Loading
Recent Lambda Literary Award winners
LGBTQ+ novels, memoirs, comics, and poems that have been recognized with Lammys.
Published on June 16, 2023
Reluctant Immortals
Gwendolyn Kiste2023 BISEXUAL FICTION WINNER: Kiste (author of the Bram Stoker-winning “The Rust Maidens”) plucks two women from classic Gothic tales — Lucy of “Dracula” and Bee of “Jane Eyre” — and reimagines them as immortals living in 1960s California. Lucy and Bee’s already bizarre lives are upended by the return of Dracula and Mr. Rochester during the Summer of Love, and the two women are bent on getting redemption.
Some Integrity
Padraig Regan2023 GAY POETRY WINNER: Regan’s poetry collection examines what it means to exist in a queer body in a world that doesn’t always make space for certain identities. The poems are philosophical yet approachable and endlessly evocative. Food, visual art, and nature play prominent roles throughout Regan’s explorations.
Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes
Nicky Beer2023 BISEXUAL POETRY WINNER: Poet Beer uses pop culture references to ponder questions about authenticity and vulnerability. What false personas do we present to the world, and what lies do we willingly believe about others? As the poet paints vivid images of drag performers at Dollywood, magicians on stage, and Batman battling inner demons, she unravels ideas about sexuality, grief, and the dismissal and dehumanization of women.
MissSettl
Kamden Ishmael Hilliard2023 TRANSGENDER POETRY WINNER: This debut is mischievous and playful, often funny, and sometimes angry. Toying with typography and deconstructing syntax, Hilliard’s work raises a multi-pronged question: How have American ideals, norms, and culture limited our ability to love ourselves and others, live authentically, and experience empathy?
High-Risk Homosexual: A Memoir
Edgar Gomez2023 GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY WINNER: Gomez, a Nicaraguan American and Floridian, retraces his coming-of-age in an environment where heteronormativity and machismo prevailed. His awakening began in queer-friendly spaces, including the Pulse Nightclub pre-2016, where the author slowly learned to live joyfully as his true self. Gomez’s memoir is intersectional, sharp, and compassionate.
OutWrite: The Speeches That Shaped LGBTQ Literary Culture
Julie R. Enszer2023 LGBTQ+ ANTHOLOGY WINNER: OutWrite was a queer literary conference that ran throughout the 1990s. Not only did OutWrite help shape queer arts culture, but it was also instrumental in making the LGBTQ+ movement more intersectional. This collection contains some of the pivotal speeches and performances from OutWrite, which remain relevant today.
Nikhil Out Loud
Maulik Pancholy2023 LGBTQ+ MIDDLE GRADE WINNER: Nikhil, a 13-year-old gay Indian American boy, is an award-winning voice actor in a fan-favorite animated series. His life is upended when his family relocates from L.A. to Ohio, but Nikhil quickly builds a supportive friend group of theater kids who have his back when homophobia rears its ugly head. Pancholy’s middle grade novel (which mirrors some aspects from his own youth) is an empowering story about community and belonging.
The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School
Sonora Reyes2023 LGBTQ+ YOUNG ADULT WINNER: Reyes’ touching story of coming into one’s own follows Yamilet “Yami” Flores, a Mexican American teenager recently enrolled in a predominantly white Catholic school. Still reeling from being outed by her ex-best friend, Yami keeps her sexuality a secret from her new peers — and her mother. But her resolve wavers after meeting Bo, a pretty, smart, and openly gay classmate. “The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School” teaches us how to embrace our truth and celebrate our identities.
Mamo #1
Sas Milledge2023 LGBTQ+ COMICS WINNER: After the death of her grandmother Mamo, the witch of Haresden, young Orla O’Reilly must rely on her magical heritage to break away from Mamo’s powerful influence and save the town from a series of catastrophes. Part one of Milledge’s series is whimsical and full of lessons on legacy and determination. Lush, mesmerizing illustrations only make this graphic novel more engaging.
Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land) & Antigone: 方
Ho Ka Kei (Jeff Ho)2023 LGBTQ+ DRAMA WINNER: Ho (“trace”) reimagines two classic Greek dramas, Euripides’ “Iphigenia in Tauris” and Sophocles’ “Antigone,” now with modern settings (and starring people of color). These stories shine a light on timeless issues like colonialism and hate while remaining funny and playful.
Kiss Her Once for Me: A Novel
Alison Cochrun2023 LGBTQ+ ROMANCE & EROTICA WINNER: Down-on-her-luck Ellie agrees to a fauxmance with her bookstore’s landlord, Andrew. He’ll get his inheritance, she’ll get a cut — it’s the perfect ruse to help them both. Everything’s going according to plan until a mysterious fling from Ellie’s past shows up and turns out to be none other than Andrew’s sister. This is forced proximity done right in a messy and sweet holiday rom-com that puts a sapphic spin on “While You Were Sleeping.”
Dirt Creek: A Novel
Hayley Scrivenor2023 LGBTQ+ MYSTERY WINNER: Scrivenor debuts with a crime mystery set in small town Australia. When a pre-teen girl vanishes, residents of Durton worry, grieve, speculate, and point fingers. Sergeant Sarah Michaels works the case, combing through last sightings and navigating tight-lipped neighbors, while dealing with a messy breakup with her girlfriend. “Dirt Creek” is a stifling scorcher of a read — due to descriptions of the Aussie heat and the racketing tension.
The Wicked and the Willing: An F/F Gothic Horror Vampire Novel
Lianyu Tan2023 LGBTQ+ SPECULATIVE FICTION WINNER: An unbalanced love triangle develops between a formidable vampire and her two women servants in colonial Singapore. Gothic vibes, mature themes, and sapphic steam — what more could we want? The ability to choose our preferred ending, of course. Tan delivers two conclusions to this dark romance, and they’re both page turners.
Borealis
Aisha Sabatini Sloan2022 BISEXUAL NONFICTION WINNER: Sloan’s essay is part of Coffee House Press’ “Spatial Species” series, which explores the connection between place and identity. In “Borealis,” the author reflects on being a Black, queer woman living in a small, conservative town in Alaska during the Trump administration.
Last Days
Tamiko Beyer2022 LESBIAN POETRY WINNER: “Last Days” is a poetic exploration of disconnect and inequality, reflecting on the coronavirus pandemic, racial tensions, sexuality, politics, and more. Though the topics are heavy, Beyer writes in a hopeful and empowering tone. This Lammy-winner teaches us how we’ve all contributed to current divides while also inspiring us to be part of the solution.
The One You Want to Marry (And Other Identities I've Had): A Memoir
Sophie Santos2022 LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY WINNER: Santos chronicles coming of age when she had zero idea of who she really was — fueled partly by her transient Army brat existence and partly by her unrealized sexual identity. From pageant queen to theater nerd, the comedian embodied many roles before finally getting real with herself. This funny, courageous, and relatable millennial memoir shines with self-acceptance and authenticity.
Punch Me Up To The Gods: A Memoir
Brian Broome2022 GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY WINNER: A moving personal history of growing up Black and gay in rural Ohio. Framing his life story around the Gwendolyn Brooks poem “We Real Cool,” Broome brilliantly calls out destructive stereotypes about masculinity. A heartrending, intimate look at an outsider's search for a space to be his authentic self.
The Headmistress
Milena McKay2022 LESBIAN ROMANCE WINNER: Sam lets off steam built up from working at the staunchly heteronormative Three Dragons Academy by having a one night stand with a mysterious woman named Magdalene Nox. But awkwardness ensues when Magdalene is appointed as the new headmistress of Three Dragons. McKay’s novel unites romance and mystery with themes of identity and bigotry adding even more depth.
Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought
Briona Simone Jones2022 LGBTQ ANTHOLOGY WINNER: “Mouths of Rain” shines a light on the contributions Black lesbians have made over the last century — in literature, politics, activism, and more. It also includes affecting personal narratives on the Black lesbian experience, from coming out to modern feminism’s exclusion of the Black female voice.
The Savage Kind: A Mystery
John Copenhaver2022 LGBTQ MYSTERY WINNER: Teenagers Philippa and Judy bond over crime fiction in 1940s D.C., and they put their knowledge of detective work to use when a classmate’s body is found in a river. Told in diary entries written by the girls, “The Savage Kind” is darkly tense with many twists and turns to keep you on your toes. A blossoming romance between Philippa and Judy is just the icing on the cake.
No Gods, No Monsters: A Novel
Cadwell Turnbull2022 LGBTQ SPECULATIVE FICTION WINNER: The first novel in the “Convergence Saga” opens with what seems to be another instance of police brutality when a man is shot by an officer. But a video of the incident reveals a shocking truth: The man was a werewolf. Soon, creatures everywhere are coming out of the shadows, and the world is thrown into conflict about their right to exist peacefully. Turnbull uses multiple storylines, both human and monster, to offer social commentary on hate, prejudice, and standing up for what you believe.
Vice Patrol: Cops, Courts, and the Struggle over Urban Gay Life before Stonewall
Anna Lvovsky2022 LGBTQ STUDIES WINNER: Lvovsky’s adeptly researched history opens readers’ eyes to the antigay police practices that were rampant in America from the 1930s until the Stonewall Riots in 1969, including invasion of privacy and violent arrests. “Vice Patrol” is essential reading for a comprehensive history of gay rights plus valuable context for the modern queer experience.
Fiebre Tropical: A Novel
Julián Delgado Lopera2021 LESBIAN FICTION WINNER: Steeped in Colombian culture, this coming-of-age story about Francisca, a young girl in Miami who’s falling in love with a pastor’s daughter, is a linguistic masterpiece. Francisca’s voice is pure fire, and we’re all lucky to bask in its beautiful multilingual flow.
Neotenica
Joon Oluchi Lee2021 GAY FICTION WINNER: Everything is not quite as you would expect in “Neotenica,” where the gender and the story structure are super fluid, and the climax never comes when you expect. “I wanted to be sure to not give Young Ae a first person narrative, because she is the pivot of the whole thing, and I felt like the reader should not have all access to her. As a third person narrator, I want to get up really close to the subject, like a gnat, as close as possible, but then to be repelled or rejected by the character herself — to be told off by her, to be slapped away by her — is an important part of the ethics of creating a fictional character,” author Lee told Lambda Literary about the novella’s central character.
You Exist Too Much: A Novel
Zaina Arafat2021 BISEXUAL FICTION WINNER: When the narrator, a Palestinian American teenager living in Bethlehem, comes out to her mother as queer, her mother responds with the titular “You exist too much.” This is one of many poignant scenes in Arafat’s beautiful debut novel that deals with identity (cultural, religious, and sexual) and how hard it can be to grow up no matter your circumstances.
The Thirty Names of Night: A Novel
Zeyn Joukhadar2021 TRANSGENDER FICTION WINNER: Let your heart take flight with this gorgeous tale about two artists whose lives intertwine despite the decades dividing them. Haunted by the tragic death of his ornithologist mother, a young Syrian American trans man paints murals of birds across New York City in her memory. When he discovers the journal of Laila Z, a bird artist who disappeared mysteriously decades ago, her story sends him on a quest for a rare bird and opens his eyes to the rich hidden history of the queer and trans people in his community.
The Black Trans Prayer Book
Dane Figueroa Edidi2021 TRANSGENDER NONFICTION WINNER: “The Black Trans Prayer Book” stands up to modern narratives we have about Black transgender people and their place in religious communities. “We understand that the divinity of trans people is linked to an ancient legacy found in indigenous populations around the globe. Pre-colonization, these were incredible societies where trans people were holders of spiritual power and prominence,” Edidi, one of the editors of this compilation, told Blavity. This interfaith collection shows the abounding spirituality of the Black trans and nonbinary community.
The Lonely Letters
Ashon T. Crawley2021 LGBTQ NONFICTION WINNER: In a series of letters from “A” (a designation for author Crawley) to a recipient known only as “Moth,” A writes about joy, loneliness, community, and more from a Black queer perspective in a heteronormative world. Moving between reflections, celebrations, and analyses, the letters read like hymns, which is fitting since A often draws on his Pentecostal upbringing (a bittersweet subject for the author). An intimate, moving work of critical theory.
Funeral Diva
Pamela Sneed2021 LESBIAN POETRY WINNER: Prose essays combine with more traditional poems in this memoir of growing up gay in 1980s NYC and eulogy to those who have been lost to two devastating pandemics, HIV/AIDS and COVID-19. An eye-opening and heartbreaking ode to resilience.
My Autobiography of Carson McCullers: A Memoir
Jenn Shapland2021 LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY WINNER: Why do stories of women loving women always get swept under the rug? That’s the central uncovering in Shapland’s work that’s simultaneously a memoir of her own coming out, and a biography of the writer Carson McCullers, who wondered if she was a lesbian during her later life. Sharp writing brings these two stories together seamlessly.
Written in the Stars: A Novel
Alexandria Bellefleur2021 LESBIAN ROMANCE WINNER: A queer rom-com for lovers of astrology, Jane Austen, and fanfiction. There are subtle subversions of the fake dating trope in “Written in the Stars” and plenty of cute (and sexy) moments that will keep you rooting for Darcy and Elle to overcome their differences and hangups.
Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction
Joshua Whitehead2021 LGBTQ ANTHOLOGY WINNER: Joshua Whitehead (author of “Jonny Apppleseed,” which previously won a Lambda Award) curated this anthology of speculative fiction from members of the two-spirit and queer Indigenous community. There’s a wealth of imagination and a generosity of spirit throughout the stories that provide views of better futures.
King and the Dragonflies
Kacen Callender2021 LGBTQ CHILDREN’S/MIDDLE GRADE WINNER: A bittersweet YA story about a Black boy in Louisiana grappling with the backlash to the possibility that he’s gay, the shame at outing his friend, and the grief of losing his brother. The beauty of the bayou is lyrically rendered with a touch of magical realism, as King wonders if his brother didn’t die, but instead was turned into a dragonfly.
Apsara Engine
Bishakh Som2021 LGBTQ COMICS WINNER: “Apsara Engine” is a collection featuring short comics of speculative fiction through a South Asian lens. Author and illustrator Som is unafraid to move fluidly between artistic styles, narrative techniques, and sensitive topics. The stories explore trans and nonbinary life, future possibilities, and breaking conventions, and they each test the limits of our imaginations.
I Hope You're Listening
Tom Ryan2021 LGBTQ MYSTERY WINNER: Dee has been carrying around a large amount of guilt for the past decade: Her best friend, Sibby, was kidnapped while they were playing together. Sibby’s case remains unsolved, and now, Dee anonymously hosts a true-crime missing-persons podcast under the moniker the Seeker to assuage her troubled mind. When another child in her community is kidnapped, she is determined to do all she can to help. A gripping YA mystery exploring the issues around modern media practices.
Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel: Stories
Julian K. Jarboe2021 LGBTQ SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR WINNER: Wonderful weirdness is the best way to describe this collection of stories that include body horror, speculative and science fiction, and surrealism. The protagonists are mostly queer, but Jarboe’s characterizations are nuanced, intersectional, and layered — making their sexual and gender identities relevant but not one-dimensional. Stories range from short poetry to long(er) prose, with the title story following a group of fringe dwellers who relocate to the moon.
Becoming Human: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World
Zakiyyah Iman Jackson2021 LGBTQ STUDIES WINNER: “Becoming Human” looks at how Western culture viewed Black people as subhuman throughout its history, and how works from Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde, Octavia Butler, and many more have worked to counteract these harmful images. It’s a fascinating and thorough examination of these ideas from author Jackson, who’s an English professor at the University of Southern California.