Summer is approaching and with it, beach reading season and Lambda Literary has your summer reading list covered. As the nation’s oldest and largest literary arts organization advancing LGBTQ literature, yesterday, they announced the finalists of the 30th Annual Lambda Literary Awards – or the “Lammys.”
Finalists were chosen from nearly 1,000 submissions and over 300 publishers. Submissions came from major mainstream publishers and from independent presses, from both long-established and new LGBTQ publishers, as well as from emerging publish-on-demand technologies.
“Celebrating our 30th year of Lambda Literary Award finalists is to recognize that this organization has been at the center of contemporary queer literature for decades,” said Lambda Literary Executive Director Tony Valenzuela. “This year is no different with another stellar list of authors demonstrating through their work that LGBTQ books tell richly textured stories about who we are in all our incredible diversity.”
67 literary professionals, including booksellers, book reviewers, librarians, authors, academics and previous Lammy winners and finalists volunteered countless hours of reading, critical thinking, and invigorating discussion to select the finalists in 23 categories.
Here are the finalists with links to their work! Enjoy!
Lesbian Fiction
- Difficult Women, Roxane Gay, Grove Press
- Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado, Graywolf Press
- Marriage of a Thousand Lies, SJ Sindu, Soho Press
- Not One Day, Anne Garréta, Deep Vellum Press
- Something Better than Home, Leona Beasley, Eleven Light City Press
- Things to Do When You’re Goth in the Country, Chavisa Woods, Seven Stories Press
- We Were Witches, Ariel Gore, Feminist Press
- The Year of Needy Girls, Patricia A. Smith, Kaylie Jones Books
Gay Fiction
- After the Blue Hour, John Rechy, Grove Press
- The Clothesline Swing, Ahmad Danny Ramadan, Nightwood Editions
- The End of Eddy, Édouard Louis, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Fimí Sílè Forever, Nnanna Ikpo, Team Angelica
- The Heart’s Invisible Furies, John Boyne, Hogarth
- Less, Andrew Sean Greer, Lee Boudreaux Books
- Outside Is the Ocean, Matthew Lansburgh, University of Iowa Press
- This Is How It Begins, Joan Dempsey, She Writes Press
Bisexual Fiction
- The Gift, Barbara Browning, Coffee House Press
- Homecoming Queens, J.E. Sumerau, Sense Publishers
- Next Year, for Sure, Zoey Leigh Peterson, Scribner
- Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl, Andrea Lawlor, Rescue Press
- The Penalty for Holding, Georgette Gouveia, Less Than Three Press
Transgender Fiction
- The Black Emerald, Jeanne Thornton, Instar Books
- Long Black Veil, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Crown
- Nerve Endings: The New Trans Erotic, Tobi Hill-Meyer (ed), Instar Books
- Resilience: Surviving in the Face of Everything, Amy Heart, Sugi Pyrrophyta, and Larissa Glasser (eds.), Heartspark Press
- Transcendent 2: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction, Bogi Takács (ed), Lethe Press
LGBTQ Nonfiction
- After Silence, Avram Finkelstein, University of California Press
- Black Performance on the Outskirts of the Left: A History of the Impossible, Malik Gaines, NYU Press
- Body Horror: Capitalism, Fear, Misogyny, Jokes, Anne Elizabeth Moore, Curbside Splendor
- Born Both: An Intersex Life, Hida Viloria, Hachette Books
- How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Haymarket Books
- Mean, Myriam Gurba, Coffee House Press
- Out for Queer Blood: The Murder of Fernando Rios and the Failure of New Orleans Justice, Clayton Delery, Exposit Books
- Queer Threads: Crafting Identity and Community, John Chaich and Todd Oldham, AMMO Books
Bisexual Nonfiction
- Hunger, Roxane Gay, HarperCollins
- Truth Be Bold: Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS, Julene Tripp Weaver, Finishing Line Press
- What the Mouth Wants, Monica Meneghetti, Dagger Editions
Transgender Nonfiction
- Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity, C. Riley Snorton, University of Minnesota Press
- Jane Crow: The Life of Pauli Murray, Rosalind Rosenberg, Oxford University Press
- Lou Sullivan: Daring to Be a Man Among Men, Brice Smith, Transgress Press
- Surpassing Certainty, Janet Mock, Atria Books
- What About the Rest of Your Life, Sung Yim, Perfect Day Publishing
Lesbian Poetry
- Blind Girl Grunt, Constance Merritt, Headmistress Press
- Common Place, Sarah Pinder, Coach House Books
- Good Stock Strange Blood, Dawn Lundy Martin, Coffee House Press
- Kohnjehr Woman, Ana-Maurine Lara, RedBone Press
- My Ariel, Sina Queyras, Coach House Books
- Rock | Salt | Stone, Rosamond S. King, Nightboat Books
- Rummage, Ife-Chudeni A. Oputa, Little A
- Silk Poems, Jen Bervin, Nightboat Books
Gay Poetry
- Don’t Call Us Dead, Danez Smith, Graywolf Press
- Into Each Room We Enter without Knowing, Charif Shanahan, Crab Orchard Series in Poetry
- Nature Poem, Tommy Pico, Tin House Books
- Proprietary, Randall Mann, Persea Books
- Royals, Cedar Sigo, Wave Books
- So Far Afield, Frederick Speers, Nomadic Press
- When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities, Chen Chen, BOA Editions Ltd.
- While Standing in Line for Death, CA Conrad, Wave Books
Transgender Poetry
- a place called No Homeland, Kai Cheng Thom, Arsenal Pulp Press
- Full-Metal Indigiqueer, Joshua Whitehead, Talon Books
- Mucus in My Pineal Gland, Juliana Huxtable, Wonder / Capricious
- Of Mongrelitude, Julian Talamantez Brolaski, Wave Books
- recombinant, Ching-In Chen, Kelsey Street Press
Lesbian Mystery
- A Quiet Death, Cari Hunter, Bold Strokes Books
- Fever in the Dark, Ellen Hart, Minotaur
- The Girl on the Edge of Summer, M. Redmann, Bold Strokes Books
- Huntress, E. Radley, Heartsome Publishing
- The Last First Time, Andrea Bramhall, Ylva Publishing
- Murder Under the Fig Tree: A Palestine Mystery, Kate Jessica Raphael, She Writes Press
- Odd Numbers, Anne Holt, Scribner
- Repercussions, Jessica L. Webb, Bold Strokes Books
Gay Mystery
- Boystown 10: Gifts Given, Marshall Thornton, Kenmore Books
- Long Shadows, Kate Sherwood, Riptide Publishing
- Love is Heartless, Kim Fielding, Dreamspinner Press
- The Mystery of the Curiosities, C. S. Poe, DSP Publications
- Night Drop, Marshall Thornton, Kenmore Books
- Ring of Silence, Mark Zubro, MLR Press
- Street People, Michael Nava, Korima Press
- Tramps and Thieves, Rhys Ford, Dreamspinner Press
Lesbian Memoir/Biography
- Abandon Me: Memoirs, Melissa Febos, Bloomsbury, Inc.
- Afterglow, Eileen Myles, Grove Press
- The Fact of a Body, Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, Flatiron Books
- Kiss Me Again, Paris: A Memoir, Renate Stendhal, IF SF Publishing
- The Pox Lover: An Activist’s Decade in New York and Paris, Anne-christine d’Adesky, The University of Wisconsin Press
Gay Memoir/Biography
- A Sinner in Mecca: A Gay Muslim’s Hajj of Defiance, Parvez Sharma, BenBella Books
- Creep: A Life, a Theory, an Apology, Jonathan Alexander, Punctum Books
- House Built on Ashes, José Antonio Rodríguez, University of Oklahoma Press
- In the Province of the Gods, Kenny Fries, University of Wisconsin Press
- Keeping On Keeping On, Alan Bennett, BBC Books
- Lives of Great Men: Living and Loving as an African Gay Man, Chike Frankie Edozien, Team Angelica Publishing
- Night Class: A Downtown Memoir, Victor Corona, Soft Skull Press
- The World Broke in Two: Virginia Woolf, T.S. Eliot, D.H. Lawrence, E.M. Forster, and the Year that Changed Literature, Bill Goldstein, Henry Holt and Company
Lesbian Romance
- Close to Home, Rachel Spangler, Bywater Books
- Crescent City Confidential, Aurora Rey, Bold Strokes Books
- Goldenrod, Ann McMan, Bywater Books
- Tailor-Made, Yolanda Wallace, Bold Strokes Books
- Vagabond Heart, Ann Roberts, Bella Books
- Venus and Lysander, Yoshiyuki Ly, Solstice Publishing
- Wishing on a Dream, Julie Cannon, Bold Strokes Books
- You Make Me Tremble, Karis Walsh, Bold Strokes Books
Gay Romance
- At the Corner of Rock Bottom & Nowhere, L.A. Witt, Self-Published
- Come to The Oaks: The Story of Ben and Tobias, Bryan T. Clark, Cornbread Publishing Inc.
- Love and Other Hot Beverages, Laurie Loft, Riptide Publishing
- Midlife Crisis, Audra North, Riptide
- Six Neckties, Johnny Diaz, Amazon CreateSpace
- Stealing Home, Tom Mendicino, Kensington Publishing / Lyrical Press
- Wild, Adrienne Wilder, Self-Published
- Working It, Christine d’Abo, Riptide Publishing
LGBTQ Anthology
- ¡Cuéntamelo! Oral Histories by LGBT Latino Immigrants, Juliana Delgado Lopera, Aunt Lute Books
- Greetings from Janeland: Women Write More About Leaving Men for Women, Candace Walsh & Barbara Straus Lodge, Cleis Press
- Meanwhile, Elsewhere: Science Fiction and Fantasy from Transgender Writers, edited by Cat Fitzpatrick & Casey Plett, Topside Press
- Power & Magic: The Queer Witch Comics Anthology, Joamette Gil, P&M Press
- Queer Africa 2: new stories, Makhosazana Xaba & Karen Martin, Modjaji Books
- To My Trans Sisters, Charlie Craggs, Jessica Kingsley Publishers
- Trans Homo…Gasp! Gay FTM and Cis Men on Sex and Love, Avi Ben-Zeev and Pete Bailey, Transgress Press
- Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility, edited by Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley, and Johanna Burton, The MIT Press
LGBTQ Children’s/Young Adult
- Ashes to Asheville, Sarah Dooley, Putnam
- Autoboyography, Christina Lauren, Simon & Schuster
- Dreadnought: Nemesis – Book 1, April Daniels, Diversion Books
- Girls Like Me, Nina Packebush, Bedazzled Ink
- Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing, Kay Haring (Author) & Robert Neubecker (Illustrator), Dial Books
- Like Water, Rebecca Podos, Balzer + Bray
- The Sidekicks, Will Kostakis, Harlequin Teen
- We Now Return to Regular Life, Martin Wilson, Dial Books
LGBTQ Drama
- Composure, Scott C. Sickles, Produced by the Workshop Theater
- Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Tom MacRae, Jonathan Butterell & Dan Gillespie Sells, Samuel French
- The Gulf, Audrey Cefaly, Samuel French
- How Black Mothers Say I Love You, Trey Anthony, Playwrights Canada Press
- Indecent, Paula Vogel, Theater Communications Group
LGBTQ Erotica
- His Seed, Steve Berman, Unzipped Books
- The Master Will Appear, L.A. Witt, Self-Published
- Mistletoe Mishap, Siri Caldwell, Brussels Sprout Press
- Unspeakably Erotic, D.L. King, Cleis Press
- Witches, Princesses, and Women at Arms, Sacchi Green, Cleis Press
LGBTQ Graphic Novels
- Condo Heartbreak Disco, Eric Kostiuk Williams, Koyama Press
- Fetch: How a Bad Dog Brought Me Home, Nicole J. Georges, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt/Mariner
- My Brother’s Husband, Volume 1, Gengoroh Tagame, Pantheon
- My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Emil Ferris, Fantagraphics Books
- Spinning, Tillie Walden, Macmillan/First Second Books
LGBTQ SF/F/Horror
- Amberlough, Lara Elena Donnelly, Tor Books
- An Excess Male, Maggie Shen King, HarperCollins
- An Unkindness of Ghosts, Rivers Solomon, Akashic Books
- Autonomous, Annalee Newitz, Tor Books
- I Stole You, Kristen Ringman, Handtype Press
- Night Visitors, Owen Keehnen, OutTales Publishing
- The Lost Daughter Collective, Lindsey Drager, DZANC Books
- The Prey of the Gods, Nicky Drayden, HarperCollins
LGBTQ Studies
- Behind the Mask, Alfredo Mirandé, University of Arizona Press
- The Ethics of Opting Out, Mari Ruti, Columbia University Press
- Lavender and Red, Emily Hobson, University of California Press
- Punishing Disease: HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness, Trevor Hoppe, University of California Press
- Time Slips, Jaclyn Pryor, Northwestern University Press
- Unmaking Love, Ashley T. Shelden, Columbia University Press
- The War on Sex, David M. Halperin and Trevor Hoppe, Duke University Press
- Welcome to Fairyland, Julio Capó, University of North Carolina Press
