The finalists for the Lambda Literary Awards have been announced, with authors including Justin Torres, Bryan Washington, Catherine Lacey, and K-Ming Chang in contention for the LGBTQ+ literature prizes.
Torres made the gay fiction shortlist for his National Book Award–winning Blackouts, alongside Washington for Family Meal, Patrick E. Horrigan for American Scholar, Richard Mirabella for Brother & Sister Enter the Forest, and Khashayar J. Khabushani for I Will Greet the Sun Again.
Lacey’s Biography of X and Chang’s Organ Meats were shortlisted in the lesbian fiction category, as were Jen Beagin’s Big Swiss, C.E. McGill’s Our Hideous Progeny, and Helen Elaine Lee’s Pomegranate.
The finalists in the transgender fiction category are Bellies by Nicola Dinan, Girlfriends by Emily Zhou, Trash by Sylvia Aguilar Zéleny, Wild Geese by Soula Emmanuel, and The Rage Letters, written by Valérie Bah and translated by Kama La Mackerel.
Making the LGBTQ+ nonfiction shortlist were Black on Black: On Our Resilience and Brilliance in America by Daniel Black; Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City by Elyssa Maxx Goodman; Hi Honey, I’m Homo by Matt Baume; Otherwise by Julie Marie Wade; and Out: A Parent’s Guide to Supporting Your LGBTQIA+ Kid Through Coming Out and Beyond by John Sovec.
The Lambda Literary Awards, or Lammys, were established in 1989. The winners of this year’s prizes will be announced at a ceremony in New York on June 11. A full list of finalists is available at the Lambda Literary website.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
