LILLIAN FADERMAN is an American historian whose books on lesbian history and LGBT history have earned critical praise and awards. The New York Times named three of her books on its “Notable Books of the Year” list. In addition, The Guardian named her book, Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, one of the Top 10 Books of Radical History. She was a professor of English at California State University, Fresno (Fresno State), which bestowed her emeritus status, and a visiting professor at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She retired from academe in 2007. Faderman has been referred to as “the mother of lesbian history” for her groundbreaking research and writings on lesbian culture, literature, and history.

Faderman was raised by her mother, Mary, and her aunt, Rae. In 1914, her mother emigrated from a shtetl in Latvia to New York City, planning eventually to send for the rest of the family. Her aunt Rae came in 1923, but the rest of the family was killed during Hitler’s extermination of European Jews, and Mary blamed herself for not being able to rescue them. Her guilt contributed to a serious mental illness that would profoundly affect her daughter.

Her family moved with her to Los Angeles where, with her mother’s encouragement, Lillian took acting classes. She began modeling as a teenager, discovered the gay bar scene, and eventually met her first girlfriend. Before she graduated from Hollywood High School, she married a gay man much older than herself—a marriage that lasted less than a year.

Faderman came out as lesbian in the 1950s. She lives with her partner of forty years (as of 2012), Phyllis Irwin. She and Phyllis raised one son, Avrom, conceived through artificial insemination by an anonymous Jewish donor. Avrom earned a PhD from Stanford University.

Lillian Faderman is an internationally known scholar of lesbian history and literature, as well as ethnic history and literature. Among her many honors are six Lambda Literary Awards, two American Library Association Awards, and several lifetime achievement awards for scholarship. She is the author of The Gay Revolution, Surpassing the Love of Men, and Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers, all New York Times Notable Books. The Guardian named Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers one of the Top 10 Books of Radical History, and named The Gay Revolution one of the Six Top Books of LGBT Life.