For the 34th year in a row, Lambda Literary held its awards ceremony to celebrate LGBTQ literature. Lambda Literary is an organization that advocates for LGBTQ writers and uplifts the community by honoring lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer literature of all genres. It works to ensure that LGBTQ stories are given visibility and remain a part of the national literary conversation.
At a time when LGBTQ works are being banned from schools and libraries, this year’s event, held during Pride Month, is as important as ever in identifying and celebrating the best of the best books released by LGBTQ writers.
Winners of the Lambda Literary Awards were announced on the evening of Saturday, June 11 in a live virtual ceremony. Learn more about the winning books below:
BISEXUAL FICTION
We Want What We Want by Alix Ohlin (House Anansi Press)
This collection of 13 darkly funny short stories is an exploration of family dynamics, women’s desires, obsession and grief in the 21st century. Each story follows everyday characters that test the boundaries of their lives and find that things don’t always go as planned.
BISEXUAL NONFICTION
Borealis by Aisha Sabatini Sloan (Coffee House Press)
Sloan documents her movements through the glaciers and the outdoors of Alaska. She considers her queerness in connection to an Alaskan town, and the meaning of her Blackness while traveling through open space. This is the first book of the Spatial Species series that explores the ways we use language to activate space.
BISEXUAL POETRY
Gumbo Ya Ya by Aurielle Marie (University of Pittsburgh Press)
The poems in this debut explore the lives of Black gxrls in the contemporary South. They investigate race, gender, desire and violence while discussing justice and Black resistance. Part familial archives with cultural commentary, this work echoes with a tender yet sharp poetic voice.
GAY FICTION
100 Boyfriends by Brontez Purnell (MCD x FSG Originals)
Men search for a place to belong when they are Black, broke and queer. Ideas of gay dysfunction, the temptation to self-sabotage, and intimacy that leads to loneliness make for an honest look at imperfection in everyday queer life.
GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir by Brian Broome (Mariner Books)
A vulnerable look at growing up as a dark-skinned Black boy in Ohio harboring crushes on other boys. Addiction, masculinity and sex play a role in coping with being an outsider in this coming-of-age ode to Black boyhood.
GAY POETRY
Punks: New & Selected Poems by John Keene (The Song Cave)
Decades span the seven sections of this collection, covering issues of loss, lust and love. A cast of voices contributes to these narratives of desire, oppression and AIDS — from historic Black personalities to the poet’s friends and lovers in gay bars and bedrooms.
GAY ROMANCE
Excellent Sons: A Love Story in Three Acts by Larry Benjamin (Beaten Track Publishing)
Two Asian-American high school students fall in love in post-Columbine America. They must balance the discovery of their identities, being good sons, and their desires for independence. Both a contemporary gay romance and an erotic retelling of a classic fairytale, this novel examines the relationship between children and parents, and the trials of young love.
LESBIAN FICTION
Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie (Random House)
A decade after selling her eggs for cash, Skye is approached by a 12-year-old saying that she is Skye’s egg. To complicate matters, Skye had recently tried to hit on the girl’s aunt, and was unsuccessful. The novel is a portrait of Skye’s complexities as she tries to form a relationship with the girl, and revitalize a number of relationships she had been neglecting.
LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
The One You Want to Marry (And Other Identities I’ve Had): A Memoir by Sophie Santos (TOPPLE Books)
While moving around the country, Sophie Santos tried to fit into every group, transforming from a tomboy misfit into a beauty pageant contestant — but never feeling like her true self until watching lesbian YouTube clips. Both cringeworthy and hilarious, this memoir is about finding your voice while coming of age.
LESBIAN POETRY
Last Days by Tamiko Beyer (Alice James Books)
These poems are a reaction to our current political and environmental crises, and call for us to conjure a new world. Issues of white supremacy, capitalism and heteropatriarchy have gotten us where we are, and we must find a way to abandon them in favor of a more compassionate future.
LESBIAN ROMANCE
The Headmistress by Milena McKay (self-published)
A steamy night with a mysterious woman is unforgettable, especially when she shows up as the headmistress at the Thee Dragons academy where Sam Threadneedle teaches. Torn between loyalty to the institution and attraction to the new headmistress, Sam must try to save the school from bankruptcy in this opposites-attract romance.
LGBTQ ANTHOLOGY
Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought, Edited by Briona Simone Jones (The New Press)
This anthology traces feminist theory, activism and writing produced by Black Lesbian writers across the 19th and 21st centuries. It explores relationships between Black Lesbians, and the way lesbianism disrupts and critiques capitalism, heterosexism and heteropatriarchy. Pervasive issues of misogynoir and anti-blackness are addressed in conversations of love, romance, coming out and the erotic.
LGBTQ CHILDREN’S/MIDDLE GRADE
Calvin by JR and Vanessa Ford (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers)
A transgender boy prepares for his first day of school by shopping for swim trunks, getting a haircut, and finally telling his family and friends that he is a boy and his name is Calvin. This heartwarming picture book promotes kindness and empathy, giving a message of inclusivity for back-to-school time.
LGBTQ COMICS
Stone Fruit by Lee Lai (Fantagraphics Books)
Familial tensions and personal challenges come to the surface for a queer couple whose playdates with their niece are oases of fun. Both joyful and heartbreaking, this blue-hued watercolor comic exposes the difficulty of being vulnerable to your loved ones and the fulfillment of being understood.
LGBTQ DRAMA
Mrs. Harrison by R. Eric Thomas (TRW Plays)
This drama connects two women, Holly and Aisha, at their 10-year college reunion, who can’t agree if they have ever met before. When they realize Aisha’s most successful play bears a resemblance to a tragic event in Holly’s life, they must figure out the truth about their pasts.
LGBTQ EROTICA
Big Joe by Samuel R. Delany (Inpatient Press)
A vagabond meets two older men at a movie theater, which leads him to get to know a tight-knit community of misfits who live in the trailer park on the outskirts of town. These colorful characters are connected by themes of community, desire and the strangeness of knowing each other.
LGBTQ MYSTERY
The Savage Kind by John Copenhaver (Pegasus Books)
Two teenage girls move from classmates to friends because of their shared love for solving crimes — and a desire for committing them. Teachers grapple with mysterious men in the shadows, a classmate turns up dead in the river, and the girls navigate their feelings for one another while investigating a series of crimes.
LGBTQ NONFICTION
Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
A comprehensive political history of ACT UP and American AIDS activism. It took only six years for ACT UP, a coalition of activists of all races, genders and sexualities, to take on the AIDS crisis and change the world by attacking corporations and governments who stood in the way of AIDS treatments. Based on hundreds of interviews with ACT UP members, this anthology shows how a group of activists created a future for generations of people across the world.
LGBTQ SPECULATIVE FICTION
No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull (Blackstone Publishing)
Myth and legend blend together in this story of a woman whose brother is shot and killed by Boston cops. In this world, monsters are real, and they want everyone to know. These monsters seek safety in visibility, as more people begin disappearing and dying. The center of the mystery is the question: Why are these monsters just now coming out of the dark?
LGBTQ STUDIES
Vice Patrol: Cops, Courts, and the Struggle over Urban Gay Life before Stonewall by Anna Lvovsky (University of Chicago Press)
Gay life in the mid-20th century was characterized by state repression of queer communities. Examined in this book are the tactics used to criminalize, profile and suppress gay life from the 1930s to the 1960s. It also discusses the limits of ethical policing, the authority of experts, and the nature of sexual difference, as well as the role of police power today.
LGBTQ YOUNG ADULT
The Heartbreak Bakery by A. R. Capetta (Candlewick Press)
A teenage baker copes with a breakup by making brownies, which turn out to be magical, making everyone who eats them break up. As the town of Austin is ravaged by queer heartbreak, the baker realizes that magical baking has the power to fix things too.
TRANSGENDER FICTION
Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton (Soho Press)
Gala has questions about a 1960’s band that stopped making music, and never released their rumored album, Summer Fun. A portrait is painted of Gala, a young trans woman, as she writes letters back and forth with the lead singer of the band and discusses creation — of music, identity and culture.
TRANSGENDER NONFICTION
Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness by Da’Shaun Harrison (North Atlantic Books)
Bodies that are fat and Black exist at the margins of society that create the conditions for anti-fatness and anti-Blackness. Fat Black people are subject to sociopolitically sanctioned discrimination, abuse, condescension and trauma. This book discusses desirability politics, the limitiations of gender, the nuances of “health,” and the cultural unlearning of the idea “fat is bad.”
TRANSGENDER POETRY
Crossbones on My Life by Mason J (Nomadic Press)
These poems delve into the author’s first-hand experiences with the HIV pandemic, brown girlhood and sexuality, gender identity, loss of a hometown, and love. Memories of queer people of all varieties and backgrounds are honored in this debut chapbook.
