Andrea Lawlor is an American author and winner of the 2020

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, ...

for Fiction for their novel '' Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl''.

Early life and education

Lawlor attended

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

in the early 1990s, where they involved themselves in

activism Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make Social change, changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from ...

, including starting the first lesbian and gay group on campus, for which they and their friends received

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a d ...

s, and joining the

Pink Panthers The Pink Panthers are an international jewel thief network responsible for a number of robberies and thefts described as some of the most audacious in the history of organized crime. The organization has roughly 800 core members, many of whom ...

, which patrolled the

Village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

and protected

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

people from homophobic attacks. They were a member of

ACT UP AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) is an international, grassroots political group working to end the AIDS pandemic. The group works to improve the lives of people with AIDS through direct action, medical research, treatment and advocacy, ...

and lost friends to

AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. They said it was through this kind of "radical organising" that they "really ... came into queer life".

Career

Lawlor came to writing aged 30 and took 15 years to complete their debut novel '' Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl''. The novel, when first published by Rescue Press, was a finalist for both a Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Literature and a CLMP Firecracker Award in 2018, and won the 2020 Whiting Award for Fiction following republication by

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

. Lawlor teaches writing at

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in South Hadley, Massachusetts, United States. It is the oldest member of the h ...

South Hadley, Massachusetts South Hadley (, ) is a New England town, town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,150 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield metropolitan area, Massachusetts. South Hadle ...

, and is a fiction editor for ''

Fence A fence is a structure that encloses an area, typically outdoors, and is usually constructed from posts that are connected by boards, wire, rails or net (textile), netting. A fence differs from a wall in not having a solid foundation along its ...

''.

Personal life

Lawlor is

non-binary Non-binary or genderqueer Gender identity, gender identities are those that are outside the male/female gender binary. Non-binary identities often fall under the transgender umbrella since non-binary people typically identify with a gende ...

and uses they/them pronouns. They live in Massachusetts with their partner, filmmaker Bernadine Mellis, and their child. Lawlor's best friend, Jordy Rosenberg, author of '' Confessions of the Fox'', lives with the family.

References

External links

Official website
Living people 21st-century American LGBTQ people 21st-century American novelists American non-binary writers Fordham University alumni LGBTQ people from Massachusetts Mount Holyoke College faculty Non-binary novelists Novelists from Massachusetts Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-novelist-stub