Nominate “The Diary of a Sugarbaby” for the Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction
Anyone can nominate! This could literally change my life.
The info you’ll need:
Book title: The Diary of a Sugarbaby
Author name: J.Q. Gagliastro
Publisher: Independent
ISBN (13 digits): 9798218254834
Date of first U.S. publication: Nov-03-2023
Is this book a work in translation?: No
Then the form will ask for personal info, select “Reader” (or “Bookseller” if you are one)
For the brief explanation, you can write a sentence or two about how my book confronts topics like queer rights, women’s rights, racial and class equity, and hope for a better tomorrow (topics of that nature). You could quote one of the reviews I have listed on my site. You could write about how both Ursula and I use friendship and introspection in our writing as a way to unlearn prejudices. Please do not feel obligated to write an entire essay like I did for myself below. I want to get in as many nominations as possible so that they take my work seriously. Thank you to those nominating me! I really can’t do it without you guys. For real, thank you!
The deadline to nominate is April 30th, 2024.
THE PROMPT: Briefly explain why you believe this book fits the following criterion: The Prize will be given to a writer whose work reflects the concepts and ideas that were central to Ursula’s own work, including but not limited to: hope, equity, and freedom; non-violence and alternatives to conflict; and a holistic view of humanity’s place in the natural world.
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The Diary of a Sugarbaby was inspired by Ursula K. Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. In The Left Hand of Darkness, Genly Ai—the Earthling protagonist—must unlearn his gendering behaviors and beliefs as he navigates through Gethen, an alien world where sexual and gender characteristics are not fixed to a person. As a queer and non-binary person, I relate to the Gethenian people. The Diary of a Sugarbaby takes place in an alternate America where queer people are purged. Dime—my queer protagonist—is forced to hide his femininity to stay alive. The Diary of a Sugarbaby discusses current political topics like a queer person’s freedom to be their true self without fear of ostracism, a woman’s right to their body, and equity among social classes and racial groups.
In The Left Hand of Darkness, Estraven—Genly’s foil—asks “What is the sense of giving a boundary a name and ceasing to love where the name ceases to apply? What is love of one’s country; is it hate of one’s uncountry?” Of course, Le Guin is talking about patriotism and how it feeds xenophobic thoughts. A similar type of restriction is often imposed on many Americans today, people who do not fit the classic American mold. In The Diary of a Sugarbaby, Dime points out the hypocrisy in saying that all Americans are equal, when in reality, some Americans are more equal than others. Based on what he has experienced in his America, Dime equates “wealthy” with “rich, straight, white, cisgender, Christian, abled, American, and assigned male at birth.” Dime later states, “You can be whatever you want if your wallet is thick enough.” While he is talking about wealthy people paying their way out of felony charges and into elite universities, it’s heavier than that. If your identities lie outside of your country’s ideal identities, then you could and will face a spectrum of hate and erasure.
Le Guin uses friendship as a tool to navigate these diversities. Genly refers to his relationship with Estraven as “a friendship so much needed by us both in our exile.” It took time and introspective effort for Genly to see past his own prejudices and to befriend Estraven. Dime once lived in a classic American neighborhood where he—due to his sexual, gender, and class deviations—was an outcast. He, like Genly, found friends also in exile.
“Gagliastro’s chilling novel about a nightmarish future pushes right-wing politics to terrifying extremes… The bulk of the novel provides first-person insights into being queer, before and after the revolution, that are razor sharp, timely, and written with a great deal of thought,” said Kirkus Reviews. “The book powerfully critiques homophobia, misogyny, and sex-shaming, as well as societies that force young, struggling people into sex work,” said BlueInk Review. And lastly, the Manhattan Book Review declared that “With themes of LGBTQ+ hate, racism, government control, and the banning of all creative materials, The Diary of a Sugarbaby is The Handmaid's Tale on steroids!”