30th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners Announced
Author: Edit Team
June 5, 2018
On Monday, June 4th, Lambda Literary, the nation’s leading organization advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) literature, announced the winners of the 30th Annual Lambda Literary Awards (the “Lammys”). Comedian Kate Clinton hosted the ceremony at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City where attendees, sponsors, and celebrities celebrated thirty years of groundbreaking LGBTQ literature.
Roxane Gay and Edmund White were honored with Lambda’s Trustee and Visionary Awards, respectively. Rick Whitaker introduced Edmund White with a tribute composed entirely from sentences found in Mr. White’s books. Accepting the Visionary Award, White shared, “Contained in the word novel is novelty and lesbian and gay writers have been lucky to write about this new world.”
Later, Rebecca Solnit introduced Roxane Gay, who won the Trustee Award. “The word encourage literally means to instill courage, and Roxane’s work is marked by both courage and encouragement,” said Solnit. During her acceptance speech, Gay said “As a woman, as a black woman, as a queer woman, writing has offered me salvation and sanctuary.” She later said, “I want queer writers to create the work that they want to put into the world, regardless if all of the work does or does not meet the expectations of those who read it.”
Other winners of the night included Carmen Maria Machado, John Rechy, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Barbara Browning, Bogi Takács, and more.
“What I want to leave with you tonight,” said Tony Valenzuela during his remarks on his ninth and final year as Lambda Literary Executive Director, “is that, despite our continued challenges, you have a community through Lambda Literary that has your back. I feel deeply grateful to have spent the last nine years with the help of so many of you, to make Lambda Literary into a space where more of us will be seen and can thrive.”
The Lammys brought out the stars from the worlds of film, television, theatre, journalism, and literature. Presenters this year included Alison Bechdel (MacArthur Fellow and award-winning author of Fun Home); Rebecca Solnit (award winning author and contributing editor at Harper’s Magazine); actor Taylor Trensch (actor, Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway); Pamela Sneed (award winning poet); Kate Bornstein (iconic trans activist and writer), and more.
Lambda Literary’s incoming Executive Director, Sue Landers, was acknowledged from the stage and begins a new chapter in the organization in July.
30 th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners
Lesbian Fiction
Her Body and Other Parties, Carmen Maria Machado, Graywolf Press
Gay Fiction
After the Blue Hour, John Rechy, Grove Press
Bisexual Fiction
The Gift, Barbara Browning, Coffee House Press
Bisexual Nonfiction
Hunger, Roxane Gay, HarperCollins
Transgender Fiction
Transcendent 2: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction, Bogi Takács (ed), Lethe Press
LGBTQ Nonfiction
How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Haymarket Books
Transgender Nonfiction
Black on Both Sides: A Racial History of Trans Identity, C. Riley Snorton, University of Minnesota Press
Lesbian Poetry
Rock | Salt | Stone, Rosamond S. King, Nightboat Books
Gay Poetry
While Standing in Line for Death, CA Conrad, Wave Books
Transgender Poetry
recombinant, Ching-In Chen, Kelsey Street Press
Lesbian Mystery
Huntress, A.E. Radley, Heartsome Publishing
Gay Mystery
Night Drop, Marshall Thornton, Kenmore Books
Lesbian Memoir/Biography
The Fact of a Body, Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich, Flatiron Books
Gay Memoir/Biography
Lives of Great Men: Living and Loving as an African Gay Man, Chike Frankie Edozien, Team Angelica Publishing
Lesbian Romance
Tailor-Made, Yolanda Wallace, Bold Strokes Books
Gay Romance
Love and Other Hot Beverages, Laurie Loft, Riptide Publishing
LGBTQ Erotica
His Seed, Steve Berman, Unzipped Books
LGBTQ Anthology
¡Cuéntamelo! Oral Histories by LGBT Latino Immigrants, Juliana Delgado Lopera, Aunt Lute Books
LGBTQ Children’s/Young Adult
Like Water, Rebecca Podos, Balzer + Bray
LGBTQ Drama
The Gulf, Audrey Cefaly, Samuel French
LGBTQ Graphic Novels
My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Emil Ferris, Fantagraphics Books
LGBTQ SF/F/Horror
Autonomous, Annalee Newitz, Tor Books
LGBTQ Studies
Punishing Disease: HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness, Trevor Hoppe, University of California Press
PHOTOS OF THE 30TH ANNUAL LAMBDA LITERARY AWARDS
(More photos will be uploaded throughout the week)
2018 Corporate Sponsors:
Gold Level: HarperCollins Publishers, Ketel One Vodka, Macmillan Publishers, Macy’s, Stone Soup Community Press
Silver Level: Hachette Book Group, HBO, Penguin Random House, Scholastic, Simon & SchusterFriend Level: Bold Strokes Books, Bureau of General Services Queer Division, Bywater Books, Chronicle Books, YES YES Books
Champion Underwriters
The Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency · KG MacGregor · David McConnell · Kay Percy
Partner Underwriters
Susan & Crystal Atkins-Weathers · Ted Cornwell · David Groff & Clay Williams
John Rochester & Lawrence Fodor · Eddie Sarfaty & Court Stroud
Chris Shirley · Tony Valenzuela & Robert Ferrante
Lambda Literary Board of Trustees
President- Amy Scholder, Vice-President- Caroline Young
Treasurer, Darla Baker, Secretary, David Groff
Tamika Butler · Steve Coulter · Mischa Haider · Kimberly Hoover
Ellen LaPointe · Rakesh Satyal · Christine Svendsen · Salem West
2018 New York City Host Committee
Chairs- Rakesh Satyal, Amy Scholder
Members: Ann Aptaker, Leona Clemons-Beasley, Paul Florez, David Gale, Scott Gerace, Serkan Gorkemli, Antonio Gonzalez, Charles Rice-Gonzalez, Amy Hundley, Michele Karlsberg, Elizabeth Koke, Lori Perkins, Adam Rathe, David Shane, S. Chris Shirley, Rocco Staino, Karen Schechner, and Jason Wells.
To learn more, visit www.LambdaLiterary.org.
Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter, and follow the hashtag #Lammys.
