Samiya Bashir Resigns as Executive Director of Lambda Literary

Nov 17, 2023

Samiya Bashir has resigned as executive director of Lambda Literary. Veteran nonprofit consultant Dolph Goldenburg will serve as interim executive editor as the Lambda Literary board of directors searches for Bashir's replacement.

Bashir was named executive director in September 2022. She succeeded interim co–executive directors Cleopatra Jach Acquaye and Maxwell Scales, who led the organization after Sue Landers stepped down earlier that year.

Bashir is a poet, a visiting professor of poetry at the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA Writing Program, and a two-time Lambda Literary Awards Finalist. She was also a founding organizer and longtime board member of the nonprofit Fire & Ink, which worked to promote the work of LGBTQ writers of African descent and heritage.