Karin Kallmaker
Encyclopedia
Karin Kallmaker is the prolific American author of lesbian fiction
whose works also include those originally written under the name Laura Adams. Her writings span lesbian romance, lesbian erotica, and lesbian science-fiction/fantasy. Dubbed the Queen of Lesbian Romance, she publishes exclusively in the lesbian market as a matter of personal choice.
in 1978. Her second novel, Touchwood, established her as a writer with "a sure sense of the power of language and of the power of eros." Her typical heroine is "the kind of indestructible and talented woman we all dream we could be -- much like Molly Bolt in Rubyfruit Jungle."
In spite of publishing the majority of her work as lesbian romance genre fiction, "there's something original to every book", featuring "complex stories of believable, vulnerable lesbian characters who grow strong through facing tough issues." Deeply influenced by mentor Katherine V. Forrest
as an emerging writer, her fifth novel, Painted Moon, was hailed as "the next Curious Wine," and remains one of her most popular novels, fifteen years after its original publication. Crediting Jane Austen
as a foremother of the modern novel, Kallmaker's Just Like That is a lesbian version of Pride and Prejudice
.
Another homage-by-genre-twist novel is Christabel, inspired by the Samuel Taylor Coleridge
poem of the same name. Written initially under the pen name Laura Adams, Kallmaker dedicated the novel to Jeannette Howard Foster
for her examination of the lesbian subtext, moving her to retell the story with the women triumphant. Her ability to push the boundaries of genre fiction while maintaining her popularity is epitomized by Maybe Next Time, "an engrossing, compelling story of redemption, healing and surviving," which won a Lambda Literary Award
.
Her novels include the Golden Crown Literary Society
and Lambda Literary Foundation
award-winning 18th & Castro, In Deep Waters 1/2, Just Like That, The Kiss that Counted, Maybe Next Time, and Sugar. Her writing career began with Naiad Press
, one of the shaping publishers of lesbian fiction
. In 2001, she placed her work as Laura Adams with a new press, Bella Books
. After Naiad Press closed in 2003, she moved the remainder of her lesbian romance titles to Bella. In 2008, she joined Bella Books as the press's first Editorial Director.
, Bold Strokes, and Haworth Press
. The genre of her stories go from vanilla romance to explicit erotica. In a May 2006 interview with Q Syndicate, Kallmaker discussed some of the resistance she faced to the idea that a romance writer could also write erotica. "...Part of my goal for writing erotica was to decriminalize lesbian sex for lesbians, especially those in committed couples and those who don't live in an urban Mecca with an out-and-proud sex-positive attitude." Volumes containing her lesbian erotica short stories have won awards from the Golden Crown Literary Society
and the Lambda Literary Foundation
.
Published essays have dealt with issues of identity for the author. In 1993, she wrote "When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Lesbian" for Multicultural America: A Resource Book for Teachers of Humanities and American Studies, which explored the disconnect between different stages of coming out, when she first observed the community but did not yet feel a member of it. Ten years later, after the birth of her two children: "For many years I was, by all outward appearances, a suburban married woman." In 2007, in Love, Castro Street, her essay "Where One Size Fits All" concluded the award-winning anthology with "No matter what my clothing of the day might be, from a shy writer offering to sign her first novel to a seeming soccer mom with two kids in tow, Castro Street has never refused me entry. The potholes, the crowds, the scary traffic are still there, but somehow the street is larger than ever."
A complete listing of short stories and essays in anthologies is available on the author's website.
, California.
B.A., Business Administration, California State University, Sacramento
.
Kallmaker has 18 years experience with non-profit financial management. Workplaces, such as an association of home and health care service providers to the elderly, a private lender investing in projects to benefit low income people, and a half-year at an oil refinery, have provided background for many of her novels.
Kallmaker and her partner of more than 30 years reside in the San Francisco Bay Area. They were married on August 25, 2008, and are the mothers of two children, Kelson and Eleanor.
Lesbian fiction
Lesbian fiction is a subgenre of fiction that involves one or more primary female homosexual character and lesbian themes. Novels that fall into this category may be of any genres, such as, but not limited to, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and romance.-History:The first...
whose works also include those originally written under the name Laura Adams. Her writings span lesbian romance, lesbian erotica, and lesbian science-fiction/fantasy. Dubbed the Queen of Lesbian Romance, she publishes exclusively in the lesbian market as a matter of personal choice.
Lesbian romance novels
Considered a master at characterization, Kallmaker's work reflects the interior lives of her lesbian heroines, set primarily in romance novel situations. "Credible and spirited" protagonists also face contemporary social challenges, resulting in a body of work that reflects lesbian community history since her debut novel, In Every Port (1989), which included events surrounding the assassination of Harvey MilkHarvey Milk
Harvey Bernard Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors...
in 1978. Her second novel, Touchwood, established her as a writer with "a sure sense of the power of language and of the power of eros." Her typical heroine is "the kind of indestructible and talented woman we all dream we could be -- much like Molly Bolt in Rubyfruit Jungle."
In spite of publishing the majority of her work as lesbian romance genre fiction, "there's something original to every book", featuring "complex stories of believable, vulnerable lesbian characters who grow strong through facing tough issues." Deeply influenced by mentor Katherine V. Forrest
Katherine V. Forrest
Katherine V. Forrest is an American writer.Forrest is best known for her eight novels about lesbian police detective Kate Delafield. The character was the very first lesbian police detective in the American lesbian mystery genre and is described as "Miss Marple with k.d...
as an emerging writer, her fifth novel, Painted Moon, was hailed as "the next Curious Wine," and remains one of her most popular novels, fifteen years after its original publication. Crediting Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
as a foremother of the modern novel, Kallmaker's Just Like That is a lesbian version of Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice
Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen, first published in 1813. The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, morality, education and marriage in the society of the landed gentry of early 19th-century England...
.
Another homage-by-genre-twist novel is Christabel, inspired by the Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
poem of the same name. Written initially under the pen name Laura Adams, Kallmaker dedicated the novel to Jeannette Howard Foster
Jeannette Howard Foster
Jeannette Howard Foster was a researcher in the field of lesbian literature. She pioneered the study of popular fiction and ephemera in order to excavate lesbian themes both overt and covert, and her years of pioneering data collection culminated in her 1956 study Sex Variant Women in Literature,...
for her examination of the lesbian subtext, moving her to retell the story with the women triumphant. Her ability to push the boundaries of genre fiction while maintaining her popularity is epitomized by Maybe Next Time, "an engrossing, compelling story of redemption, healing and surviving," which won a Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the award...
.
Her novels include the Golden Crown Literary Society
Golden Crown Literary Society
The Golden Crown Literary Society is a 501 organization established in February 2004 as a literary and educational organization for the study, discussion, enjoyment, and enhancement of lesbian literature. The GCLS membership includes publishers, distributors, authors, and readers of lesbian fiction...
and Lambda Literary Foundation
Lambda Literary Foundation
The Lambda Literary Foundation is the largest LGBT literary organization in the world. The foundation's mission is to nurture, celebrate, and preserve Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender literature through three programs that honor excellence, promote visibility and encourage development of...
award-winning 18th & Castro, In Deep Waters 1/2, Just Like That, The Kiss that Counted, Maybe Next Time, and Sugar. Her writing career began with Naiad Press
Naiad press
Naiad Press was one of the first publishing companies dedicated to lesbian literature. At its closing it was the oldest and largest lesbian/feminist publisher in the world.-History:...
, one of the shaping publishers of lesbian fiction
Lesbian fiction
Lesbian fiction is a subgenre of fiction that involves one or more primary female homosexual character and lesbian themes. Novels that fall into this category may be of any genres, such as, but not limited to, historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, horror, and romance.-History:The first...
. In 2001, she placed her work as Laura Adams with a new press, Bella Books
Bella Books
Bella Books is a small press publisher of lesbian literature that is based in Tallahassee, Florida. The chief executive officer is Linda Hill, who is also the chief executive officer of Spinsters Ink and BeanPole Books....
. After Naiad Press closed in 2003, she moved the remainder of her lesbian romance titles to Bella. In 2008, she joined Bella Books as the press's first Editorial Director.
Short stories and essays
A "cleverly inventive" short story writer, she has published more than five dozen short stories in collections from her own publishers, as well as anthologies from publishers like Alyson, Circlet PressCirclet Press
Circlet Press is a Cambridge, Massachusetts publishing house founded and managed by Cecilia Tan. It specializes in science fiction erotica, a once uncommon genre, and its publications often feature BDSM themes....
, Bold Strokes, and Haworth Press
Haworth Press
Haworth Press was a publisher of scholarly, academic and trade books, and approximately 200 peer-reviewed academic journals. It was founded in 1978 by the publishing industry executives Bill Cohen and Patrick Mclaughlin. The name was taken from the township of Haworth in England, the home of the...
. The genre of her stories go from vanilla romance to explicit erotica. In a May 2006 interview with Q Syndicate, Kallmaker discussed some of the resistance she faced to the idea that a romance writer could also write erotica. "...Part of my goal for writing erotica was to decriminalize lesbian sex for lesbians, especially those in committed couples and those who don't live in an urban Mecca with an out-and-proud sex-positive attitude." Volumes containing her lesbian erotica short stories have won awards from the Golden Crown Literary Society
Golden Crown Literary Society
The Golden Crown Literary Society is a 501 organization established in February 2004 as a literary and educational organization for the study, discussion, enjoyment, and enhancement of lesbian literature. The GCLS membership includes publishers, distributors, authors, and readers of lesbian fiction...
and the Lambda Literary Foundation
Lambda Literary Foundation
The Lambda Literary Foundation is the largest LGBT literary organization in the world. The foundation's mission is to nurture, celebrate, and preserve Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender literature through three programs that honor excellence, promote visibility and encourage development of...
.
Published essays have dealt with issues of identity for the author. In 1993, she wrote "When I Grow Up I Want to Be a Lesbian" for Multicultural America: A Resource Book for Teachers of Humanities and American Studies, which explored the disconnect between different stages of coming out, when she first observed the community but did not yet feel a member of it. Ten years later, after the birth of her two children: "For many years I was, by all outward appearances, a suburban married woman." In 2007, in Love, Castro Street, her essay "Where One Size Fits All" concluded the award-winning anthology with "No matter what my clothing of the day might be, from a shy writer offering to sign her first novel to a seeming soccer mom with two kids in tow, Castro Street has never refused me entry. The potholes, the crowds, the scary traffic are still there, but somehow the street is larger than ever."
A complete listing of short stories and essays in anthologies is available on the author's website.
Science fiction and fantasy novels as Laura Adams
Under the pen name Laura Adams, Kallmaker has written lesbian science-fiction and fantasy titles that include a "chilling brush with reality." Though the novels include strong lesbian romance story lines, their themes revolve around the power of lesbian community and spirituality.Writing career
- In Every Port (1990)
- Touchwood (1991)
- Paperback Romance (1992)
- Car Pool (1993)
- Painted Moon (1994)
- Wild Things (1996)
- Embrace in Motion (1997)
- Night Vision (1997) (writing as Laura Adams)
- Christabel (1998) (writing as Laura Adams)
- Making Up for Lost Time (1998)
- Watermark (1999)
- The Dawning (1999) (writing as Laura Adams)
- Unforgettable (2000)
- Frosting on the Cake (2001) (short stories)
- Tunnel of Light 1: Sleight of Hand (2001) (writing as Laura Adams)
- Substitute for Love (2001)
- Tunnel of Light 2: Seeds of Fire (2002) (writing as Laura Adams)
- Maybe Next Time (2003)
- All the Wrong Places (2004)
- New Exploits 1: Once Upon a Dyke (2004) (with Johnson, Szymanski, Watts)
- One Degree of Separation (2004)
- Sugar (2004)
- Just Like That (2005)
- New Exploits 2: Bell, Book and Dyke (2005) (with Johnson, Szymanski, Watts)
- 18th & Castro (2006) (short stories)
- New Exploits 3: Stake through the Heart (2006) (with Johnson, Szymanski, Watts)
- Finders Keepers (2006)
- New Exploits 4: Tall in the Saddle (2007) (with Johnson, Szymanski, Watts)
- In Deep Waters 1: Cruising the Seas (2007) (with Radclyffe)
- Christabel (Second Edition) (2008)
- In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip (2008) (with Radclyffe)
- The Kiss That Counted (2008)
- Warming Trend (2009)
- Stepping Stone (2009)
- Above Temptation (2010)
Works in translation and other formats
Numerous novels have been translated for distribution in France (KTM Editions), Germany (Verlag Krug & Schadenberg), Spain (Egales) and the Czech Republic (LePress). Some titles have also been acquired for hardcover editions by InsightOut Book Club, a division of the Quality Paperback Book Club. Most of her titles are also available in e-Book format. A complete listing of works in translation is available on the author's website.Awards
- 2010 - Stepping Stone – Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Lesbian Romance
- 2009 - The Kiss that Counted – Lambda Literary Award Winner, Lesbian Romance
- 2009 - The Kiss that Counted – Golden Crown Literary Award Winner, Ann Bannon Popular Choice
- 2009 - In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip - Lambda Literary Award Winner, Lesbian Erotica co-authored with Radclyffe
- 2008 - In Deep Waters 1: Cruising the Seas - Golden Crown Literary Award Winner, Lesbian Erotica co-authored with Radclyffe
- 2008 - Finders Keepers - Golden Crown Literary Award Finalist, Lesbian Romance
- 2008 - Finders Keepers - Golden Crown Literary Award Finalist, Ann Bannon Popular Choice
- 2007 - 18th & Castro – Golden Crown Literary Award Winner, Lesbian Erotica
- 2007 - 18th & Castro – Lambda Literary Award Finalist, LGBTQ Erotica
- 2007 - Finders Keepers – Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Lesbian Romance
- 2006 - Just Like That – Golden Crown Literary Award Winner, Lesbian Romance
- 2006 - New Exploits 2: Bell, Book and Dyke - Golden Crown Literary Award Finalist, Lesbian Fantasy co-authored with Julia Watts, Therese Szymanski and Barbara Johnson
- 2006 - All the Wrong Places –Golden Crown Literary Award Finalist, Lesbian Romance
- 2006 - All the Wrong Places – Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Lesbian Erotica
- 2006 - All the Wrong Places – Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Lesbian Romance
- 2005 - Sugar - Golden Crown Literary Award Winner, Lesbian Romance
- 2005 - New Exploits 1: Once Upon a Dyke - Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Fantasy co-authored with Julia Watts, Therese Szymanski and Barbara Johnson
- 2004 - Maybe Next Time – Lambda Literary Award Winner, Romance
- 2003 - Tunnel of Light 2: Seeds of Fire - Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Fantasy
- 2002 - Substitute for Love - Lambda Literary Award Finalist, Romance
Other recognitions
- 2004 Alice B Medal - The Alice B Readers AwardThe Alice B Readers AwardThe Alice B Readers Award is given annually to living writers of lesbian fiction whose careers are distinguished by consistently well-written stories about lesbians. Named for Alice B. Toklas, the award is given once, only, in appreciation of career achievement...
for body of work - 2008 Selected as guest lecturer, Distinguished Author Series, Stonewall Library and Archives
- 2008 LJ Maas Memorial Award for mentorship of new and emerging writers
- 2011 Golden Crown Literary Society Trailblazer Award
Personal data
Born 1960, SacramentoSacramento
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
, California.
B.A., Business Administration, California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento, popularly known as Sacramento State, is a public university located in the city of Sacramento, California. It is part of the California State University system...
.
Kallmaker has 18 years experience with non-profit financial management. Workplaces, such as an association of home and health care service providers to the elderly, a private lender investing in projects to benefit low income people, and a half-year at an oil refinery, have provided background for many of her novels.
Kallmaker and her partner of more than 30 years reside in the San Francisco Bay Area. They were married on August 25, 2008, and are the mothers of two children, Kelson and Eleanor.
External links
- Karin Kallmaker website Kallmaker Biographical Information and Full Bibliography. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
- Goldie Award Winners Golden Crown Literary Society.
- Lambda Literary Foundation. Retrieved on 2008-05-31.
- Publisher's home page
- Gay Power, Lesbian Lust and Literary Trash, San Francisco Bay Times, 9/21/2006 http://www.sfbaytimes.com/index.php?sec=article&article_id=5556
- In Their Own Words: Lesbian Writers on their Inspiration, AfterEllen.com, 5/26/2008 http://www.afterellen.com/books/2008/5/theirownwords_part1
- Readings and Lectures by author on video