Here are the finalists for the 2020 Lambda Literary Awards!
For the past 32 years, the Lambda Literary Awards have been championing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender writers. Past recipients of these awards include Audre Lorde, Alison Bechdel, Roxane Gay, and Michael Cunningham. This year’s award ceremony will be held on June 8th at NYU’s Skirball Center. Congratulations to all the finalists!
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LESBIAN FICTION
Cantoras, Carolina De Robertis, Knopf
A Generous Spirit: Selected Work by Beth Brant, Janice Gould, Sinister Wisdom & Inanna Publications
Mostly Dead Things, Kristen Arnett, Tin House Books
On Swift Horses, Shannon Pufahl, Riverhead Books
Patsy, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Liveright Publishing
A People’s History of Heaven, Mathangi Subramanian, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Red at the Bone, Jacqueline Woodson, Riverhead Books
Stay and Fight, Madeline ffitch, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
GAY FICTION
Animalia, Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, translated by Frank Wynne, Grove Press
The Archive of Alternate Endings, Lindsey Drager, Dzanc Books
In West Mills, De’Shawn Charles Winslow, Bloomsbury Publishing
Like This Afternoon Forever, Jaime Manrique, Kaylie Jones Books
Lord, João Gilberto Noll, translated by Edgar Garbelotto, Two Lines Press
Lot, Bryan Washington, Riverhead Books
Murmur, Will Eaves, Bellevue Literary Press
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Ocean Vuong, Penguin Press
BISEXUAL FICTION
Big Familia, Tomas Moniz, Acre Books
Deposing Nathan, Zack Smedley, Page Street
Exquisite Mariposa, Fiona Alison Duncan, Soft Skull Press
Jude, Garrett Leigh, Fox Love Press
Just Pervs, Jess Taylor, Book*hug Press
The Man Who Saw Everything, Deborah Levy, Bloomsbury Publishing
The Not Wives, Carley Moore, The Feminist Press
The Remainder, Alia Trabucco Zerán, translated by Sophie Hughes, Coffee House Press
TRANSGENDER FICTION
The Beatrix Gates, Rachel Pollack, PM Press
Honey Walls, Bones McKay, McKay & Gray Publications
Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian), Hazel Jane Plante, Metonymy Press
Poet, Prophet, Fox: The Tale of Sinnach the Seer, M.Z. McDonnell, Self-published
The Trans Space Octopus Congregation, Bogi Takács, Lethe Press
BISEXUAL NONFICTION
IMPERVIOUS: Confessions of a Semi-Retired Deviant, Janet W. Hardy, SinCyr Publishing
Socialist Realism, Trisha Low, Coffee House Press
A World Without Martha: A Memoir of Sisters, Disability, and Difference, Victoria Freeman, UBC Press
TRANSGENDER NONFICTION
Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States, Samantha Allen, Little, Brown and Company
Theorizing Transgender Identity for Clinical Practice: A New Model for Understanding Gender, S.J. Langer, Jessica Kingsley Publishers
Time Is the Thing A Body Moves Through, T Fleischmann, Coffee House Press
We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan, Ellis Martin and Zach Ozma, Nightboat Books
LGBTQ NONFICTION
Bloodflowers: Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Photography, and the 1980s, W. Ian Bourland, Duke University Press
The Bodies of Others: Drag Dances and Their Afterlives, Selby Wynn Schwartz, University of Michigan Press
Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics, Brett Krutzsch, Oxford University Press
Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women, E. Patrick Johnson, Duke University Press
In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado, Graywolf Press
When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History, Hugh Ryan, St. Martin’s Press
Why Karen Carpenter Matters, Karen Tongson, University of Texas Press
A Year Without a Name, Cyrus Grace Dunham, Little, Brown and Company
LESBIAN POETRY
& more black, t’ai freedom ford, Augury Books
Odes to Lithium, Shira Erlichman, Alice James Books
(the other house), Rocío Carlos, The Accomplices
Pressure Cooker Love Bomb, Sharanpal Ruprai, Frontenac House
Soft Science, Franny Choi, Alice James Books
Time, Etel Adnan, translated by Sarah Riggs, Nightboat Books
tsunami vs. the fukushima 50, Lee Ann Roripaugh, Milkweed Editions
Without Protection, Gala Mukomolova, Coffee House Press
GAY POETRY
Doomstead Days, Brian Teare, Nightboat Books
The Experiment of the Tropics, Lawrence Lacambra Ypil, Gaudy Boy
Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers, Jake Skeets, Milkweed Editions
Losing Miami, Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué, The Accomplices
NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes from the Field, Billy-Ray Belcourt, House of Anansi Press
The Revisionist & The Astropastorals, Douglas Crase, Nightboat Books
SLINGSHOT, Cyrée Jarelle Johnson, Nightboat Books
The Tradition, Jericho Brown, Copper Canyon Press
BISEXUAL POETRY
Build Yourself a Boat, Camonghne Felix, Haymarket Books
HoodWitch, Faylita Hicks, Acre Books
Moira of Edges, Moira the Tart, Moina Pam Dick, Organism for Poetic Research
Pet Sounds, Stephanie Young, Nightboat Books
Revenge of the Asian Woman, Dorothy Chan, Diode Editions
ROMANS/SNOWMARE, Cam Scott, ARP Books
A Sand Book, Ariana Reines, Tin House Books
water/tongue, mai c. doan, Omnidawn
TRANSGENDER POETRY
Dispatch, Cameron Awkward-Rich, Persea Books
EXTRATRANSMISSION, Andrea Abi-Karam, Kelsey Street Press
HULL, Xandria Phillips, Nightboat Books
Our Weather Our Sea, Samuel Ace, Black Radish Books
The Year of Blue Water, Yanyi, Yale University Press
LESBIAN MYSTERY
The Blood Runs Cold, Catherine Maiorisi, Bella Books
Galileo, Ann McMan, Bywater Books
The Hound of Justice, Claire O’Dell, Harper Voyager
The Mirror of Muraro, Amelia Ellis, Newton Pryce Ingram
Twisted at the Root: A Jane Lawless Mystery, Ellen Hart, Minotaur Books
GAY MYSTERY
Carved in Bone: A Henry Rios Novel, Michael Nava, Persigo Press
ChoirMaster: A Mister Puss Mystery, Michael Craft, Questover Press
Death Takes a Bow, David S. Pederson, Bold Strokes Books
The Fourth Courier, Timothy Jay Smith, Arcade Publishing
The Nowhere, Chris Gill, PRNTD Publishing
The Quaker, Liam McIlvanney, Europa Editions/World Noir
Rewind, Marshall Thornton, Kenmore Books
Royal Street Reveillon, Greg Herren, Bold Strokes Books
LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls, T Kira Madden, Bloomsbury Publishing
Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing, Elissa Altman, Ballantine Books
Ordinary Girls, Jaquira Díaz, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
The Rib Joint: A Memoir In Essays, Julia Koets, Red Hen Press
Sontag: Her Life and Work, Benjamin Moser, Ecco
Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval, Saidiya Hartman, W. W. Norton & Company
We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir, Samra Habib, Viking Canada
A Wild and Precious Life, Edie Windsor with Joshua Lyon, St. Martin’s Press
GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
The Amphitheater of the Dead, Guy Hocquenghem, translated by Max Fox, Guillotine
DISASTERAMA! Adventures in the Queer Underground 1977-1997, Alvin Orloff, Three Rooms Press
How We Fight for Our Lives, Saeed Jones, Simon & Schuster
I.M., Isaac Mizrahi, Flatiron Books
In the Shadow of the Bridge, Joseph Caldwell, Delphinium Books
Indefinite Sentence: A Personal History of Outlawed Love and Sex, Siddharth Dube, Atria Books
Jimmy Neurosis, James Oseland, Ecco
The Light Years, Chris Rush, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
LESBIAN ROMANCE
Aurora’s Angel: A Dark Fantasy Romance, Emily Noon, Bluefire Books
Create a Life to Love, Erin Zak, Bold Strokes Books
Once Ghosted, Twice Shy, Alyssa Cole, Avon Impulse
Pretending in Paradise, M. Ullrich, Bold Strokes Books
The Roommate Arrangement, Jae, Ylva Publishing
The Secret Chord, Virginia Hale, Bella Books
Tennessee Whiskey, Donna K. Ford, Bold Strokes Books
Top of Her Game, M. Ullrich, Bold Strokes Books
GAY ROMANCE
Best Man, Chris Delyani, Self-published
Blue Umbrella Sky, Rick R. Reed, Dreamspinner Press
Code Name: Liberty, Marshall Thornton, Kenmore Books
Digging Deep, Jay Hogan, Dreamspinner Press
Escaping Camp Roosevelt, Bryan T. Clark, Cornbread Publishing
Joseph Chapman: My Molly Life, James Lovejoy, Self-published
Kiss Me Again, Garrett Leigh, Fox Love Press
My Baby Chased Away the Blues, R.A. Thorn, NineStar Press
LGBTQ ANTHOLOGY
The BreakBeat Poets Volume 3: Halal if You Hear Me, Fatimah Asghar and Safia Elhillo, Haymarket Books
Foglifter Volume 4 Issue 2, Luiza Flynn-Goodlett, Foglifter Press
The Heart of the Matter: The Gerald Kraak Anthology Volume III, The Other Foundation, Jacana Media
Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers’ Poetry, Amber Dawn and Justin Ducharme, Arsenal Pulp Press
LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia, Jeff Mann and Julia Watts, West Virginia University Press
Love WITH Accountability: Digging up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse, Aishah Shahidah Simmons, AK Press
Nonbinary: Memoirs of Gender and Identity, Micah Rajunov and Scott Duane, Columbia University Press
A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts from the First Century to 1969, Noam Sienna, Print-O-Craft
LGBTQ CHILDREN’S/YOUNG ADULT
All the Things We Do in the Dark, Saundra Mitchell, HarperTeen
The Grief Keeper, Alexandra Villasante, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Hazel’s Theory of Evolution, Lisa Jenn Bigelow, HarperCollins
Hurricane Season, Nicole Melleby, Algonquin Young Readers
The Meaning of Birds, Jaye Robin Brown, HarperTeen
Pet, Akwaeke Emezi, Make Me a World
Pride Colors, Robin Stevenson, Orca Book Publishers
Wilder Girls, Rory Power, Delacorte Press
LGBTQ COMICS
Are You Listening?, Tillie Walden, First Second
Cannonball, Kelsey Wroten, Uncivilized Books
Death Threat, Vivek Shraya, illustrated by Ness Lee, Arsenal Pulp Press
Is This How You See Me?, Jaime Hernandez, Fantagraphics Books
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me, Mariko Tamaki, illustrated by Rosemary Valero O’Connell, First Second
LGBTQ DRAMA
The Amateurs, Jordan Harrison, Samuel French, Inc.
Dr. Ride’s American Beach House, Liza Birkenmeier, produced by Ars Nova
A Strange Loop, Michael R. Jackson, produced by Playwrights Horizons
LGBTQ EROTICA
Lord of the Senses, Vikram Kolmannskog, Team Angelica Publishing
Lot’s Wife: An Erotic Novella, Rosalind Chase, Under Hill Press
The Shape of the Earth, Gary Garth McCann, Bold Strokes Books
Texas Crude, Thomas Kearnes, Lethe Press
Whore Foods, LA Warman, Inpatient Press
LGBTQ SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY/HORROR
Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James, Riverhead Books
The Deep, Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes, Gallery / Saga Press
False Bingo, Jac Jemc, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
The Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon, Bloomsbury Publishing
The Rampant, Julie C. Day, Aqueduct Press
A Spectral Hue, Craig Laurance Gidney, Word Horde
Stories to Sing in the Dark, Matthew Bright, Lethe Press
Wake, Siren, Nina MacLaughlin, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
LGBTQ STUDIES
All Our Trials: Prisons, Policing, and the Feminist Fight to End Violence, Emily L. Thuma, University of Illinois Press
Archiving an Epidemic: Art, AIDS, and the Queer Chicanx Avant-Garde, Robb Hernández, New York University Press
Beside You in Time: Sense Methods and Queer Sociabilities in the American Nineteenth Century, Elizabeth Freeman, Duke University Press
Queer Times, Black Futures, Kara Keeling, New York University Press
Queering Black Atlantic Religions: Transcorporeality in Candomblé, Santería and Vodou, Roberto Strongman, Duke University Press
Reading Sideways: The Queer Politics of Art in Modern American Fiction, Dana Seitler, Fordham University Press
Scorpio Rising: A Queer Film Classic, R.L. Cagle, Arsenal Pulp Press
Trans Exploits: Trans of Color Cultures and Technologies in Movement, Jian Neo Chen, Duke University Press
[via O, The Oprah Magazine]
