Two faculty win national award for anthology

Ernesto Javier Martínez and Michael Hames-García – both professors in the Department of Ethnic Studies – were awarded the prestigious national Lambda Literary Award in the category of “best LGBT anthology” for their co-edited book, “Gay Latino Studies: A Critical Reader.”

The award was announced recently at a sold-out gala ceremony in New York City that drew more than 400 attendees, sponsors and celebrities to celebrate excellence in LGBT literature.

Previous winners of the Lambda Award include fiction writers such as Michael Cunningham, noted historians such as Martin Duberman and mystery writers Joseph Hansen and Nicola Griffith.

Judith Halberstam, professor of English at the University of Southern California, called the book “a startlingly original collection of essays on the culture and social worlds of gay Latinos.”

Ramón Saldívar, Professor of English at Stanford University, wrote, “this collection will be an indispensable reference for any scholar working in queer or Latina/o studies.”

Andrew Marcus, associate dean, Social Sciences, said, “to see this acknowledgement from a vast literary community says a great deal about the reach and impact of the work.”