Lambda Literary Awards for 2021

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The winners of the 33rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards have just been. These winners were selected by a panel of over 60 literary professionals from more than 1,000 book submissions from over 300 publishers.

In addition to the winners below, four special honors were awarded: Ana-Maurine Lara received the Randall Kenan Prize for Black LGBTQ Fiction, the Jim Duggins, PhD Outstanding Mid-Career Novelist Prize went to Sarah Gerard and Brontez Purnell, Nancy Agabian received the Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction, and the Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging LGBTQ Writers was awarded to Taylor Johnson and T Kira Madden.

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.

Lesbian Fiction

Fiebre Tropical, Juli Delgado Lopera, Feminist Press

Gay Fiction

Neotenica, Joon Oluchi Lee, Nightboat Books

Bisexual Fiction

You Exist Too Much, Zaina Arafat, Catapult

Transgender Fiction

The Thirty Names of Night, Zeyn Joukhadar, Atria Books

Bisexual Nonfiction

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

LGBTQ Nonfiction

The Lonely Letters, Ashon T. Crawley, Duke University Press

Lesbian Poetry

Funeral Diva, Pamela Sneed, City Lights Books

Gay Poetry

Guillotine, Eduardo C. Corral, Graywolf Press

Bisexual Poetry

Salt Body Shimmer, Aricka Foreman, YesYes Books

Transgender Poetry

I Love You and I’m Not Dead, Sade LaNay, Argos Books

Lesbian Memoir/Biography

My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, Jenn Shapland, Tin House Books

Gay Memoir/Biography

A Dutiful Boy: A Memoir of a Gay Muslim’s Journey to Acceptance, Mohsin Zaidi, Square Peg

 Lesbian Romance

Written in the Stars, Alexandria Bellefleur, Avon Books

Gay Romance

The Ghost and Charlie Muir, Felice Stevens, Self-published

LGBTQ Anthology

Love after the End: An Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction, Joshua Whitehead, Arsenal Pulp Press

LGBTQ Children’s/Middle Grade

King and the Dragonflies, Kacen Callender, Scholastic

LGBTQ Young Adult 

Flamer, Mike Curato, Henry Holt Books for Young Readers

LGBTQ Comics

Apsara Engine, Bishakh Som, Feminist Press

LGBTQ Drama

The Book of Mountains and Seas, Yilong Liu, New Conservatory Theatre Center

LGBTQ Erotica

The Nerves, Lee Suksi, Metatron Press

LGBTQ Mystery

I Hope You’re Listening, Tom Ryan, Albert Whitman & Company

LGBTQ Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror

Everyone on the Moon Is Essential Personnel, Julian K. Jarboe, Lethe Press

LGBTQ Studies

Becoming Human: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World, Zakiyyah Iman Jackson, NYU Press