2021 Lambda Literary Award Finalists Announced

Author: Brian Gentes

March 15, 2021

Lambda Literary, the nation’s premier LGBTQ literary organization, today announces the finalists of the 33rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards (a.k.a. the “Lammys”).

Created over thirty years ago to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world, the Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature. Since the inception of the Lammys in 1989, more than 3,500 books have been named finalist or winner, an imprimatur that bookstores, libraries, and individuals use to stock their shelves.

Notable in this year’s finalists is the depth and breadth of books for young people, which give LGBTQ youth a sense of belonging and teach those who are not LGBTQ how to respect those who are. Reflecting the increasing availability of and appetite for books featuring LGBTQ characters, Lambda Literary gives awards in two categories for younger readers: LGBTQ Young Adult and LGBTQ Children’s/Middle Grade.

Exemplifying how queer literature is far from monolithic, the Lammys celebrate books across 24 categories, and feature works by debut authors, self-published authors, and writers from both big and small presses.

“By celebrating LGBTQ books, we celebrate LGBTQ life,” said Sue Landers, executive director of Lambda Literary, “and as a community often under threat of legislative and actual violence, the Lammys offer a rare and necessary space where we come together in joy.”

Finalists and winners will be celebrated in a virtual award ceremony on Monday, June 1st, 2021, which will feature a performance by Meshell Ndegeocello, along with other guests including Alan Hollinghurst, Carmen Maria Machado, Torrey Peters, Cyrée Jarelle Johnson, Ryan O’Connell, JP Brammer, and more. The event is open to the public, with a suggested donation of $25. Proceeds benefit Lambda Literary’s educational programs for LGBTQ young people and emerging writers. To reserve your space at the virtual award ceremony or for more information about the finalists, go here.

This year’s finalists were first announced exclusively by the Associated Press. Please join us in celebrating the following authors and their literary accomplishments.

Lesbian Fiction

Bestiary, K-Ming Chang, One World
Butter Honey Pig Bread, Francesca Ekwuyasi, Arsenal Pulp Press
Exile Music, Jennifer Steil, Viking
Fiebre Tropical, Juli Delgado Lopera, Feminist Press
Pizza Girl, Jean Kyoung Frazier, Doubleday

Gay Fiction

Cleanness, Garth Greenwell, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Neotenica, Joon Oluchi Lee, Nightboat Books
Real Life, Brandon Taylor, Riverhead Books
Shuggie Bain, Douglas Stuart, Grove Atlantic
This Town Sleeps, Dennis E. Staples, Counterpoint Press

Bisexual Fiction

Catherine House, Elisabeth Thomas, Custom House
How Much of These Hills Is Gold, C Pam Zhang, Riverhead Books
Silence Is My Mother Tongue, Sulaiman Addonia, Graywolf Press
Take a Hint, Dani Brown, Talia Hibbert, Avon Books
You Exist Too Much, Zaina Arafat, Catapult

Transgender Fiction

Finna, Nino Cipri, Tordotcom Publishing
The Seep, Chana Porter, Soho Press
The Subtweet, Vivek Shraya, ECW Press
The Thirty Names of Night, Zeyn Joukhadar, Atria Books
Trans-Galactic Bike Ride: Feminist Bicycle Science Fiction Stories of Transgender and Nonbinary Adventurers, Lydia Rogue, Microcosm Publishing

Bisexual Nonfiction

Terroir: Love, Out of Place, Natasha Sajé, Trinity University Press
The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia, Emma Copley Eisenberg, Hachette Books
This Is Major: Notes of Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being Dope, Shayla Lawson, Harper Perennial
The Wanting Was a Wilderness: Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and the Art of Memoir, Alden Jones, Fiction Advocate
Wow, No Thank You.: Essays, Samantha Irby, Vintage

Transgender Nonfiction

The Black Trans Prayer Book, J Mase III & Dane Figueroa Edidi, The Black Trans Prayer Book
Fairest: A Memoir, Meredith Talusan, Viking
The Freezer Door, Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Semiotext(e)
Nepantla Squared: Transgender Mestiz@ Histories in Times of Global Shift, L Heidenreich, University of Nebraska Press
Trans Care, Hil Malatino, University of Minnesota Press

LGBTQ Nonfiction

All the Young Men, Ruth Coker Burks, Grove Atlantic
An Excess of Quiet: Selected Sketches by Gustavo Ojeda, 1979–1989, Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué and Erich Kessel Jr., Soberscove Press
Forget Burial: HIV Kinship, Disability, and Queer/Trans Narratives of Care, Marty Fink, Rutgers University Press
The Lexington Six: Lesbian and Gay Resistance in 1970s America, Josephine Donovan, University of Massachusetts Press
The Lonely Letters, Ashon T. Crawley, Duke University Press

Lesbian Poetry

dayliGht, Roya Marsh, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Devil’s Lake, Sarah M. Sala, Tolsun Books
Flèche, Mary Jean Chan, Faber & Faber
Funeral Diva, Pamela Sneed, City Lights Books
: once teeth bones coral :, Kimberly Alidio, Belladonna Collaborative

Gay Poetry

Fantasia for the Man in Blue, Tommye Blount, Four Way Books
Guillotine, Eduardo C. Corral, Graywolf Press
The Malevolent Volume, Justin Phillip Reed, Coffee House Press
Sacrament of Bodies, Romeo Oriogun, University of Nebraska Press
Thanksgiving: A Poem, Ted Rees, Golias Books

Bisexual Poetry

Birthright, George Abraham, Button Poetry
One God at a Time, Meghan Privitello, YesYes Books
Salt Body Shimmer, Aricka Foreman, YesYes Books
sick, Jody Chan, Black Lawrence Press
Wild Peach, S*an D. Henry-Smith, Futurepoem Book

Transgender Poetry

Greyhound, Aeon Ginsberg, Noemi Press
I Love You and I’m Not Dead, Sade LaNay, Argos Books
More Than Organs, Kay Ulanday Barrett, Sibling Rivalry Press
The Nancy Reagan Collection, Maxe Crandall, Futurepoem Books
Theories of Performance, Jay Besemer, The Lettered Streets Press

Lesbian Memoir/Biography

And The Walls Come Crumbling Down, Tania De Rozario, Gaudy Boy
The Change: My Great American, Postindustrial, Midlife Crisis Tour, Lori Soderlind, University of Wisconsin Press
Lady Romeo: The Radical and Revolutionary Life of Charlotte Cushman, America’s First Celebrity, Tana Wojczuk, Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, Jenn Shapland, Tin House Books
Practicing for Love: A Memoir, Nina Kennedy, Dorrance Publishers

Gay Memoir/Biography

A Dutiful Boy: A Memoir of a Gay Muslim’s Journey to Acceptance, Mohsin Zaidi, Square Peg
Here For It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America, R. Eric Thomas, Ballantine Books
A History of My Brief Body, Billy-Ray Belcourt, Two Dollar Radio
The Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James Beard, John Birdsall, W. W. Norton & Company
Officer Clemmons: A Memoir, Dr. François S. Clemmons, Catapult

Lesbian Romance

Finding Jessica Lambert, Clare Ashton, Self-published
Nottingham, Anna Burke, Bywater Books
One More Chance, Ali Vali, Bold Strokes Books
Written in the Stars, Alexandria Bellefleur, Avon Books
Wrong Number, Right Woman, Jae, Ylva Publishing

Gay Romance

Finding Joy, Adriana Herrera, Self-published
Flower of Iowa, Lance Ringel, Distant Mirror Press
The Ghost and Charlie Muir, Felice Stevens, Self-published
Ink and Ice, Erin Colleen McRae & Racheline Maltese, Avian30
Two Rogues Make a Right, Cat Sebastian, Avon Impulse

LGBTQ Anthology

Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement, Ejeris Dixon & Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, AK Press
Glitter + Ashes: Queer Tales of a World That Wouldn’t Die, dave ring, Neon Hemlock Press
Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction, Joshua Whitehead, Arsenal Pulp Press
Non-Binary Lives: An Anthology of Intersecting Identities, Jos Twist, Ben Vincent, Meg-John Barker & Kat Gupta, Jessica Kingsley Publishers
We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics, Andrea Abi-Karam & Kay Gabriel, Nightboat Books

LGBTQ Children’s/Middle Grade

The Deep & Dark Blue, Niki Smith, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
From Archie to Zack, Vincent X. Kirsch, Abrams Books for Young Readers
A High Five for Glenn Burke, Phil Bildner, FSG Books for Young Readers
King and the Dragonflies, Kacen Callender, Scholastic
Our Subway Baby, Peter Mercurio, Dial Books

LGBTQ Young Adult

Camp, L.C. Rosen, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Flamer, Mike Curato, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
The Magic Fish, Trung Le Nguyen, Random House Graphic
Sasha Masha, Agnes Borinsky, FSG Books for Young Readers
You Should See Me in a Crown, Leah Johnson, Scholastic

LGBTQ Comics

Apsara Engine, Bishakh Som, Feminist Press
The Contradictions, Sophie Yanow, Drawn & Quarterly
Everything Is Beautiful, and I’m Not Afraid: A Baopu Collection, Yao Xiao, Andrews McMeel
SFSX (Safe Sex), Vol. 1: Protection, Tina Horn, Laurenn McCubbin, Jen Hickman, Alejandra Gutiérrez, Michael Dowling, Steve Wands, Tula Lotay, Katie Skelly, Chris O’Halloran, Image Comics
Spellbound: A Graphic Memoir, Bishakh Som, Street Noise Books

LGBTQ Drama

Babel, Jacqueline Goldfinger, Unicorn Theatre, Theatre Exile
The Book of Mountains and Seas, Yilong Liu, New Conservatory Theatre Center
F*ck7thGrade, Liza Birkenmeier & Jill Sobule, City Theatre
House Plant, Sarah Einspanier, New York Theatre Workshop
Safe Space, R. Eric Thomas, Single Carrot Theatre

LGBTQ Erotica

Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year, Volume 5, Sinclair Sexsmith, Cleis Press
Femme Tales, Anne Shade, Bold Strokes Books
The Nerves, Lena Suksi, Metatron Press
Smut Peddler Presents: Silver, Andrea Purcell, Iron Circus Comics
Smut Peddlers: Glad Day 50, Kel Hardy, Tianna Henry & MJ Lyons, Self-published