The finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards, given annually to outstanding works of LGBTQ+ literature, have been revealed.
Tash Aw made the gay fiction shortlist for The South, alongside Adam Haslett for Mothers and Sons, Charlie Porter for Nova Scotia House, Sam Wachman for The Sunflower Boys, and Martin Cloutier for Waiting for Something Else.
Named finalists for the lesbian fiction award were Shoshana von Blanckensee for Girls Girls Girls, Dylin Hardcastle for A Language of Limbs, Marisa Crane for A Sharp Endless Need, Kat Dunn for Hungerstone, and Jaime Burnet for milktooth.
Cleavage: Men, Women, and the Space Between Us by Jennifer Finney Boylan was named a finalist in the transgender nonfiction category, as were Both/And by Denne Michele Norris with Electric Literature; Gendertrash From Hell: The First Print Collection of the Zine That Changed Everything, edited by Mirha Soleil-Ross; Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline; and Uncanny Valley Girls by Zefyr Lisowski.
Making the LGBTQ+ young adult shortlist were An Ugly World for Beautiful Boys by Rob Costello, Camila Núñez's Year of Disasters by Miriam Zoila Pérez, Come Home to My Heart by Riley Redgate, He’s So Possessed With Me by Corey Liu, and The Transition by Logan-Ashley Kisner.
The Lambda Literary Awards, popularly known as the Lammys, were established in 1989. The winners of this year’s prizes will be announced at a ceremony in New York on June 12. A full list of this year’s finalists in 26 categories is available at the Lambda Literary website.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
