Victoria Brownworth
Victoria Brownworth | |
---|---|
Born | 1960 |
Alma mater | Temple University |
Known for | journalist, writer, and editor |
Victoria A. Brownworth (born February 1959 or 1960)[1][2] is an American journalist, writer, and editor. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, she wrote numerous award-winning articles about AIDS in women, children, and people of color.[3] She was the first person in the United States to write a column about lesbianism in a daily newspaper.[3]
In 1983, Brownworth reported on the "corruption at a Philadelphia based social service agency."[3] She has also won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery for her 2016 novel Ordinary Mayhem.[4][5]
Brownworth uses "she" and "they" pronouns.[6]
Personal life
[edit]In her early-to-mid-thirties, Brownworth started experiencing a number of symptoms she chalked up to being overworked (e.g., general malaise and difficulty walking).[7] In one 18-month period, she broke 13 bones due to her symptoms, though she still believed nothing was seriously wrong.[7] However, when she went blind due to optic neuritis, she visited a doctor who diagnosed her with primary progressive multiple sclerosis, a diagnosis she resisted for over a year.[7] In 1994, she began to use a wheelchair, which she has used on and off since.[1]
Brownworth has also had breast cancer, has a damaged heart, and "a spot on [her] lung."[1]
Brownworth lives in Philadelphia. She and her partner, Maddy Gold,[8] met while attending the Philadelphia High School for Girls and dated off and on for years.[9] Brownworth and Gold had been living together for many years when in 2014 Pennsylvania deemed the ban on same-sex marriage to be unconstitutional, and Brownworth immediately proposed.[9] They were married in October of that year on their 15-year anniversary.[9] Gold died of cancer on Nov. 12, 2022.[10]
Education and career
[edit]Brownworth published her first book of poetry at age 18[11] and began writing for Philadelphia Gay News when she was 17.[12]
Brownworth studied American studies and women's history at the Temple University and represented the university at the first National Women's Studies Association.[13] Near graduation, she became the star witness "in the first federal police brutality trial in Philadelphia." The police were acquitted, and she began her career in advocacy journalism.[14]
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Brownworth worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News.[3] She was the first open lesbian to have a daily column,[15] and may have been the first to have a daily column about lesbian issues.[3] Later, she became a host on Amazon Country on WXPN-FM, the first lesbian radio program in the United States.[3]
In 1993, after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Brownworth began focusing primarily on writing books and editing anthologies.[3]
She has also been a contributing editor for Curve[16] and Lambda Literary Review and has been a regular contributing writer for SheWired, Advocate,[17] The Independent, and HuffPost.
In 2010, Brownworth co-founded Tiny Satchel Press, a publishing company that printed young adult books featuring characters from systemically marginalized populations.
Brownworth has won the Society of Professional Journalism Award[18] and the NLGJA Award.[16]
Controversy
[edit]Transphobia controversy
[edit]There is a debate as to whether Bronworth is pro or anti Trans. [19]"For the last time Victoria Bronworth is not a transphobe." PGN! TERF Victoria Brownworth Teaches Us About Transphobia?! What, Julie Bindel wasn't Available? [20]
Awards
[edit]Year | Title | Award/Honor | Result | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
1980s | Gay & Lesbian Press Association's Award for Ongoing Coverage of Non-Medical Issues | [21] | ||
Gay & Lesbian Press Association's Award for Ongoing Coverage Health Coverage | [21] | |||
Gay & Lesbian Press Association's Award for National News Reporting | [21] | |||
1997 | Night Bites | Lambda Literary Award for Nonfiction Anthology | Finalist | [22] |
2000 | Night Shade: Gothic Tales by Women | Lambda Literary Award for Science Fiction/Fantasy | Finalist | [23] |
2001 | Coming Out of Cancer | Lambda Literary Award for Nonfiction Anthology | Finalist | [24] |
2007 | "Our Dirtiest Secret: Domestic Violence in Our Community" | Suburban Newspaper Association's Award for Investigative Reporting | Winner | [21] |
2008 | The Golden Age of Lesbian Erotica | Lambda Literary Award for Erotica | Finalist | [25] |
"Killing Ourselves with Hate: Suicide in the GLBT Community" | NLGJA Excellence in News Writing Award | Second | [26] | |
2009 | "Hiding in Plain Sight" | Society of Professional Journalists's Award for Enterprise Story | Winner | [21] |
2011 | Day of the Dead | American Library Association's Over the Rainbow Project | Selection | [27] |
2012 | From Where We Sit | Moonbeam Award for Young Adult Fiction - Historical/Cultural | Silver | [28] |
2014 | "Trans Sex Workers" | Keystone Press Award for Series | Second | [21] |
Society of Professional Journalists's Award for Enterprise Reporting | Winner | [21] | ||
2016 | Ordinary Mayhem | Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery | Winner | [4][5] |
2020 | "COVID and the LGBTQ community" | Sigma Delta Chi Award for Newspaper Feature Reporting in a Non-Daily Publication | Winner | [18] |
Publications
[edit]Anthology contributions
[edit]- Women of Mystery: An Anthology (2006)
- Fantasy: Untrue Stories of Lesbian Passion (2007)
- Wild Nights: (Mostly) True Stories of Women Loving Women (2007)
- Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme (2011)
- Women of the Mean Streets (2011)
- Night Shadows: Queer Horror (2012)
Anthologies edited
[edit]- Out for Blood (1995)
- Night Bites: Vampire Stories by Women Tales of Blood and Lust (1996)
- Out for More Blood (1996)
- Night Shade: Gothic Tales by Women, with Judith M. Redding (1999)
- Restricted Access: Lesbians on Disability (1999)
- Coming Out of Cancer: Writings from the Lesbian Cancer Epidemic (2000)
- Bed: New Lesbian Erotica (2007)
- The Golden Age of Lesbian Erotica: 1920-1940, with Judith M. Redding (2007)
- From Where We Sit: Black Writers Write Black Youth (2011)
- Ordinary Mayhem (2015)
Books written
[edit]- Film Fatales: Independent Women Directors, with Judith M. Redding (1997)
- Day of the Dead (2009)
- Ordinary Mayhem (2015)
- Erasure (2017)
- Sleep So Deep (2017)
Essay collections
[edit]- Too Queer: Essays from a Radical Life (1996)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (February 18, 2011). "Victoria Brownworth: The Activist Writer". Lambda Literary. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ Brownworth, Victoria (February 22, 2015). "Dancing with Audre Lorde: A Lesbian Memory". Lambda Literary. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g Nahmod, David-Elijah (October 5, 2011). "BOOKS: Tiny Satchel Press gives LGBT youth of color a voice". Windy City Times. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ a b Johns, Merryn (July 5, 2016). "2016 LAMMYS A Huge Success". CURVE. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
- ^ a b "28th Annual Lammy Award Winners Announced". Lambda Literary. June 7, 2016. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
- ^ "Victoria Brownworth". Twitter. Retrieved April 4, 2022.
- ^ a b c Brownworth, Victoria A. (October 11, 2013). "Coming Out As...Disabled". Advocate. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ "Victoria A. Brownworth". Goodreads. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ a b c Brownworth, Victoria A. (May 21, 2014). "Op-ed: My Big Long-Awaited Lesbian Wedding". Pride. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
- ^ "Madelaine "Maddy" Gold—11/12/2022". November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 16, 2022.
- ^ Brownworth, Victoria (March 29, 2012). "In Remembrance: Adrienne Rich". Lambda Literary. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ Brownworth, Victoria A. (April 6, 2021). "A reporter looks back". Philadelphia Gay News. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ Brownworth, Victoria A. (September 29, 2021). "Capturing History". VictoriaBrownworth. Retrieved February 6, 2022.
- ^ Cohen, Paige (March 31, 2015). "Victoria A. Brownworth on Her New Novel 'Ordinary Mayhem'". Lambda Literary. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ Doan-Minh, Sarah (Winter 2019). "Corrective Rape: An Extreme Manifestation of Discrimination and the State's Complicity in Sexual Violence". Hastings Women's Law Journal. 30 (1): 167–197.
- ^ a b Brownworth, Victoria A. (July 5, 2020). "Victoria A Brownworth". CURVE. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ "Victoria A. Brownworth". Advocate. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ a b "Sigma Delta Chi Awards". Society of Professional Journalists. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ "For the last time Victoria Bronworth is not a transphobe."
- ^ "PGN! TERF Victoria Brownworth Teaches Us About Transphobia?! What, Julie Bindel wasn't Available?". TransAdvocate. June 25, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e f g "243 awards and counting ..." Philadelphia Gay News. April 6, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2022.
- ^ Antonio, Gonzalez Cerna (July 15, 1997). "9th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
- ^ Cerna, Antonio Gonzalez (July 15, 2000). "12th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary Foundation. Retrieved July 3, 2013.
- ^ Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (July 10, 2001). "13th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
- ^ Gonzalez Cerna, Antonio (April 30, 2007). "20th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ "2008 Excellence in Journalism Award Winners". NLGJA. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ "Day of the Dead | Awards & Grants". www.ala.org. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- ^ "2012 Winners" (PDF). Moonbeam Awards. Retrieved February 5, 2022.
- Living people
- American lesbian writers
- American writers with disabilities
- Writers from Philadelphia
- People with multiple sclerosis
- 20th-century American non-fiction writers
- 21st-century American non-fiction writers
- 20th-century American journalists
- 20th-century American women journalists
- Temple University alumni
- 1960 births
- 20th-century American women writers
- 21st-century American women writers
- 21st-century American novelists
- American LGBT novelists
- LGBT people from Pennsylvania
- Novelists from Pennsylvania
- Journalists from Pennsylvania
- American LGBT journalists
- Lambda Literary Award winners