2022 Lambda Literary Awards

Since 1988, the Lambda Literary Awards have celebrated works that explore LGBT themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography.  The Lambda Literary Foundation states that its mission is "to celebrate LGBT literature and provide resources for writers, readers, booksellers, publishers, and librarians—the whole literary community."  Explore this year's winners!

 

Scroll through the awards or head to a particular section:

Fiction     |     Nonfiction     |     Poetry     |     Memoir & Biography     |     Romance

Anthology     |     Juvenile & YA     |     Comics     |     Mystery, Sci-fi, & More!

 

Lesbian Fiction

Winner:

Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie

Nominees:

How to Wrestle a Girl by Venita Blackburn Matrix by Lauren Groff The Five Wounds by Kirstin Valdez Quade With Teeth by Kristen Arnett

 

Gay Fiction

Winner:

100 Boyfriends by Brontez Purnell

Nominees:

Brickmakers by Selva Almada, translated by Annie McDermott Gordo by Jamie Cortez My Good Son by Yang Huang Rainbow Milk by Paul Mendez

 

Bisexual Fiction

Winner:

We Want What We Want by Alix Ohlin

Nominees:

Blue-Skinned Gods by SJ Sindu Milk Fed by Melissa Broder Monster in the Middle by Tiphanie Yanique We Play Ourselves by Jen Silverman

 

Transgender Fiction

Winner:

Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton

Nominees:

A Natural History of Transition by Callum Angus Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body by Megan Milks She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan

 

Bisexual Nonfiction

Winner:

Borealis by Aisha Sabatini Sloan

Nominees:

Dark Tourist: Essays by Hasanthika Sirisena Greedy: Notes from a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much by Jen Winston The Kissing Bug by Daisy Hernández  The Way She Feels by Courtney Cook

 

Transgender Nonfiction

Winner:

Belly of the Beast by Da’Shaun Harrison

Nominees:

Brown Trans Figurations by Francisco Galarte Care Of: Letters, Connections, and Cures by Ivan Coyote Trans and Genderqueer Subjects in Medieval Hagiography, edited by Alicia Spencer-Hall and Blake Gutt Trans Sex by Lucie Fielding

 

LGBTQ+ Nonfiction

Winner:

Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman

Nominees:

Dear Senthuran by Akwaeke Emezi Deep Sniff: A History of Poppers and Queer Futures by Adam Zmith Girlhood by Melissa Febos Northern Light: Power, Land, and the Memory of Water by Kazim Ali

 

Lesbian Poetry

Winner:

Last Days by Tamiko Beyer

Nominees:

All the Rage by Rosamond S. King The Language We Were Never Taught to Speak by Grace Lau The Renunciations by Donika Kelly Who's Your Daddy by Arisa White

 

Gay Poetry

Winner:

Punks by John Keene

Nominees:

Besiege Me by Nicholas Wong Creep Love by Michael Walsh Shoreditch by Miguel Murphy Tenderness by Derrick Austin

 

Bisexual Poetry

Winner:

Gumbo Ya Ya by Aurielle Marie

Nominees:

Imagine Us, The Swarm by Muriel Leung, Master Suffering by CM Burroughs The Best Prey by Paige Quiñone The Sunflower Cast a Spell to Save Us from the Void by Jackie Wang

 

Transgender Poetry

Winner:

Crossbones on My Life by Mason J

Nominees:

Salamat sa Intersectionality by Dani Putney Transverse by Lindsay Choi Villainy by Andrea Abi-Karam x/ex/exis by Raquel Salas Rivera

 

Lesbian Memoir/Biography

Winner:

The One You Want to Marry by Sophie Santos

Nominees:

The 2000s Made Me Gay by Grace Perry The Audacity of a Kiss by Leslie Cohen The Daring Life and Dangerous Times of Eve Adams by Jonathan Ned Katz Why Labelle Matters by Adele Bertei

 

Gay Memoir/Biography

Winner:

Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome

Nominees:

Antiman by Rajiv Mohabir Hola Papi by John Paul Brammer Never Silent: ACT UP and My Life in Activism by Peter Staley Writing with Caca by Luis Felipe Fabre, translated by JD Pluecker

 

Lesbian Romance

Winner:

The Headmistress by Milena McKay

 

Nominees:

Chemistry Lessons by Jae Go Around by E. J. Noyes Red Tide at Heron Bay by Gerri Hill

 

Also nominated but not currently available at Brilliant Books

In the Long Run by Haley Cass

 

 

Gay Romance

Winner:

Excellent Sons by Larry Benjamin

Nominees:

Best of the Wrong Reasons by Sander Santiago Dublin Bay by John Patrick Floridian Nights by Lance Ringel The Other Man by Farhad J. Dadyburjor

 

LGBTQ+ Anthology

Winner:

Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought, edited by Briona Simone Jones

Nominees:

Between Certain Death and a Possible Future, edited by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore Q & A: Voices from Queer Asian North America, edited by Martin F. Manalansan IV, Alice Y. Hom, and Kale Bantigue Fajardo Queer Nightlife, edited by Kemi Adeyemi, Kareem Khubchandani, and Ramón H. Rivera-Servera, The Methuen Drama Book of Trans Plays

 

LGBTQ+ Children's/Middle Grade

Winner:

Calvin by JR and Vanessa Ford

Nominees:

The Fabulous Zed Watson! by Basil Sylvester and Kevin Sylvester Hazel Bly and the Deep Blue Sea by Ashley Herring Blake Love, Violet by Charlotte Sullivan Wild Stitch by Stitch: Cleve Jones and the AIDS Memorial Quilt by Rob Sanders

 

LGBTQ+ Young Adult

Winner:

The Heartbreak Bakery by A. R. Capetta

Nominees:

Hani And Ishu’s Guide To Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar The City Beautiful by Aden Polydoros The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons What We Devour by Linsey Miller

 

LGBTQ+ Comics

Winner:

Stone Fruit by Lee Lai

Nominees:

Cheer Up! Love and Pompoms by Crystal Frasier and Val Wise Our Work Is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Queer & Trans Resistance by Syan Rose Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto, illustrated by Ann Xu Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh

 

LGBTQ+ Mystery

Winner:

The Savage Kind by John Copenhaver

Nominees:

Bath Haus by P.J. Vernon Finding the Vein by Jennifer Hanlon Wilde Lies With Man by Michael Nava Murder Under Her Skin by Stephen Spotswood

 

LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction

Winner:

No Gods, No Monsters BY Cadwell Turnbull

Nominees:

A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine Breeder by Honni van Rijswijk Phototaxies by Olivia Tapiero The Tensorate Series by Neon Yang

 

LGBTQ+ Erotica

Winner:

Big Joe by Samuel R. Delany

 

Nominees:

Queer Werewolves Destroy Capitalism: Smutty Stories by MJ Lyons The Lodger, That Summer by Levi Huxton

 

Also nominated but not currently available at Brilliant Books

Ambrosia and Nectar, edited by Tab Kimpton and Jade Sarson

 

 

LGBTQ+ Studies

Winner:

Vice Patrol: Cops, Courts, and the Struggle over Urban Gay Life before Stonewall by Anna Lvovsky

Nominees:

Homo Psyche: On Queer Theory and Erotophobia by Gia Ashtor Racial Erotics: Gay Men of Color, Sexual Racism, and the Politics of Desire by C. Winter Han The Shape of Sex by Leah DeVun Transtopia in the Sinophone Pacific by Howard Chiang

 

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