Ali Liebegott
Ali Liebegott received a Lambda Literary Award in Best
Lesbian Debut Fiction for her stunning epic about a
runaway waitress, The Beautifully Worthless, in which
she deftly negotiates a form she describes as being “in
between poetry and fiction.”
Hailed as a genius by Michelle Tea, Liebegott is the
recipient of a Poetry Fellowship from New York
Foundation for the Arts, has toured twice with Sister
Spit, and has published work in numerous journals
and anthologies including Lodestar Quarterly and
Sinister Wisdom. She recently sat as a judge for The
Lambda Literary Awards for Lesbian Poetry and guest
edited Best Lesbian Erotica 2008with celebrated sex-
pert Tristan Taormino.
Having just published her novel, The IHOP Papers,
Liebegott is now turning her attention to finishing her
self-illustrated novel, The Crumb People,about “a post
9/11 obsessive duck feeder.”She explains that “a big
part of the story is being glued into the radio after
September 11th—and that mind-space of waiting for
the other shoe to drop.” Liebegott has just begun a sec-
ond epic, tentatively titled The Summer of Dead Birds.
“Ithink that being a lesbian keeps me obscure and also
allows me a set readership,” remarks Liebegott. “It
influences my work in the same way being a GED
teacher or a duck feeder or an ex-waitress does—in the
way that it’s one part of me that seeps in. It also makes
memake choices about keeping things in that I think
are politically necessary. I really think it’s important to
remember that queers are still victims of hate crimes
and discrimination, and when that comes up naturally
inmy work, I make a conscious effort to keep it in.”
When asked if there’s anything else she would like to
share with GO readers, Liebegott, laughing, says, “Tell
them not to give the ducks bread. Feed the ducks
cracked corn instead.” –Joseph Keckler
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