Lisa C. Moore is an American publisher and editor. From 1997 to 2024, she ran the publisher RedBone Press, which focused on black, LGBTQ authors. Its inaugural title, edited by Moore—''Does Your Mama Know? An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories''—won two

Lambda Literary Awards Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

Early life and education

Lisa C. Moore was born in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

. Her father is the musician

Deacon John Moore John "Deacon John" Moore (born June 23, 1941) is a blues, rhythm and blues and rock and roll musician, singer, actor, and bandleader. Moore was given the name "Deacon" by one of his band members. Biography Moore grew up in New Orleans' 8th Wa ...

, and her family has deep roots in rural

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

. She obtained a degree in business administration from

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

. Then, in the mid-1990s, she studied journalism at

Georgia State University Georgia State University (Georgia State, State, or GSU) is a Public university, public research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Founded in 1913, it is one of the University System of Georgia's four research universities. It is al ...

, graduating with a second bachelor's degree. In this period, she worked as a

copy editor Copy editing (also known as copyediting and manuscript editing) is the process of revising written material (" copy") to improve quality and readability, as well as ensuring that a text is free of errors in grammar, style, and accuracy. ''The Ch ...

at the ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

'' and other publications.

Career

In 1997, Moore founded the small publisher RedBone Press. Having

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

as a

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

in the 1980s, Moore noticed a lack of writing about black women's coming-out stories. So for RedBone's inaugural title, in 1997, Moore edited ''Does Your Mama Know? An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories'', which won a Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Studies and another Lambda Award in the Small Press category. The book featured 49 coming-out stories from 41 writers. Initially a black lesbian publisher, RedBone expanded to celebrate and commemorate the wider black LGBTQ community. Moore published such books as Sharon Bridgforth's '' The Bull-Jean Stories'' in 1998. She later reprinted works like Joseph Beam's ''In the Life'' and ''Brother to Brother''. Moore moved to

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

to obtain a master's degree in anthropology in the

African diaspora The African diaspora is the worldwide collection of communities descended from List of ethnic groups of Africa, people from Africa. The term most commonly refers to the descendants of the native West Africa, West and Central Africans who were ...

from the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

, graduating in 2000. For her thesis, she filmed interviews with black lesbian elders. She continued operating RedBone in Austin before settling in the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, area, where the press found a longtime home. In 2006, Moore co-edited ''Spirited: Affirming the Soul and Black Gay/Lesbian Identity'' with G. Winston James. The book compiles 40 personal essays about the spiritual experience of lesbian and gay African Americans. The following year, she co-edited ''Carry the Word: A Bibliography of Black LGBTQ Books''. Around 2011, she executive produced and wrote the feature documentary ''The Untitled Black Lesbian Elder Project''. Moore co-founded and served as board president of the Afro-descendent LGBT writers' organization Fire & Ink. She also edited the

Lambda Literary Foundation The Lambda Literary Foundation (also known as Lambda Literary) is an American LGBTQ literary organization whose mission is to nurture and advocate for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, preserve their legaci ...

's ''Lambda Book Report''. In 2002, Moore's apartment and much of her archives were destroyed in a fire, but she continued to operate RedBone. In 2016, she was given the inaugural Lambda Literary Publishing Professional Award for her contributions. Then, Moore returned to school once again, earning a master's of library and information science from the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

in 2019. In 2020, she moved back to New Orleans, where she became a reference archivist at the

Amistad Research Center The Amistad Research Center (ARC) is an independent archives and manuscripts repository in the United States that specializes in the history of African Americans and ethnic minorities. It is one of the first institutions of its kind in the United ...

, and brought RedBone Press with her. The press wound down its operations in 2024.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moore, Lisa C. Living people People from New Orleans African-American lesbian writers Women book publishers (people) Lambda Literary Award winners American women editors Louisiana State University alumni Georgia State University alumni University of Texas at Austin alumni Catholic University of America alumni