Muriel Leung, faculty in the School of Critical Studies’ MFA Creative Writing program, was recognized by Lambda Literary earlier this month with a Lammy Award for Bisexual Fiction for her novel How to Fall in Love in a Time of Unnameable Disaster.
The Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the Lammys, are presented by Lambda Literary, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing writers and amplifying LGBTQ+ storytelling. Since their founding in 1989, the Lammys have become the most visible and enduring LGBTQ+ literary awards, celebrating excellence across more than two dozen categories in fiction, poetry, nonfiction and drama.
In a previous interview with 24700, Leung described her debut novel:
How to Fall in Love in a Time of Unnameable Disaster is set in New York City during the onset of acid rain storms that happen every Tuesday, which seem to have no end… At the heart of all these assorted passages is a story of love and loss… I believe the rain and the ghosts operate with this duality in mind—as the world folds every realm of living and dead together, the possibilities of how we conceive of survival also widen too.
Leung, who also writes poetry, is the author of Imagine Us, The Swarm, winner of the Poetry Society of America’s Four Quartets Prize, and Bone Confetti. Her work often bridges poetry and prose, exploring themes of intimacy, identity and memory through formally experimental approaches.
As faculty at CalArts, she applies the same creative philosophy she brings to her writing, encouraging students to “take the force of whatever feels immaterial and find the best form that will serve as a container for its magnitude… Don’t tame it, just give it space to grow.”
The 2025 Lammy Award winners were announced Oct. 4 during a virtual ceremony hosted by Lambda Literary executive director Jozie Clapp, with more than 150 writers honored across 26 categories. The full list of this year’s winners can be found at lambdaliterary.org.
How to Fall in Love in a Time of Unnameable Disaster is available now from W. W. Norton & Company.
