Village Books and Paper Dreams, Bellingham and Lynden, Wash., has announced this year's winners of the Village Books Literary Citizenship Award, which the store founded last year. The award honors people who have "demonstrated a commitment to engage with the literary community with the intent of giving as much, if not more, than they receive." Each winner receives $1,000 and is inducted into the Village Books Literary Citizen Hall of Fame, which will be on permanent display in Village Books, Fairhaven.
The 2024 recipients are:
Linda Quinby Lambert, writer, journalist, librarian, community builder, who has been library director for both Whatcom Community College and La Conner Swinomish Library, a member of Red Wheelbarrow Writers, two book clubs, and two critique groups. Her work has appeared in anthologies, including Whatcom Writes annual publications, the Salish Current, I Sing the Salmon Home, and she is co-editor of 52 Women of Whatcom. Linda helped found both Whatcom Reads and the Chuckanut Writers Conference.
Seán Dwyer, writer, editor, teacher, mentor, who writes nonfiction and fiction and is a Spanish professor in the Modern and Classical Languages & Literatures department at Western Washington University. He's given much to the community of writers through the Red Wheelbarrow Writers Group, as the president of Whatcom Writers and Publishers, regular contributions to anthologies, and as the host of Village Books' Open Mics. He has branched out into boutique publishing, and authors on his list have won multiple awards.
David Beaumier, writer, editor, coach, and mentor whose work has appeared in Eastern Washington University's Inroads, Western Washington University's Suffix, Whatcom Writes, and HamLit. He's worked as the assistant publishing director at Village Books and is the project manager for the Writers' Corner Anthologies as well as the communications and marketing manager for Chanticleer Book Reviews.