All 26 book covers of the 2026 Lammy Awards
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2026 Winners

Congratulations 2026 Lammy Award Winners

On Friday, June 12, 2026 we returned to Sony Hall to announce the winners of the 38th Annual Lambda Literary Awards. It was a beautiful night in community with authors, poets, sponsors and friends. These winners were selected by a panel of 80 literary professionals from more than 1,300 book submissions from over 300 publishers.

View the Bookshop.org List of Finalists
Previous Winners and Finalists

Alongside the 26 Lammys categories, special prizes honorees received their certificates, and we announced Chuck Forester as the final honoree for Lambda Literary’s Visionary Award. The award has also been renamed the Chuck Forester Queer Visionary Award.

A recording of the full ceremony will be provided on Lambda’s YouTube channel soon. In the meantime, you can pick up any of the winning books you haven’t read on our curated list at Bookshop.org, where your purchases benefit Lambda Literary.

Thank you to our sponsors Simon & Schuster, Bookshop.org, Penguin Random House, Hachette, Macmillan, BookSwell, Chronicle Books, and Ted Cornwell.

 

Lesbian Fiction

Cover of Hungerstone by Kat Dunn. A pale woman with light hair draped over a fabric surface on her back with her arms stretched out over her head.

HUNGERSTONE

Kat Dunn

Zando

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Gay Fiction

NOVA SCOTIA HOUSE

Charlie Porter

Nightboat Books

 
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Bisexual Fiction

Cover of Sympathy for Wild Girls by Demree McGhee. The title is in a block of pink at the top; there is a figure sprawled out comfortably on the ground with brown skin who has the head of a fox.

SYMPATHY FOR WILD GIRLS

Demree McGhee

The Feminist Press

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Transgender Fiction

THE LILAC PEOPLE: A NOVEL

Milo Todd

Counterpoint Press

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Bisexual Nonfiction

Cover of Reading the Waves by Lidia Yuknavitch. Pale blue background with the outline of a figure coming out of water. The outline is filled in with handwriting.

READING THE WAVES

Lidia Yuknavitch

Riverhead Books

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Transgender Nonfiction

CLEAVAGE: MEN, WOMEN, AND THE SPACE BETWEEN US

Jennifer Finney Boylan

Celadon Books, an imprint of Macmillan Publishers

 

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LGBTQ+ Nonfiction

GUEST PRIVILEGES: QUEER LIVES AND FINDING HOME IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Gaar Adams

Dzanc Books

 
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LGBTQ+ Poetry

YEET!

YEET!

jason b crawford

Omnidawn Publishing

 

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Lesbian Poetry

Cover of pleasureis amiracle by Bianca Rae Messinger. Pink background with a black and white historical print of people in 1800s garb with an explosion happening.

PLEASUREIS AMIRACLE

Bianca Rae Messinger

Nightboat Books

 

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Gay Poetry

Cover of It Was Never Supposed to Be by Ben Kline. Blue with an outline of a mustachio'd figure wearing an open back dress holding a hand.

IT WAS NEVER SUPPOSED TO BE

Ben Kline

Variant Literature

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Bisexual Poetry

THE GARBAGE POEMS

Anna Swanson, illustrated by April White

Brick Books

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Transgender Poetry

Cover of

ALGARABÍA – THE SONG OF CENEX, NATURAL SON OF THE ISLE ALARABÍYYA

 Roque Raquel Salas Rivera

Graywolf Press

 

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Lesbian Memoir/Biography

Cover of Black Panther Woman by Mary Frances Phillips. A black and white image of a woman of color with an afro whose eyes are squeezed shut and mouth is open in joyous laughter.

BLACK PANTHER WOMAN: THE POLITICAL AND SPIRITUAL LIFE OF ERICKA HUGGINS

Mary Frances Phillips and Charlene A. Carruthers (foreword)

New York University Press

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Gay Memoir/Biography

Cover of Take My Name but Say it Slow by Thomas Dai. A black and white image of what appears to be an abandoned hallway.

TAKE MY NAME BUT SAY IT SLOW: ESSAYS

Thomas Dai

W.W. Norton

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Lesbian Romance

Cover of Ladies in Hating by Alexandra Vasti. Pink with two figures gazing at each other in a walled rose garden. One is climbing out and one is at the top of the wall.

LADIES IN HATING

Alexandra Vasti

St. Martin’s Griffin

 

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Gay Romance

Cover of A Mannequin for Christmas by Timothy Janovsky. Pink with a two story house decorated for Christmas. A white appearing figure with short hair stands outside holding a white appearing mannequin with short hair and a suit.

A MANNEQUIN FOR CHRISTMAS: A NOVEL

Timothy Janovsky

St. Martin’s Griffin

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LGBTQ+ Anthology

Cover of Queer Lens edited by Paul Martineau and Ryan Linkof. A black and white image of figures in a march holding up a big flag with the two male symbols interlinked and the two female symbols interlinked.

QUEER LENS: A HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Edited by Paul Martineau and Ryan Linkof

J. Paul Getty Museum

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LGBTQ+ Children's Books

Cover of Jim! by Jerrold Connors. Black with a cartoon image of a white appearing person with a beard and a big smile. There are cartoon animals, stars, and flowers.

JIM! SIX TRUE STORIES ABOUT ONE GREAT ARTIST: JAMES MARSHALL

Jerrold Connors

Dial Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers

 

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LGBTQ+ Middle Grade

Cover of Glitch Girl! by Rainie Oet. An illustration of a short haired person with many different images overlaid, like a computer mouse, a fencing sword, a pendant, a small fire, and hand holding.

GLITCH GIRL!

Rainie Oet

Penguin Young Readers

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LGBTQ+ Young Adult

Cover of Come Home to My Heart by Riley Redgate. Illustrated image of two figures with longer hair sitting next to each other facing away with a superimposed window.

COME HOME TO MY HEART

Riley Redgate

Union Square & Co.

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LGBTQ+ Comics

GAYSIANS

Mike Curato

Algonquin Books

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LGBTQ+ Drama

Cover of Ain't No Mo' by Jordan E. Cooper. Red with an illustrated head of a person of color with pink hair and big sunglasses.

Ain’t No Mo’

Jordan E. Cooper

Theatre Communications Group

 

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LGBTQ+ Romance and Erotica

A GENTLEMAN’S GENTLEMAN

TJ Alexander

Vintage Books

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LGBTQ+ Mystery

A QUEER CASE

Robert Holtom

Titan Books

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LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction

BEINGS

Ilana Masad

Bloomsbury Publishing

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LGBTQ+ Studies

QUEER LASTING: ECOLOGIES OF CARE FOR A DYING WORLD

Sarah Ensor

New York University Press

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