Michele Karlsberg brings a unique combination of skills to effectively carry out publicity/marketing campaigns for authors, organizations and film/theater
Michele Karlsberg brings a unique combination of skills to effectively carry out publicity/marketing campaigns for authors, organizations and film/theater professionals. She has also worn many hats in her 34-year book Publishing career. Michele was one of the founders of Amethyst Press. As curator of Outspoken, a nationwide LGBTQ Literary series, she helps new and established voices reach a wider
audience. Michele also served as Publisher of Bywater Books and published many award winning authors in those years. In 1989 along with the Publishing Triangle Michele launched Le***an and Gay Book Month. She was recently presented with the Publishing Triangle Leadership Award which along with Michael Denneny was the first co-chairs of the Triangle. She worked with David Rosen and The Book Of The Month Club/Quality Paperback Books on their GLBT Book Club Insight/Out along with the Triangle Classic series. She was also inducted in the Saints and Sinners Literary Hall of Fame in New Orleans, LA. She produced Holland America cruise lines first BOOK EXPO along with Olivia Travel. In 2010 she produced BACK 2 BACK at the St George Theater in NY with Lily Tomlin and Kate Clinton She is the author of Self Publishing GLBT Books (1989) and is the co-editor of To Be Continued and To Be Continued: Take Two (1998). Her non-fiction piece entitled The Isle Of Staten will appear in the book Love, Christopher Street. (Chelsea Street Editions). Her column WORDS appears in the San Francisco Bay Times. Michele has won the Publishing Triangle Leadership Award, Community Health Action Advocacy Award, Lambda Literary Foundation Publishing Professional Award, One Island/One Pride Award. The Publishing Triangle established its Leadership Award in 2002, specifically to honor contributions to LGBTQ literature by those who are not primarily writers, such as editors, agents, booksellers, and institution. As of 2023 tis award will now be known as the Michele Karlsberg Leadership Award,
Her activism includes working with many organizations but not limited to CHASI, Lambda Literary Foundation, Soulforce, The Publishing Triangle, GLAAD, New York City GLBT Center, Gay Men's Health Crisis, Project Hospitality, SAGE, Helping Our Women and God's Love We Deliver. She is most proud of her dedication to building community.
12/09/2025
Upcoming Deadlines for Golden Crown Literary Society
As the New Year approaches (Seriously? Already??) there are few important deadlines coming soon—now's the perfect time to double-check your submissions, registrations, and forms. Don’t miss your chance to be part of what’s ahead!
• Conference Scholarships - December 31, 2025
• Goldie Nominations - December 31, 2025
• Trailblazer and Lee Lynch Classic Nominations - December 31, 2025
• Con Programming - January 15, 2025
• Conference Early Bird Tickets - January 17, 2026
**In the interest of maintaining a healthful Con environment, GCLS will refund 85% of your ticket cost should you test positive for COVID or flu on or after July 22, 2026. Proof of positive test will be required for this refund exception.
12/09/2025
Seattle, WA - join THE LIBRARIANS for a special screening and Q&A with Kim A Snyder - Films and The Seattle Public Library’s Chief Librarian Tom Fay, Thurs 12/11, 6pm at their Central location! Thank you to our partners Washington State Library, Washington Center for the Book, and Missing Pieces Films, as well as SPL Foundation for sponsoring this free, public event. Registration is free, but required.
“So often readings are structured as if the only people who have something to say are at the front of the room, in front of the microphone. But I believe that books can open up conversation…” Nancy Reddy unpacks how to make a book event a more purposeful gathering. at.pw.org/CollectiveEffervescence
12/09/2025
Spotify Wrapped: Audio Books Edition
Book to Screen Adaptations Aren’t Just Big Business for Studios and Networks — Audiobooks Are Booming Too
Exclusive: For the first year, Spotify is including audiobooks as part of its annual Wrapped package, with recent and newly announced adaptations making up the bulk of 2025's top picks.
Spotify is including audiobooks as part of its Wrapped package, with recent and newly announced adaptations making up the bulk of 2025's top picks.
12/09/2025
How Print Books Have Prevailed
Notwithstanding predictions by ebook pioneers of a paperless world; notwithstanding denunciations by indie anarchists that the feudalist book business was on the verge of collapse; notwithstanding publishers’ struggles to adapt their superannuated industry to a dazzling new technology—the print book industry did not founder.
This excerpt from the new book Digital Inc. by Richard Curtis examines why ebooks failed to supplant print as many tech pioneers expected.
12/09/2025
The Top Bookish Pet Names of 2025
Would you name your dog after the brooding, vengeance-seeking Heathcliff from “Wuthering Heights”? How about christening your beagle Smeagol? Or what about a kitty called “Katniss Meowerdeen”?
Booklovers are giving their pets names straight out of a novel....
A dog named Ron Weasley? How about a cat named after Xaden from "Fourth Wing"? Here are the top trending pet names for booklovers this year.
12/09/2025
Waterstones Bookstore & Its Use of AI
Waterstones would stock books created using artificial intelligence, the company's boss has said, as long as they were clearly labelled, and if customers wanted them.
However, James Daunt, a veteran of the bookselling industry, said he personally did ...
James Daunt says booksellers instinctively have "disdain" for AI but it could be sold if clearly labelled.
11/28/2025
Submit
Our sponsor, The Queens Review, is open for submissions. Send them your most unruly, boundary-pushing work by December 15th at:
bit.ly/TQRSubmit
Come for the history; stay for the revolution, gossip, and desire that built it. 🤌 Decade by decade, Our D**e Histories dives deep into the living, breathing past and present of le***an, q***r, bisexual, trans, & nonbinary communities. Each season traces how we made space for ourselves—ranging from bars, bookstores, and protests, to periodicals, DMs, and prisons. Our D**e Histories is hosted by Dr. Jack Jen Gieseking and produced in collaboration with Sinister Wisdom.
Our first season traces the history of d**e bars*—yes, with an asterisk—including le***an bars, q***r parties, & trans hangouts from the 1920s to the 1980s. We've already recorded our episodes for this season and the next, which follows d**e bars* into the modern day. This season's other guests include Joan Nestle, Maxine Wolfe, SaraEllen Strongman, June Thomas, Sarah Schulman, Valarie Walker, Katherine Forrest, and Roey Thorpe, among others! Check out our schedule below.
Join Our Community: Want to be part of our community? We'd love to have you. You can always follow along at our Sinister Wisdom page, or any of the following:
Instagram for more d**e visuals and stories **ehistories
Facebook for threads and stories here
Newsletter to your inbox: Jack's Q***r Geographies newsletter with detailed takes on each episode, & more about lezbiq***rtrans spaces across time
Email us at ourd**[email protected]
Our D**e Histories is a podcast about how we built q***r life one gathering at a time. Hosted by historian, geographer, and environmental psychologist Jack Jen Gieseking, and produced in collaboration with Sinister Wisdom, the oldest le***an multicultural literary journal, the series brings together...
11/28/2025
Feminist Bookstore News Project
Our seemingly never-ending (in the best way!) Feminist Bookstore News project is reaching new heights yet again, and we are looking for volunteers to start with us in the new year. In this phase, we're recording every book mentioned in all 136 issues of FBN, which is no small feat, so we need all the help we can get.
We've made it through 11 volumes in our booklist (yippee!), and we still have 11 to go. We're looking for volunteers from all walks of life—readers, writers, scholars, library folks, activists, or anyone at all who wants to get involved and join a community effort. This project has always been an iterative process, and thoughts, opinions, suggestions, and questions are always appreciated. Join us in the pleasure of digging through this rich le***an-feminist text to find both longtime classics and hidden gems.
And looking forward even more, for the next phase of the project after data entry we will be looking for data scientists or software engineers who have experience with Python, SQL, or visualization tools such as Tableau and Power BI. This would be a great opportunity for a student or early-career person looking to get some of their work out there and build a portfolio. Anyone is welcome to inquire about this opportunity regardless of formal qualifications.
To inquire, reach out to Julie at [email protected] or to the Project Lead Michaela at [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!
This dataset contains metadata for all articles and issues of Feminist Bookstore News from 1976 to 2000.
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Michele Karlsberg shows how ordinary people make extraordinary contributions to their communities. Her philosophy is simple: “It is our giving that makes us strong, not our receiving.” Bottom line, she loves what she does. She is grateful for her beloved mentors, some of whom are Nancy Bereano, Sasha Alyson, Barbara Grier, Richard Labonte, Carol Seajay, Roz Parr who helped her gain knowledge and confidence in the book publishing industry.
She has worn many hats in her twenty-nine year career.
As a publicist, she brings a unique combination of skills to effectively carry out publicity/marketing campaigns for authors, organizations, events, comedians, musicians and film/theater professionals. Her list of clients has included Katherine Forrest, Felice Picano, Kate Clinton, Stephen Fry, Jewelle Gomez, Assotto Saint, Dorothy Allison, Martin Duberman, Judy Grahn and Minnie Bruce Pratt to name a few. From her home office stateside, Michele represented many International Publishing companies: Spinifex Press (Australia), Second Story Press (Canada), Bruno Gmunder (Germany) and Creation Books (UK). She generously speaks at many conferences about the business of publishing, publicity and marketing. When she gets to share what she knows about marketing and publicity in the world of publishing, she is one happy woman.
She is one of the founders/publishers of Amethyst Press, home of groundbreaking authors Dennis Cooper, Kevin Killian, Mark Ameen, Stan Leventhal and Patrick Moore. She is a strong advocate for independent booksellers and worked with Carol Seajay on the Feminist Bookstore Network. She is a curator of Outspoken, a nationwide LGBTQI literary series that helps new and established voices reach a wider audience. As publisher at Bywater Books, she published many award winning authors.
She is an innovator and in 1989 along with the Publishing Triangle, Michele launched Le***an and Gay Book Month. Along with Michael Denneny she was the first co-chair of the Publishing Triangle and is still active today. She worked with The Book Of The Month Club/Quality Paperback Books to launch their LGBT Book Club InsightOut along with the Triangle Classic series.
She is a passionate advocate for the Pride Center on Staten Island, whether it was to help supply books to build their library, participate in the LGBTQI Pride celebrations, helping build visibility for the Pride Center or helping other LGBTQI people in need. In 1991 she was part of the team that opened the Pat Parker/Vito Russo Library at the NYC LGBTQI Community Center. For many years she also worked with the Astraea Writers Awards and The Le***an Herstory Archives.
She is a producer:she produced Holland America Cruise Lines’ first BOOK EXPO along with Olivia Travel. In 2010 she produced BACK 2 BACK at the St George Theater in NY with Lily Tomlin and Kate Clinton. She is most proud of producing events to honor the passing of Audre Lorde, Melvin Dixon, Stan Leventhal and John Preston.
As literary executor for Assotto Saint, Roy Gonsalves and Stan Leventhal, Michele manages their creative works for publication today.
Michele is a planner; she has been instrumental in planning the programming of many conferences and festivals such as OUTWRITE, Saints and Sinners, San Francisco Book Festival, BookExpo America, In Our Own Write, Behind Our Masks, GCLS, Readers and Writers and the Gay Games Cultural Festival.
She is an author; her non-fiction piece entitled The Isle Of Staten appears in the book Love, Christopher Street (Chelsea House Editions). Her WORDS column appears monthly in the San Francisco Bay Times. She wrote Self Publishing LGBTQI Books and is the co-editor of the Lambda Literary Award finalist To Be Continued and To Be Continued: Take Two (Firebrand Books).
She is an awardee: Publishing Triangle Leadership Award. Community Health Action Advocacy Award. Saints and Sinners Literary Hall Of Fame. One Island/One Pride Award from the S.I. LGBT Community Center.
When Michele is not focusing on the visibility of the LGBTQI community she persists to resist the current administration.
