New York, NY — Lambda Literary, the nation’s premier LGBTQ literary organization, today announces the finalists of the 34th Annual Lambda Literary Awards (a.k.a. the “Lammys”).
Created over thirty years ago to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world, the Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature. Since the inception of the Lammys in 1989, more than 3,500 books have been named finalist or winner, an imprimatur that bookstores, libraries, and individuals use to stock their shelves.
This award cycle was the most competitive yet, with the highest ever submission volume in Lammy Award history. “We are particularly inspired by such amazing numbers in the LGBTQ Young Adult and Children’s/Middle Grade categories,” the Awards Manager says. “The modern movement to ban access to LGBTQ books for young people is horrendous, but we hope the publishing industry continues backing these remarkable works in volume to meet that resistance.”
Exemplifying how queer literature is far from monolithic, the Lammys celebrate books across 24 categories, and feature works by writers from large and small presses, as well as debut and self-published authors.
Finalists and winners will be celebrated in a virtual award ceremony on Saturday, June 11th, hosted by drag queen and visual artist Sasha Velour. Event registration starts at $50 USD and includes a gift bag of digital offerings from our friends and sponsors, as well as access to an afternoon of readings and talks with our finalists prior to the evening’s ceremony. Proceeds benefit Lambda Literary’s educational programs for LGBTQ young people and emerging writers. Tickets to the virtual event are available here. For more information about the finalists, go here.
This year’s finalists were first announced exclusively by the Associated Press. Please join us in celebrating the following authors and their literary accomplishments.
BISEXUAL FICTION:
Blue-Skinned Gods // SJ Sindu, Soho Press
Milk Fed: A Novel // Melissa Broder, Scribner
Monster in the Middle // Tiphanie Yanique, Riverhead Books
We Play Ourselves // Jen Silverman, Random House
We Want What We Want // Alix Ohlin, House Anansi Press
BISEXUAL NONFICTION:
Borealis // Aisha Sabatini Sloan, Coffee House Press
Dark Tourist: Essays // Hasanthika Sirisena, Mad Creek Books
Greedy: Notes from a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much // Jen Winston, Atria Books
The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation’s Neglect of a Deadly Disease // Daisy Hernández, Tin House
The Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in Pictures and Pieces // Courtney Cook, Tin House
BISEXUAL POETRY:
Gumbo Ya Ya // Aurielle Marie, University of Pittsburgh Press
Imagine Us, The Swarm // Muriel Leung, Nightboat Books
Master Suffering // CM Burroughs, Tupelo Press
The Best Prey // Paige Quiñones, Pleiades Press
The Sunflower Cast a Spell to Save Us from the Void // Jackie Wang, Nightboat Books
GAY FICTION:
100 Boyfriends // Brontez Purnell, MCD x FSG Originals
Brickmakers: A Novel // Selva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott, Graywolf Press
Gordo // Jaime Cortez, Grove Atlantic
My Good Son // Yang Huang, University of New Orleans Press
Rainbow Milk // Paul Mendez, PRH/Doubleday
GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY:
Antiman: A Hybrid Memoir // Rajiv Mohabir, Restless Books
Hola Papi // John Paul Brammer, Simon & Schuster
Never Silent: ACT UP and My Life in Activism // Peter Staley, Chicago Review Press
Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir // Brian Broome, Mariner Books
Writing with Caca / Escribir con Caca // Luis Felipe Fabre, translated by JD Pluecker, Green Lantern Press
GAY POETRY:
Besiege Me // Nicholas Wong, Noemi Press
Creep Love // Michael Walsh, Autumn House Press
Punks: New & Selected Poems // John Keene, The Song Cave
Shoreditch // Miguel Murphy, Barrow Street Press
Tenderness // Derrick Austin, BOA Editions
GAY ROMANCE:
Best of the Wrong Reasons // Sander Santiago, Bold Strokes Books
Dublin Bay // John Patrick, NineStar Press
Excellent Sons: A Love Story in Three Acts // Larry Benjamin, Beaten Track Publishing
Floridian Nights // Lance Ringel, Distant Mirror Press
The Other Man // Farhad J. Dadyburjor, Lake Union
LESBIAN FICTION:
How to Wrestle a Girl // Venita Blackburn, MCD x FSG Originals
Matrix // Lauren Groff, Riverhead Books
Skye Falling // Mia McKenzie, Random House
The Five Wounds // Kirstin Valdez Quade, W. W. Norton & Company
With Teeth // Kristen Arnett, Riverhead Books
LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY:
The 2000s Made Me Gay: Essays on Pop Culture // Grace Perry, Macmillan/St. Martin’s Griffin
The Audacity of a Kiss: Love, Art, and Liberation // Leslie Cohen, Rutgers University Press
The Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams // Jonathan Ned Katz, Chicago Review Press
The One You Want to Marry (And Other Identities I’ve Had): A Memoir // Sophie Santos, TOPPLE Books
Why Labelle Matters // Adele Bertei, University of Texas Press
LESBIAN POETRY:
All the Rage // Rosamond S. King, Nightboat Books
Last Days // Tamiko Beyer, Alice James Books
The Language We Were Never Taught to Speak // Grace Lau, Guernica Editions
The Renunciations: Poems // Donika Kelly, Graywolf Press
Who’s Your Daddy // Arisa White, Augury Books
LESBIAN ROMANCE:
Chemistry Lessons // Jae, Ylva Publishing
Go Around // E. J Noyes, Bella Books
In the Long Run // Haley Cass, Self-Published
Red Tide at Heron Bay // Gerri Hill, Bella Books
The Headmistress // Milena McKay, Self-Published
LGBTQ ANTHOLOGY:
Between Certain Death and a Possible Future: Queer Writing on Growing Up with the AIDS Crisis // Edited by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Arsenal Pulp Press
Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought // Edited by Briona Simone Jones, The New Press
Q & A: Voices from Queer Asian North America // Martin F. Manalansan IV, Alice Y. Hom, and Kale Bantigue Fajardo, Temple University Press
Queer Nightlife // Edited by Kemi Adeyemi, Kareem Khubchandani, and Ramón H. Rivera-Servera, The University of Michigan Press
The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays // Editors: Leanna Keyes, Lindsey Mantoan, and Angela Farr Schiller; Playwrights: Azure D. Osborne-Lee, Ty Defoe, MJ Kaufman, Raphael Amahl Khouri, j. Chavez, Sharifa Yasmin, and Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, Bloomsbury Publishing
LGBTQ CHILDREN’S/MIDDLE GRADE:
Calvin // JR and Vanessa Ford, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea // Ashley Herring Blake, Little, Brown BYR (Books for Young Readers)
Love, Violet // Charlotte Sullivan Wild, illustrated by Charlene Chua, Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR (Books for Young Readers)
Stitch by Stitch: Cleve Jones and the AIDS Memorial Quilt // Rob Sanders, APA Magination Press
The Fabulous Zed Watson! // Basil Sylvester and Kevin Sylvester, HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
LGBTQ COMICS:
Cheer Up! Love and Pompoms // Crystal Frasier and Val Wise, lettering by Oscar O. Jupiter, Oni Press
Our Work Is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Queer & Trans Resistance // Syan Rose, Arsenal Pulp Press
Shadow Life // Written by Hiromi Goto; illustrated by Ann Xu, First Second
Stone Fruit // Lee Lai, Fantagraphics Books
Thirsty Mermaids // Kat Leyh, Simon & Schuster/Gallery 13
LGBTQ DRAMA:
Love Like Light // Daniel Alexander Jones, 53rd State Press
mama [rose.] // storae michele
Mrs. Harrison // R. Eric Thomas, TRW Plays
Pillow Talk // Kheven LaGrone, Theatre Rhinoceros
Thrive, or What You Will {an epic} // L M Feldman, American Shakespeare Center
LGBTQ EROTICA:
Ambrosia: Trans Masc and Non Binary Erotic Comics Anthology // Edited by Tab Kimpton and Jade Sarson, Discord Comics
Big Joe // Samuel R. Delany, Inpatient Press
Nectar: Trans Femme and Non Binary Erotic Comics Anthology // Edited by Tab Kimpton and Harry-Anne Bentley, Discord Comics
Queer Werewolves Destroy Capitalism: Smutty Stories // MJ Lyons, Microcosm Publishing
The Lodger, That Summer // Levi Huxton, Self-Published
LGBTQ MYSTERY:
Bath Haus // P.J. Vernon, PRH/Doubleday
Finding the Vein // Jennifer Hanlon Wilde, Ooligan Press
Lies With Man // Michael Nava, Amble Press
Murder Under Her Skin // Stephen Spotswood, PRH/Doubleday
The Savage Kind // John Copenhaver, Pegasus Books
LGBTQ NONFICTION:
Dear Senthuran // Akwaeke Emezi, Riverhead Books
Deep Sniff: A History of Poppers and Queer Futures // Adam Zmith, Repeater Books
Girlhood // Melissa Febos, Bloomsbury Publishing
Let the Record Show // Sarah Schulman, Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux
Northern Light: Power, Land, and the Memory of Water // Kazim Ali, Milkweed Editions
LGBTQ SPECULATIVE FICTION:
A Desolation Called Peace // Arkady Martine, Tor Books
Breeder // Honni van Rijswijk, Blackstone Publishing
No Gods, No Monsters // Cadwell Turnbull, Blackstone Publishing
Phototaxis // Olivia Tapiero, translated by Kit Schluter, Nightboat Books
The Tensorate Series // Neon Yang, Tordotcom Publishing
LGBTQ STUDIES:
Homo Psyche: On Queer Theory and Erotophobia // Gila Ashtor, Fordham University Press
Racial Erotics: Gay Men of Color, Sexual Racism, and the Politics of Desire // C. Winter Han, University of Washington Press
The Shape of Sex // Leah DeVun, Columbia University Press
Transtopia in the Sinophone Pacific // Howard Chiang, Columbia University Press
Vice Patrol: Cops, Courts, and the Struggle over Urban Gay Life before Stonewall // Anna Lvovsky, University of Chicago Press
LGBTQ YOUNG ADULT:
Hani And Ishu’s Guide To Fake Dating // Adiba Jaigirdar, Page Street Kids
The City Beautiful // Aden Polydoros, Harlequin Trade Publishing/Inkyard
The Heartbreak Bakery // A. R. Capetta, Candlewick Press
The Passing Playbook // Isaac Fitzsimons, Dial Books for Young Readers
What We Devour // Linsey Miller, Sourcebooks Fire
TRANSGENDER FICTION:
A Natural History of Transition // Callum Angus, Metonymy Press
Detransition, Baby // Torrey Peters, One World
Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body // Megan Milks, Feminist Press
She Who Became the Sun // Shelley Parker-Chan, Tor Books
Summer Fun // Jeanne Thornton, Soho Press
TRANSGENDER NONFICTION:
Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness // Da’Shaun Harrison, North Atlantic Books
Brown Trans Figurations: Rethinking Race, Gender, and Sexuality in Chicanx/Latinx Studies // Francisco Galarte, University of Texas Press
Care Of: Letters, Connections, and Cures // Ivan Coyote, McClelland & Stewart
Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography // Edited by Alicia Spencer-Hall and Blake Gutt, Amsterdam University Press
Trans Sex: Clinical Approaches to Trans Sexualities and Erotic Embodiments // Lucie Fielding, Routledge
TRANSGENDER POETRY:
Crossbones on My Life // Mason J, Nomadic Press
Salamat sa Intersectionality // Dani Putney, Okay Donkey Press
Transverse // Lindsay Choi, Futurepoem Books
Villainy // Andrea Abi-Karam, Nightboat Books
x/ex/exis // Raquel Salas Rivera, The University of Arizona Press
About Lambda Literary: Lambda Literary nurtures and advocates for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, preserve our legacies, and affirm the value of our stories and our lives. Our programs include the Lambda Literary Awards, the Writers Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices, LGBTQ Writers in Schools, Lambda LitFest, and the Lambda Literary Review.
Lambda Literary | site: http://lambdaliterary.org.