"Dish It Up, Baby" is Kristie Helms' first novel which serves up some varied slices of life, tracing her twenty-something heroine through childhood in rural Kentucky to her first job in Manhattan, and finally to Boston as she searches for true love, a cubicle near the window and the perfect shade of lipstick. A cross between "Bastard Out of Carolina" and "Bridget Jones' Diary," the novel explodes stereotypes about Appalachia and offers a hilarious look at the work-a-day world of the Northeast through the eyes of its plucky heroine.

Sign up for the Dish email newsletter (in the column to the right) for confirmations of these dates and times, as well as additional information on other upcoming appearances.

"Dish It Up Baby" Lambda Literary Award Finalist

"Dish It Up Baby" was a finalist for the 2004 Lambda Literary Awards in the "Lesbian Debut Fiction" category!

Book Reviews

Books to Watch Out For recently reviewed "Dish It Up, Baby." If you prefer, here's a pdf of the review.

I Do/I Don't: Queers on Marriage
Edited by Greg Wharton and Ian Philips
September 2004
Essay: "That Whole Fairy Tale Princess Thing"
Learn more about the book here.

Pinned Down by Prounouns
Edited by Toni Amato and Mary Davies
December 2003
Conviction Books.

Past Events

July 23, 2006
Spoken Word performer at WERU's Full Circle Fair in Blue Hill, Maine

June 16, 2005
Performer/Reader at "The F-Word: A fundraiser for Boston NOW" with The Princesses of Porn, the Dukes of Dykedom and guest reader Tasha Miller
Club Felt   Boston, MA

October 22, 2004
Reading by the Contributors to "I Do/I Don't: Queers on Marriage"
Calamus Bookstore 92B South St. Boston, MA

August 21, 2004
Reading
Laurel Bookstore   Oakland, CA

August 20, 2004
Reading & Birthday Celebration
A Different Light Bookstore   San Francisco, CA

August 14, 2004
Benefit Reading
University of Massachusetts Amherst Campus, MA
Recently, Paul Willis, a well known queer writer from New Orleans was brutually assaulted by a gang of teenagers because he is gay. For several years, Paul organized the famed Lambda Literature Queer Writers Festival and he now runs the Saints and Sinners Writers' Literary Festival, an alternative literary festival for the GLBT community. This year, Saints and Sinners raised over $10,000 for the NO/AIDS Task Force Paul has been a long time supporter of queer writers and queer women writers in particular. In support of Paul and his partner Greg, local GLBT writers are holding a benefit reading of our works to raise money to help Paul with his medical bills, and to raise awareness that hate crimes still happen to people we love. To make a donation, email Zane Barlow.

June 12, 2004
Writing Workshop: Diggin' Up Bones with Toni Amato
PINK INK: The Queer Book Expo   New York, NY

May 8, 2004
Saints & Sinners Literary Festival: Panelist "Don't Quit Your Day Job"
O'Flaherty's Irish Channel Pub   New Orleans, LA

April 30, 2004
Reading
Bluestockings   New York, NY

April 18, 2004
Reading
A Woman's Prerogative Bookstore   Ferndale, MI

April 17, 2004
Writing Workshop: Washtenaw Rainbow Action Project
Ann Arbor, MI

April 16, 2004
Reading and Reception
Common Language Bookstore   Ann Arbor, MI

April 3, 2004
Writing Workshop: Safe Colleges Conference
Tufts University   Medford, MA

March 25, 2004
Reading: Old Dogs/New Tricks
Johnny D's   Somerville, MA

March 24, 2004
Reading
Village Books   Roslindale, MA

February 15, 2004
Book Signing Party
Gallery Neptune   Bethesda, MD

February 13, 2004
Reading
Lambda Rising   Baltimore, MD

January 8, 2004
Open Mic: Featured Reader
GenderCrash's   Boston, MA

November 21, 2003
New Voices Open Mic: Featured Reader
Center for New Words'   Cambridge, MA