The shortlists for the Lambda Literary Awards, or “Lammys,” have been unveiled, with dozens of authors in the running for the annual prizes honoring LGBTQ+ literature.
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley was named a finalist in the lesbian fiction category, along with Big Girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan, Gods of Want by K-Ming Chang, Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield, and Jawbone, written by Mónica Ojeda and translated by Sarah Booker.
James Hannaham made the shortlist for transgender fiction for Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta, along with Izzy Wasserstein for All the Hometowns You Can’t Stay Away From, Morgan Thomas for Manywhere, Cat Fitzpatrick for The Call-Out, and Maya Deane for Wrath Goddess Sing.
Making the gay fiction shortlist were Call Me Cassandra, written by Marcial Gala and translated by Anna Kushner; The Foghorn Echoes by Danny Ramadan; God’s Children Are Little Broken Things by Arinze Ifeakandu; Hugs and Cuddles, written by João Gilberto Noll and translated by Edgar Garbelotto; and My Government Means To Kill Meby Rasheed Newson.
In the bisexual nonfiction category, the finalists were Maria San Filippo for Appropriate Behavior, John Brady McDonald for Carrying It Forward, Liz Scheier for Never Simple, Rachel Krantz for Open, and CJ Hauser for The Crane Wife.
The Lammys were established in 1989 by Lambda Literary. Past winners have included Dorothy Allison for Trash and Cavedweller, Jennifer Finney Boylan for She’s Not There, and Carmen Maria Machado for Her Body and Other Parties and In the Dream House.
The winners of this year’s awards will be announced at a ceremony in New York on June 9.
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
