Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the “Lammys”, are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ writers play in shaping the world, and to celebrate the very best in LGBTQ literature
Instituted In 1989, the Lammys have maintained a proud tradition of celebrating vibrant, dynamic LGBTQ storytelling for over 30 years. Today, the awards celebrate more than 150 LGBTQ writers across 24 categories, and include several cash prizes for writers at all stages in their careers.
The 34th awards ceremony celebrating the best in LGBTQ literature of 2021 took place on June 11; this year winners were chosen from a record 1,300 submissions by a panel of 60 judges.
What better way to celebrate Pride Month than by checking out some of the winning titles listed below with your Livingston Library card, that will help you explore some new stories, viewpoints, and voices?
Lesbian Fiction
Skye Falling : A Novel by Mia McKenzie
When a 12-year-old girl tracks her down during one of her brief visits to Philadelphia, claiming to be “her egg,” Skye, a loner and egg donor, decides that it might be time to actually have a meaningful relationship with another human being, which is easier said than done.
Bisexual Fiction
We Want What We Want Stories by Alix Ohlin
Thirteen glittering, surprising, darkly funny stories of women testing the boundaries of their lives.
Bisexual Nonfiction
Borealis by Aisha Sabatini Sloan
The first title commissioned for the Spatial Species series, this is a shapeshifting logbook of Sloan’s experiences as a queer woman contemplating her Blackness in the wilderness and in the mysteries of art-making. Sloan writes about a solitary summer visit to Alaska, observing glaciers, shorelines, mountains, bald eagles, and herself.
LGBTQ Nonfiction
Let The Record Show : A Political History Of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman
Schulman, one of the most revered queer writers and thinkers of her generation, presents the most comprehensive political history ever assembled of ACT UP and American AIDS activism.
Lesbian Memoir/Biography
The One You Want To Marry (And Other Identities I’ve Had) : A Memoir by Sophie Santos
From the self-proclaimed Queen of the Stunted Late Bloomers and one of the most exciting emerging voices in comedy comes an honestly funny memoir about the awkward, cringeworthy, hilarious, and longest possible journey of coming of age and into her own.
Gay Memoir/Biography
Punch Me Up To The Gods by Brian Broome
A poetic and raw coming-of-age memoir in essays about blackness, masculinity, and addiction. The author, a poet and screenwriter, recounts his experiences, revealing a perpetual outsider awkwardly squirming to find his way in.
LGBTQ Mystery
The Savage Kind by John Copenhaver
Two lonely teenage girls in 1940s Washington, DC, discover they have a penchant for solving crimes—and an even greater desire to commit them.
LGBTQ Speculative Fiction
No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull
One October morning, Laina gets the news that her brother was shot and killed by Boston cops. But what looks like a case of police brutality soon reveals something much stranger. Monsters are real. And they want everyone to know it. As creatures from myth and legend come out of the shadows, seeking safety through visibility, their emergence sets off a chain of seemingly unrelated events.
LGBTQ Comics
Stone Fruit by Lee Lai
Bron and Ray enjoy their role as the fun weirdo aunties to Ray’s niece, six-year-old Nessie. Their playdates are little oases of wildness, joy, and ease in all three of their lives. As their emotional intimacy erodes, Ray and Bron isolate from each other and attempt to repair their broken family ties. Taking a leap of faith, each opens up and learns they have more in common with their siblings than they ever knew.
LGBTQ Children’s/Middle Grade
Calvin by JR & Vanessa Ford
Preparing for his first day with a new haircut that helps him look and feel like the boy he’s always known himself to be, Calvin is nervous until he tells his teachers and friends his name and feels the support around him.
LGBTQ Young Adult
The Heartbreak Bakery by A R Capetta
Syd, a baker at the Proud Muffin, is perplexed after couples who eat Syd’s brownies immediately split up, but when the owners of the bakery eat the brownies, Syd is afraid the bakery may close and it is only Harley, a delivery person, who convinces Syd that baking can actually fix things.
-Archana Chiplunkar, Adult Services & Acquisitions Librarian