LIT LAB: PRIDE PANEL

Join The Doylestown Bookshop’s Summer Workshop Series as we host various authors who will present a variety of topics for upcoming, newly published, or seasoned writers.

This workshop requires tickets. There are multiple options. One admits you to the workshop, and the others include a copy of the author's books. The ticket option that includes the books offers excellent value, as the author will personally sign the books and any additional books purchased at The Doylestown Bookshop during the evening of the workshop.

How to Write Queer Characters and Stories

We live in a diverse world full of all kinds of people whose stories deserve to be told. Join The Doylestown Bookshop's Events Assistant Dalia Hamilton as she moderates a conversation between LGBTQ+ authors Jeffrey Dale Lofton, Carli J. Corson, and Emma-Claire Sunday about respectful representation, diversity, and bringing queer characters and queer stories to life, however you identify. The authors will also provide prompts and exercises for you to practice diversity in your own writing.

About our guests:

Jeffrey Dale Lofton hails from Warm Springs, Georgia, best known as the home of Roosevelt’s Little White House. He calls the nation’s capital home now and has for over three decades. He is a senior advisor at the Library of Congress where he is surrounded by books and people who love books—in short, paradise. He is a contributing editor for WELL READ Magazine and co-host of the Inside Voices podcast alongside author Robert Gwaltney.

Red Clay Suzie is his first novel, a fictionalized memoir written through his personal lens as an outsider—gay and living with a disability in a conservative family and community in the Deep South. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Red Clay Suzie go to support the important work of The Trevor Project and the Born This Way Foundation.

He was the Pat Conroy Literary Center Spring 2024 Writer-in-Residence. Red Clay Suzie was Longlisted for The Center for Fiction 2023 First Novel Prize, named an Indie Next Pick by the American Booksellers Association, and was awarded the Seven Hills Literary Prize for Fiction.

You can learn more about Jeffrey at JeffreyDLofton.com.

Carli J. Corson earned her bachelor’s degree from Muhlenberg College and two master’s degrees in counseling and psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. She’s an educator, jigsaw puzzler, and devoted Philly sports fan. Carli resides in the Philadelphia area with her beloved wife and their pets, Mango and Fiona. Learn more at carlijcorson.com

Emma-Claire Sunday is an author and high school teacher who delights in bringing LGBTQ+ stories to the page. She's worked in outdoor education for the past decade, so she knows that summer camp is a magical place where campers and counselors can learn to express their true selves. Emma-Claire lives in New Jersey with her partner, Patrick, whom she met at camp.