NEWS For Immediate Release May 8, 2013

Contact: John Amundsen

CHICAGO – Donald Weise, founder of Magnus Books, will keynote the 2013 Stonewall Book Awards Brunch, a celebration of the very best in LGBT literature on Monday, July 1 during the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference in Chicago. The 2013 Brunch will take place from 10:30 a.m. - 2 p.m. on Monday, July 1 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place, Hyde Park Ballroom 11-AB.

Weise is a veteran in the publishing industry, with more than two decades of experience dedicated to the publication of LGBT literature, including serving as publisher at Alyson Books and senior editor at Carroll Graf Publishers.  Since 2010, Weise has founded and led Magnus Books, which has published many leading authors including Samuel Delany, Edmund White and 2013 Stonewall Book Awards – Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award winner Keith Boykin.

The Stonewall Book Awards Brunch will honor the 2013 winner and honor authors, including Mike Morgan Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult winner Benjamin Alire Sáenz (Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Simon Schuster BFYR, 2012); Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award Winner Keith Boykin (ed., For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Still Not Enough: Coming of Age, Coming Out and Coming Home, Magnus, 2012); and Barbara Gittings Literature Award winner Ellis Avery (The Last Nude, Riverhead Trade, 2012).

Sponsored by the ALA Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT), the Stonewall Book Awards is the first and longest enduring book award series for LGBT literature. The award recognizes English-language works of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience in children’s and young adult literature, literature, and non-fiction. Since the award’s inception in 1971, more than 50 titles have been honored.

Tickets are $55. For more information, and to register, please visit www.alaannual.org. Registration code: GBT1.

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association is committed to serving the information needs of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender professional library community and the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender information and access needs of individuals at large. GLBTRT is committed to encouraging and supporting the free and necessary access to all information, as reflected by the missions of the American Library Association and democratic institutions.

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