Lambda Literary is pleased to announce D/ANNIE LIONTAS as the winner of the Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction!
This prize is offere in memory of the beloved activist and author, and honors lesbian/queer-identified women and trans/gender non-conforming nonfiction authors. The award will go to a writer committed to nonfiction work that captures the depth and complexity of lesbian/queer life, culture, and/or history. The winner of the prize will have published at least one book and show promise in continuing to produce groundbreaking and challenging work. The award was introduced in 2018 and includes a cash prize of $2,500.
D/ANNIE LIONTAS
D/ANNIE LIONTAS is the trans-genderqueer author of the memoir Sex with a Brain Injury: On Concussion and Recovery, which won the ALA’s 2025 Stonewall Award for Nonfiction, and the novel Let Me Explain You. Their work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times Book Review, Oprah Daily, and elsewhere. An Associate Professor at George Washington University, Liontas helped secure a Mellon Foundation grant on Disability Justice to bring storytelling to communities in the criminal justice system. They co-host the literary podcast LitFriends and live in Philadelphia with their wife, dog, and Email the rabbit.
Annie Liontas's work is courageous and unflinching, their beautifully crafted writing is filled with insight and humor. Annie digs deep to bring to light much that is overlooked in the genderqueer experience. That they do it with such generosity of spirit and understanding – both toward themselves and others – is refreshing and moving. We are confident that Annie's forthcoming work will continue to challenge and inspire queer readers.
A Word from D/ANNIE LIONTAS
Like many of you, I wake up each morning with the feeling that they’re coming for us. But then I think, they have always come for the queers. And we have always, throughout human history, stood watch all night over the fire. We have always taken care of each other, and we will keep on doing it.
I’ve been joking lately that I’m just going to get gayer. I’m going to make up new pronouns. I’m going to keep going out, dancing with my friends—which we call Church—and I’ll go on gay marrying my loved ones as an ordained minister with the highest of internet credentials, and I’ll watch Queer Ultimatum if I have to, and I will honor the memories of our BIPOC queer and trans ancestors, I will fight for trans youth, and I will keep writing our stories no matter how much they try to silence or censor us. I want to thank Lambda Lit and our community from the bottom of my heart for being on the front lines in this very old, very familiar fight. The Córdova Prize means the world to me, because it reminds me that queer is the future: it has always been the future. I have been thinking a great deal about a quote from Bertolt Brecht, who asks, “And in the dark times, will there be singing? Yes, there will be singing. About the dark times”
I believe in you, and I believe in us, and our survival.
We keep the fires lit till morning.
