Judges pull award nomination for book by Lauren Hough

By HILLEL ITALIE
AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The author of an acclaimed debut essay collection has had a prominent LGBTQ literary nomination withdrawn. But not because of the book itself. Judges for the Lambda Awards withdrew their nomination for Lauren Hough’s essay collection “Leaving Isn’t The Hardest Thing” after the author used sharp and sometimes profane language in Twitter exchanges. The exchanges were with critics of a novel she had expressed admiration for. In a letter sent earlier this month to her publisher, Penguin Random House, Lambda cited a series of tweets that it said showed hostility toward transgender critics and trans-allies. Hough said the critics hadn’t read the novel and that it was sensitive to trans people.