Carter Sickels
Carter Sickels | |
|---|---|
 Sickels in 2026 | |
| Occupation | Author and educator |
| Genre | Literary fiction |
| Notable awards | |
| Website | |
| cartersickels | |
Carter Sickels (born 1970s) is an American author and educator. He is the author of The Evening Hour (2012) and The Prettiest Star (2020), as well as the editor of Untangling the Knot (2015). Among other honors, he won the 2013 Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award, the 2020 Southern Book Prize, and the 2025 Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize.
Early life and education
[edit]Sickels was born in the 1970s and grew up in a small town in Central Ohio in the 1980s.[1] He earned a Master of Fine Arts from Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Arts in folklore from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.[2][3]
Career
[edit]Sickels's debut novel, The Evening Hour, is a literary fiction novel published by Bloomsbury Publishing in January 2012.[4] The Evening Hour was adapted into a film of the same name, premiering at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. The film is directed by Braden King and features Philip Ettinger, Marc Menchaca, Cosmo Jarvis, Stacy Martin, Kerry Bishé, and Lili Taylor.[5] In 2020, it was nominated for the Big Screen Award at International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Grand Jury Prize in the US Drama competition at the Sundance Film Festival, and the Prize of the City of Torino at the Torino Film Festival.[6]
In 2015, Ooligan Press published Untangling the Knot: Queer Voices on Marriage, Relationships and Identity, an anthology about marriage equality, which Sickels edited.[7] In 2016, the American Library Association included Untangling the Knot on their annual Over the Rainbow book list.[8]
Sickels's most accomplished book, The Prettiest Star, is a literary fiction novel published by Hub City Press in April 2020.[9][10] Set at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the United States, the novel centers Brian Jackson who, after his lover dies from AIDS, returns to the family who rejected him in a small town in Ohio. The novel is written from multiple perspectives.
Beyond writing, Sickels has taught at Eastern Kentucky University and the Gotham Writers' Workshop.[11][12] As of 2025, he was an associate professor of English at North Carolina State University.[13]
Personal life
[edit]Sickels is queer and transgender.[2][13][14] He came out as gay while in college,[3] then later came out as transgender around the time The Evening Hour was published.[14]
Awards and honors
[edit]As a writer, Sickels won the 2013 Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award, an early career prize for LGBTQ writers,[15][16] later followed by the 2025 Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize, a mid-career writing prize from the Lambda Literary Foundation. That same year, he was a finalist for the Dos Passos Prize, a literary award for "America's most talented but underappreciated writers".[17] He has received writing residencies from MacDowell (2004, 2006, 2024)[18] and Good Hart Artist Residency (2022).[19]
The Evening Hour was selected by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) for its 2011 Spring Okra Picks.[20]
The Prettiest Star was selected for SIBA's 2020 Spring Okra Picks.[21] That year, Kirkus Reviews named it one of the best adult novels of the year,[22] and Oprah Daily included it on their list of the year's best LGBTQ books.[23] The following year, the American Library Association also included it as a top ten book on their Over the Rainbow book list.[24][25]
| Year | Title | Award | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | The Evening Hour | Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Debut Fiction | Finalist | [26] |
| Edmund White Award | Finalist | [27] | ||
| Oregon Book Award | Finalist | [28] | ||
| 2020 | The Prettiest Star | Weatherford Award for Fiction | Winner | [29] |
| 2021 | Southern Book Prize for Fiction | Winner | [30][31][32] | |
| Ohioana Book Award for Fiction | Winner | [33] |
Publications
[edit]Books
[edit]- Sickels, Carter (2013). The Evening Hour. Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1-608-19597-8.
- Sickels, Carter, ed. (2015). Untangling the Knot: Queer Voices on Marriage, Relationships and Identity. Ooligan Press. ISBN 978-1-932-01075-6.
- Sickels, Carter (2020). The Prettiest Star. Hub City Press. ISBN 978-1-93823-562-7.
Book chapters
[edit]- Sickels, Carter (2012). "Saving". In Leger, Tom; MacLeod, Riley (eds.). The Collection: Short Fiction from the Transgender Vanguard. Topside Press. ISBN 978-0-983-24220-8.[34][35][36]
- Ricketts, Wendel, ed. (2014). Blue, Too: More Writing by (for or about) Working-Class Queers. FourCats Press. ISBN 978-0-989-98001-2.
- Sickels, Carter (2014). "Carter Sickels: Dear Teenage Me". In Moon, Sarah (ed.). The Letter Q: Queer Writers' Notes to Their Younger Selves. Arthur A. Levine Books. ISBN 978-0-545-39933-3.
- Sickels, Carters (2015). "Bittersweet: On Transitioning and Finding Home". In Blevins, Adrian; McElmurray, Karen Salyer (eds.). Walk Till the Dogs Get Mean : Meditations on the Forbidden From Contemporary Appalachia. Ohio University Press. pp. 73–79. ISBN 978-0-821-42167-3.[36]
- Berman, Steve, ed. (2016). Best Gay Stories 2016. Lethe Press. ISBN 978-1-590-21588-3.[37]
- Sickels, Carter (2019). "Saving". In Mann, Jeff; Watts, Julia (eds.). LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia. West Virginia University Press. pp. 210–236. ISBN 978-1-946-68492-9.[38]
- Sickels, Carter (2024). "Troublesome Rising". In Helton, Melissa (ed.). Troublesome Rising: A Thousand-Year Flood in Eastern Kentucky. Fireside Industries. pp. 79–84. ISBN 978-1-950-56442-2.
References
[edit]- ^ Ferrari, Michele (May 28, 2020). "An Interview with Carter Sickels, Author of The Prettiest Star". Dead Darlings. Archived from the original on April 13, 2026. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ a b Brydum, Sunnivie (November 9, 2012). "Saving Trans Author Carter Sickels". Advocate. Archived from the original on January 17, 2026. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ a b Kruse, Megan (September 16, 2020). "Queering Home: An Interview with Carter Sickels". Fiction Writers Review. Archived from the original on March 8, 2026. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ "The Evening Hour". Booklist. December 15, 2011. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ Harvey, Dennis (January 28, 2020). "'The Evening Hour': Film Review". Variety. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ Reinnoldt, Alexandra (October 9, 2024). "The Evening Hour". Louisville Film Society. Archived from the original on February 16, 2026. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ Jenkins, Julia (March 3, 2015). "Untangling the Knot: Queer Voices on Marriage, Relationships and Identity". Shelf Awareness . Archived from the original on January 14, 2026. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ Butler, Rebecca (2016). "2016 Over the Rainbow List: 68 LGBT Books for Adult Readers – Over the Rainbow Books". American Library Association. Archived from the original on February 17, 2026. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
- ^ "The Prettiest Star". Booklist. February 15, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ Schmidt, Stephen. "The Prettiest Star". Library Journal. Archived from the original on May 14, 2025. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
- ^ Gambino, Britt. "Faculty Profile: Carter Sickels". Gotham Writers' Workshop. Archived from the original on April 26, 2025. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
- ^ "Carter Sickels". Warren Wilson MFA Program. November 22, 2022. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ a b Lewis, L. D. (September 29, 2025). "5 Questions with Duggins Prize Winner Carter Sickels". Lambda Literary. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ a b Carey, Allison E. (2023). "Carter Sickels: Essays and Novel, The Evening Hour (2012)". Doubly Erased: LGBTQ Literature in Appalachia. State University of New York Press. pp. 191–193. ISBN 978-1-438-49356-5.
- ^ "25th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners Announced!". Lambda Literary. June 4, 2013. Archived from the original on January 25, 2022. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
- ^ "Awards: Lambda Literary Foundation Honors". Shelf Awareness . April 25, 2013. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ "Short list of finalists for 43rd annual Dos Passos Prize announced". Longwood University. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ "Carter Sickels - MacDowell Fellow in Literature". MacDowell. Archived from the original on October 8, 2025. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ "Carter Sickels". Good Hart Artist Residency. March 14, 2022. Archived from the original on December 9, 2023. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ "Spring Okra Picks". Shelf Awareness . December 22, 2011. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ "The 2020 Spring Okra Picks". Shelf Awareness . April 6, 2020. Archived from the original on January 16, 2026. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ "Best of 2020". Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ Hart, Michelle (October 29, 2020). "These Are the 42 Must-Read LGBTQ Books of 2020". Oprah Daily. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ "2021 Over the Rainbow Book List features 48 titles for adult readers". American Library Association. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
- ^ "Over the Rainbow: 2021". Booklist. March 15, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
- ^ Peeples, Jase; Anderson-Minshall, Diane (March 7, 2013). "Bookshelf: Lambda Literary Award Finalists You Must Read". Advocate. Archived from the original on December 6, 2025. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ "The Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction". The Publishing Triangle. Archived from the original on May 16, 2024. Retrieved May 22, 2024.
- ^ "Oregon Book Award Finalist: Carter Sickels". Literary Arts. February 13, 2013. Archived from the original on September 28, 2023. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ "Winners of the Weatherford Award for Best Books About Appalachia". Berea College. Archived from the original on January 16, 2026. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ "Awards: Southern Book, Ripped Bodice Winners". Shelf Awareness. February 16, 2021. Archived from the original on February 26, 2024. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
- ^ "Awards: Southern Book, Ripped Bodice Winners". Shelf Awareness . February 16, 2021. Archived from the original on February 26, 2024. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ Bakija, Mary (February 17, 2021). "2021 Southern Book Prize Winners Announced | Book Pulse". Library Journal. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
- ^ "Announcing the 2021 Ohioana Book Award Winners". Ohioana Library. July 19, 2021. Archived from the original on March 12, 2026. Retrieved June 20, 2026.
- ^ Wexelbaum, Rachel (September 30, 2012). "'The Collection: Short Fiction from the Transgender Vanguard' edited by Tom Léger and Riley MacLeod". Lambda Literary Review. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
- ^ Roberto, K. R. (June 1, 2016). "The Collection: Short Fiction from the Transgender Vanguard". Library Journal. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
- ^ a b Hogan, Kate (2020). "Transplacement: nature and place in Carter Sickels' "Saving" and "Bittersweet"". In Vakoch, Douglas A. (ed.). Transecology: transgender perspectives on environment and nature. Routledge studies in gender and environments. London New York: Routledge. pp. 194–220. ISBN 978-0-367-08651-0.
- ^ Graves, Michael (August 8, 2016). "'Best Gay Stories 2016' Edited by Steve Berman". Lambda Literary Review. Archived from the original on December 11, 2023. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
- ^ Helton, Melissa (2020). "LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia ed. by Jeff Mann & Julia Watts". Appalachian Review. 48 (2): 133–135. doi:10.1353/aph.2020.0017. ISSN 2692-9287. Archived from the original on September 6, 2024. Retrieved June 21, 2026.
Further reading
[edit]- Carey, Allison E. (2023). "Photographs, Family, and Documentation in the Work of Carter Sickels". Doubly Erased: LGBTQ Literature in Appalachia. State University of New York Press. pp. 99–104. ISBN 978-1-438-49356-5.