was suspended.
Agatha Award-winning author ABIGAIL PADGETT grew up in Vincennes, IN, and holds degrees from Indiana University, the University of Missouri, and Washington University, St.Louis. She has taught high school English and college courses in Sociology and Creative Writing in San Diego and Boston, directed an ACLU chapter in Houston, and worked as an advocate for the mentally ill, plus enduring some truly odd temp jobs.
Abbie is the author of multiple highly acclaimed mystery novels that have been translated into five languages, including both the Blue McCarron and Bo Bradley series. San Diego is home, although Abbie spends much time on the East Coast. She is a dog person happiest in the company of dachshunds, a lapsed vegetarian with heartland food preferences, and a lifelong fan of Poe, Algernon Blackwood, and the Graveyard Poets.