Elana Dykewomon

Elana Dykewomon (born Elana Nachman, October 11, 1949) is a lesbian activist, author, editor and teacher. She is a recipient of the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction.

Elana Dykewomon
Born (1949-10-11) 11 October 1949
NationalityAmerican
OccupationAuthor, professor, activist
EmployerSan Francisco State University
Known forLesbian feminist activism
Websitedykewomon.org

Personal life

Dykewomon was born in New York City, to middle class Jewish parents. She and her family moved to Puerto Rico when she was eight.[1] She studied fine art at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, received a B.F.A. in creative writing from the California Institute of Arts, later and her M.F.A. from San Francisco State University. Dykewomon lives in Oakland, California, and taught at her alma mater San Francisco State.[2]

Books

In 1974, Dykewomon published her first novel,[2] Riverfinger Women, under her name of birth, Elana Nachman.[3]

Her second book, They Will Know Me By My Teeth, released in 1976, was published under the name Elana Dykewoman, "at once an expression of her strong commitment to the lesbian community and a way to keep herself 'honest,' since anyone reading the book would know the author was a lesbian."[3]

Fragments From Lesbos, printed in 1981 "for lesbians only," was published under the author's current last name, "Dykewomon," in order "to avoid etymological connection with men."[3]

In the 1989 anthology of writing by Jewish women, The Tribe of Dina, Dykewomon describes herself as "a Lesbian Separatist, descendant of the Baal Shem Tov, typesetter, ...poet"[4]

Periodicals

From 1987–1995, Dykewomon edited Sinister Wisdom, an international lesbian feminist journal of literature, art and politics, as well as contributing regularly to several other lesbian periodicals, including Common Lives/Lesbian Lives. She has also been a regular contributor to Bridges, a magazine of writing by Jewish women.

Awards and achievements

In 1998, Beyond the Pale won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction and the Ferro-Grumley Award for lesbian fiction.

In 2004, Riverfinger Women was selected as #87 in The Publishing Triangle's list of 100 Best Lesbian and Gay Novels, by a panel of judges that included Dorothy Allison, Samuel R. Delany, Lillian Faderman, M.E. Kerr, Sarah Schulman, and Barbara Smith.[5] In 2018, the Golden Crown Literary Society awarded Riverfinger Women with the Lee Lynch Classic Award because it is an "essential part of American literary history, LGBT literature, politics, and popular culture."[6]

Dykewomon was awarded the Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize by the Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in 2009.

Works

Novels
  • Nachman, Elana (1974). Riverfinger Women. Plainfield, VT: Daughters, Inc.
  • Dykewomon, Elana (1997). Beyond the Pale. Vancouver: Press Gang Publishers. ISBN 9780889740747.
  • — (2009). Risk. Ann Arbor: Bywater Books. ISBN 9781932859690.

Poetry and short story collections
  • Dykewoman, Elana (1976). They Will Know Me By My Teeth. Northampton, MA: Megaera Press. OCLC 897740442.
  • Dykewomon, Elana (1981). Fragments from Lesbos. Langlois, OR: Diaspora Distribution. OCLC 31156287.
  • — (1995). Nothing Will Be As Sweet As The Taste: Selected Poems 1974-1994. London: Onlywomen Press. ISBN 9780906500576.
  • — (2003). Moon Creek Road. Duluth, Minn.: Spinsters Ink. ISBN 9781883523626.
  • — (2015). What Can I Ask: New and Selected Poems 1975-2014. Berkeley, CA: Sinister Wisdom. ISBN 978-1-938334-15-3.

Other writings

Prose

  • — (1983). "The Mezzuzah Maker". Common Lives/Lesbian Lives. 8.
  • — (Fall 1985). "Staking Claims". Common Lives/Lesbian Lives. 17.
  • — (1989). "Manna from Heaven". In Kaye/Kantrowitz, Melanie; Klepfisz, Irena (eds.). The Tribe of Dina: A Jewish Women's Anthology. Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-3605-6.
  • — (1990). "My Grandmother's Plates". Speaking for Ourselves: Short Stories by Jewish Lesbians. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press. ISBN 978-0895944283.
  • — (1998). "Knaydie and the Librarian". In Tulchinsky, Karen X. (ed.). Friday the Rabbi Wore Lace: Jewish Lesbian Erotica. Cleis Press. ISBN 9781573440417.
  • — (1999). "Grace". In Krug, Andrea; Schadenberg, Dagmar (eds.). augenblicke. Berlin. ISBN 978-3930041190.
  • — (2001). "Dinoflagellates". In Tulchinsky, Karen X. (ed.). Hot & Bothered 3: Short Short Fiction on Lesbian Desire. Arsenal Pulp Press. ISBN 9781551521022.
  • — (2002). "The Body Politic: Meditations on Identity". In Anzaldúa, Gloria; Keating, Analouise (eds.). This Bridge We Call Home: Radical Visions for Transformation. New York: Routledge. pp. 450–457. ISBN 9781135351526.
  • — (2003). "What Love Is". In Brown, Angela (ed.). Best Lesbian Love Stories 2003. Alyson Press. ISBN 978-1555837655.
  • — (2007). "Seeking Welcome". In Forrest, Katherine V.; Buskirk, Jim Van (eds.). Love, Castro Street: Reflections of San Francisco. Alyson Press. ISBN 9781555839970.

Poetry

  • "I had a dream..." and "Even My Eyes Became Mouths" in — (1990). McEwen, Christian (ed.). Naming the Waves: Contemporary Lesbian Poetry. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press. ISBN 9780895943712.
  • — (1983). "learning to breathe". In Schoenfielder, Lisa; Wieser, Barb (eds.). Shadow on a Tightrope: Writings by Women on Fat Oppression. Iowa City: Aunt Lute Books. ISBN 9781879960244.
  • "The Census Taker Interviews the 20th Century" and "The Vilde Chaya and Civilization" in — (1992). Bridges: A Journal for Jewish Feminists and Our Friends. Seattle, WA. 3 (1). ISSN 1046-8358
  • "New England Cemetery" and "diving, i kiss" in — (1993). Penelope, Julia; Wolfe, Susan (eds.). Lesbian Culture: An Anthology. Freedom, CA: Crossing Press. ISBN 9780895945921.
  • — (1994). "A Law of Physics". Bridges: A Journal for Jewish Feminists and Our Friends. ISSN 1046-8358.
  • — (Summer 1994). "When to Answer". Zyzzyva. X (2). ISSN 8756-5633.
  • Various in — (1999). Mohin, Lilian (ed.). Not for the Academy: Lesbian Poets. London: Onlywomen Press. ISBN 9780906500606.
  • — (April 2000). "Butch resisting the pressure to change gender". Sojourner. Boston. ISSN 0191-8699.
  • Foreword, "Yahrzeit," "Butch Breasts at Fifty," and "Should I Tell My Gynecologist" in Zeiser, Linda; Machado, Trena, eds. (2006). What I Want From You: Voices of East Bay Lesbian Poets. Pittsburgh, CA: Raw Art Press. ISBN 978-0972918558.
  • — (2011). "An Eastern/Western Country Song". In Enszer, Julie R. (ed.). Milk and Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry. A Midsummer Night's Press. ISBN 978-0-9794208-8-7.
  • — (Spring 2016). "Pauline Newman at 92". Calyx. 29 (1). ISSN 0147-1627.

Essays

References
  1. Griffin, Gabriele (2002). Who's Who in Lesbian and Gay and Writing. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781134722099.
  2. Leland, Andrew (January 31, 2012). "Elana Dykewomon: An Oral History". The Oakland Standard. Oakland Museum of California. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  3. Livia, Anna (2002). "Dykewomon, Elana". glbtq: An Encyclopedia of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Culture. Archived from the original on 14 August 2007.
  4. Kaye/Kantrowitz, Melanie; Klepfisz, Irena, eds. (1989). The Tribe of Dina: A Jewish Women's Anthology. Beacon Press. ISBN 0-8070-3605-6.
  5. "100 Best Lesbian and Gay Novels". The Publishing Triangle. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
  6. Spry, Carleen (February 3, 2018). "Golden Crown Literary Society Names 2018 Lee Lynch Classic Award Recipient". Golden Crown Literary Society. Retrieved 4 July 2018.
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