by
Shelby Engelhardt
Imagine being a young lesbian coming of age in the early
80s. It wasn’t socially acceptable to have feelings for someone of your own sex,
and many in the LGBT community were ostracized. Then, suddenly, there is a book
published that describes you exactly. That is how many lesbians felt when Nancy
Garden’s young adult novel, Annie on My
Mind, was published in 1982.
Garden was a celebrated LGBT author who passed away on June
23 of a massive heart attack at the age of 76. She wrote young adult and
children’s books and was a lesbian who was openly out. This made her a rarity,
especially when you look at her list of accomplishments and publishers. She
wrote at least one book a year since 1971, with the last being published in
2012. Garden had been nominated for the Lambda Literary Award every year for a
10 year span. She was published by top publishers such as: Knopf,
Houghton-Mifflin, Holt, HarperCollins, Scholastic, and many more.
Garden was passionate about writing about issues that young
adults faced, especially those in the LGBT community. She brought truth and
honesty to the subject of dealing with being gay and lesbian in her books. Her
works showed her love for writing and her passion for writing for those who
faced the challenges of being gay. Garden’s works ensured no LGBT kid grew up
alone and her works were vital to many in the community and will continue to be
for years to come.
Nancy Garden has left a legacy for many writers and
activists to follow: never let ignorance win, but always let love win.
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