Dr. Sharanpal Ruprai, photo supplied
The University of Winnipeg would like to congratulate UWinnipeg’s Congratulations to Dr. Sharanpal Ruprai (Department of Women’s and Gender Studies) on being shortlisted for the prestigious 2020 Annual Lambda Literary Awards!(Department of Women’s and Gender Studies), who has been shortlisted for the 2020 Annual Lambda Literary Awards, the most prestigious LGBTQ book prize in the world.
Ruprai’s Pressure Cooker Love Bomb, published by Frontenac House, is a finalists in the category of Lesbian Poetry for a “Lammy,” as they are affectionately known. The finalists were selected by a panel of over 60 literary professionals from more than 1,000 book submissions from over 300 publishers.
“With over 1,000 submissions, it is a significant achievement to be named a finalist,” said Ruprai.
Ruprai’s poems masquerading as recipes, poems masquerading as survival guides, poems simmered in love, Pressure Cooker Love Bomb is a humorous collection of poems. Her second collection is infused with intense sexuality, racial tensions, and questions of gender conformity. With various textures of poems, the collection reads as woman of colour’s manifesto with instructions.
“Women’s and Gender Studies is proud of our colleague Dr. Ruprai’s achievement, “said Dr. Pauline Greenhill, Acting Chair. “Her nomination is an honour–and we’re rooting for her to win!”
An excerpt to the poem sweet like jalebi
i let the words fly
like a lover tossing her lover
a rope to climb kiss me for real
you kissed me
that day i had my eyes closed
body navigates
knows love
like it knows heat
over skin sunlight bright
to open eyes
The Lammys, recognize the best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books of the previous year. Winners will be announced on Monday, June 8, 2020 in New York City. The ceremony will bring together over 600 finalists, celebrities, and publishing professionals to celebrate excellence in LGBTQ publishing and is the most renowned and glamorous LGBTQ literary event in the world.
In 2014, UWinnipeg’s Dr. Trish Salah earned the Lambda Literary Award in the category of transgender fiction.
