Announcing the 34th Annual LAMBDA LITERARY AWARDS WINNERS
June 13, 2022 | Publisher
New York, NY, June 11, 2022 — Lambda Literary, the nation's premier LGBTQ literary organization, announced the winners of the 34th Annual Lambda Literary Awards (a.k.a. the "Lammys") this evening at a live virtual award ceremony hosted by award-winning writer, activist, and media strategist Raquel Willis.
Always known for championing works published by emerging authors and small presses, this year's winners list is once again an impressive mix of books from publishers both large and small. For just the second time in Lammy history, a self-published work has been recognized, with Milena McKay's The Headmistress winning the Lammy for Lesbian Romance. As the Lammys have always done, this year's awards honor exciting new LGBTQ voices like Brian Broome, winner in the Gay Memoir/Biography category for his masterful debut memoir, Punch Me Up To the Gods: A Memoir, and Lee Lai, whose debut graphic novel, Stone Fruit, won in the LGBTQ Comics category, as well as writers who have been excelling in their respective genres for years, like Jeanne Thornton, whose critically-acclaimed novel Summer Fun won the Lammy for Transgender Fiction, and Sarah Schulman, whose Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993, one of the best reviewed books of 2021, won the Lammy for LGBTQ Nonfiction.
The evening's celebration, held virtually for the second year in a row due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, also doubled as a fundraiser to help support Lambda Literary's programs. Preceded by an afternoon of readings from the finalists, the awards were once again a rousing celebration of LGTBQ literature, and the power of this community's voices.
The Lammys are the most prestigious award in LGBTQ publishing. Please join us in celebrating the following authors and their literary accomplishments.
BISEXUAL FICTION
• We Want What We Want // Alix Ohlin, House Anansi Press
BISEXUAL NONFICTION
• Borealis // Aisha Sabatini Sloan, Coffee House Press
BISEXUAL POETRY
• Gumbo Ya Ya // Aurielle Marie, University of Pittsburgh Press
GAY FICTION
• 100 Boyfriends // Brontez Purnell, MCD x FSG Originals
GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
• Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir // Brian Broome, Mariner Books
GAY POETRY
• Punks: New & Selected Poems // John Keene, The Song Cave
GAY ROMANCE
• Excellent Sons: A Love Story in Three Acts // Larry Benjamin, Beaten Track Publishing
LESBIAN FICTION
• Skye Falling // Mia McKenzie, Random House
LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
• The One You Want to Marry (And Other Identities I've Had): A Memoir // Sophie Santos, TOPPLE Books
LESBIAN POETRY
• Last Days // Tamiko Beyer, Alice James Books
LESBIAN ROMANCE
• The Headmistress // Milena McKay, Self-Published
LGBTQ ANTHOLOGY
• Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought // Edited by Briona Simone Jones, The New Press
LGBTQ CHILDREN'S/MIDDLE GRADE
• Calvin // JR and Vanessa Ford, G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
LGBTQ COMICS
• Stone Fruit // Lee Lai, Fantagraphics Books
LGBTQ DRAMA
• Mrs. Harrison // R. Eric Thomas, TRW Plays
LGBTQ EROTICA
• Big Joe // Samuel R. Delany, Inpatient Press
LGBTQ MYSTERY
• The Savage Kind // John Copenhaver, Pegasus Books
LGBTQ NONFICTION
• Let the Record Show // Sarah Schulman, Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux
LGBTQ SPECULATIVE FICTION
• No Gods, No Monsters // Cadwell Turnbull, Blackstone Publishing
LGBTQ STUDIES
• Vice Patrol: Cops, Courts, and the Struggle over Urban Gay Life before Stonewall // Anna Lvovsky, University of Chicago Press
LGBTQ YOUNG ADULT
• The Heartbreak Bakery // A. R. Capetta, Candlewick Press
TRANSGENDER FICTION
• Summer Fun // Jeanne Thornton, Soho Press
TRANSGENDER NONFICTION
• Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness // Da'Shaun Harrison, North Atlantic Books
TRANSGENDER POETRY
• Crossbones on My Life // Mason J, Nomadic Press