Statement from Cherry Adair

The RWA Board would like to release the following statement on behalf of Cherry Adair. We thank Cherry for putting the needs of RWA first. There will not be a Lifetime Achievement Award recipient in 2019.

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I would sincerely like to apologize to the RWA Board and all the members for the comments I made. It was never my intent to cause hurt, especially to authors who have been marginalized.
 
While I was honored to be the 2019 recipient of the RWA Lifetime Achievement Award, I know in my heart that the only way to heal some of this rift is to withdraw my name. I do this with the hope that the focus of bringing diversity and inclusion to the RITA awards will go forward without any further distractions that take away from the important work that needs to be done.
 
My sincerest wish is to see RWA move forward, and again, I want to express my apologies and gratitude to RWA and the membership.
 
Cherry Adair