Based in Berlin, Alan Lessik is a novelist and writer, Zen practitioner, amateur figure skater, LGBT activist, and non-profit consultant. His debut novel, The Troubleseeker (Chelsea Station Editions), was short-listed for the Publishing Triangle’s 2017 Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ Fiction. Alan’s non-fiction works and essays have been published by Lambda Literary, the Bay Area Reporter, KQED Perspectives, the Advocate, San Francisco Bay Guardian, and Frontiers Newsmagazine. He has participated on panels at the 2018, 2019 and 2020 Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conferences, as well as at Litquake in 2017. He was chosen to tell his story on the theme of Endings at The Moth, Berkeley Story Slam and his KQED Radio Perspective, “Judge Not His Death” was one of the most commented on in 2014. He was a member of the Board of the LGBTQ Caucus of AWP from 2017-2021.