20th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners and Finalists
- Lesbian
- Debut Fiction, General Fiction, Memoir/Biography, Mystery, Romance
- Bisexual
- General LGBT
- Anthology, Arts & Culture, Children's/ Young Adult, Drama/ Theatre, Erotica, Non-fiction, Poetry, Science fiction/ Fantasy/ Horror, Spirituality, LGBT Studies
- Gay Men's
- Debut Fiction, General Fiction, Memoir/Biography, Mystery, Romance
- Transgender
Lesbian Debut Fiction
- Winner: Among Other Things, I've Taken Up Smoking
by Aoibheann Sweeney (Penguin Press)
- Finalists
- Lockjaw: Collected Appalachian Stories
, Holly Farris (Gival Press)
- Dahlia Season
, Myriam Gurba (Manic D Press)
- Breathing Underwater
, Lu Vickers (Alyson Books)
- O Street
, Corrina Wycoff (OV Books)
Lesbian General Fiction
- Winner: The IHOP Papers
by Ali Liebegott (Carroll & Graf)
- Finalists
- Biting the Apple
, Lucy Jane Bledsoe (Carroll & Graf)
- Greetings from Jamaica: Wish You Were Queer
, Mari San Giovanni (Bywater Books)
- The Child
, Sarah Schulman (Carroll & Graf)
- The Kind of Girl I Am
, Julia Watts (Spinsters Ink)
- The Mandrake Broom
, Jess Wells (Firebrand Books)
Lesbian Memoir/Biography
- Winner: And Now We Are Going to Have a Party
by Nicola Griffith (Payseur & Schmidt)
- Finalist
- Comfort Food for Breakups
, Marusya Bocurkiuw (Arsenal Pulp Press)
- An Army of Ex-Lovers: My Life at the Gay Community News
, Amy Hoffman (University of Massachusetts Press)
- Two Lives: Gertrude & Alice
, Janet Malcolm (Yale University Press)
- Waiting for the Call: From Preacher's Daughter to Lesbian Mom
, Jacqueline Taylor (University of Michigan Press)
Lesbian Mystery
- Winner: Wall of Silence
by Gabrielle Goldsby (Bold Strokes Books)
- Finalist
- The Mortal Groove
, Ellen Hart (St. Martin’s Press)
- In the Name of the Father
, Gerri Hill (Bella Books)
- Selective Memory
, Jennifer L. Jordan (Spinsters Ink)
- Laura’s War
, Ursula Steck (Bella Books)
Lesbian Romance
- Winner: Out of Love
by K.G. MacGregor (Bella Books)
- Finalist
- Sheridan’s Fate
, Gun Brooke (Bold Strokes Books)
- The Road Home
, Frankie J. Jones (Bella Books)
- For Now, for Always
, Marianne K. Martin (Bywater Books)
- When Dreams Tremble
, Radclyffe (Bold Strokes Books)
Bisexual
- Winner: Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies
by Brent Hartinger (Harper Collins Children's Books)
- Finalists
- Look Both Ways: Bisexual Politics
, Jennifer Baumgardner (Farrar, Strauss & Giroux)
- Becoming Visible: Counseling Bisexuals Across the Lifespan
, Beth Firestein, Ed., (Columbia University Press)
- The Tourists
, Jeff Hobbs (Simon & Schuster)
- Stray
, Sheri Joseph (MacAdam/Cage)
LGBT Anthologies
- Winner: First Person Queer
by Richard Labonte and Lawrence Schimel (Arsenal Pulp Press)
- Finalists
- Juicy Mother 2
, Jennifer Camper (Manic D Press) [Mixed, Cartoons]
- Vital Signs
, Richard Canning (Carroll & Graf)
- Men of Mystery: Homoerotic Tales of Intrigue and Suspense
, Sean Meriwether & Greg Wharton, (Haworth) [Gay]
- Baby Remember My Name
, Michelle Tea (Carroll & Graf) [Lesbian, Bi, Queer]
LGBT Arts & Culture
- Winner: The View from Here: Conversations with Gay and Lesbian Filmmakers
by Matthew Hays (Arsenal Pulp Press)
- Finalists
- Media Queered
, Kevin Barnhurst (Peter Lang Publishing)
- Art That Dares: Gay Jesus, Woman Christ, and More
, Kittredge Cherry (AndroGyne Press)
- Feeling Backward: Loss and the Politics of Queer History
, Heather Love (Harvard University Press)
- Other Men’s Sons
, Michael Rowe (Cormorant Books)
LGBT Children's/Young Adult
- Winner: Hero
by Perry Moore (Hyperion)
- Finalists
- Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
, Peter Cameron (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
- Saints of Augustine
, P.E. Ryan (HarperTeen)
- Freak Show
, James St. James (Dutton Children’s/Penguin)
- Parrotfish
, Ellen Wittlinger (Simon & Schuster)
LGBT Drama/Theater
- Winner: Return to the Caffe Cino
by Steve Susoyev and George Birimisa, eds. (Moving Finger Press)
- Finalists
- Dose: Plays & Monologues
, Dan Bernitt (Sawyer House)
- Niagara Falls
, Victor Bumbalo (Broadway Play Publishing)
LGBT Erotica
- Winner: Homosex: 60 Years of Gay Erotica
by Simon Sheppard (Running Press) [Gay]
- Finalists
- The Golden Age of Lesbian Erotica
, Victoria Brownworth & Judith M. Redding (Magic Carpet Books) [Lesbian]
- Red Light
, J. D. Glass (Bold Strokes Books) [Lesbian]
- Ardennian Boy
, William Maltese & Wayne Gunn (MLR Press) [Gay]
- The Mammoth Book of New Gay Erotica
, Lawrence Schimel (Carrol & Graf) [Gay]
- Every Dark Desire
, Fiona Zedde (Kensington) [Lesbian/ Vampire]
LGBT Nonfiction
- Winner: Gay Artists in Modern American Culture: An Imagined Conspiracy (Caravan Book)
by Michael S. Sherry (University of North Carolina Press)
- Finalists
- Between Women: Friendship, Desire and Marriage in Victorian England
, Sharon Marcus (Princeton University Press)
- Pink Harvest: Tales of Happenstance
, Toni Mirosevich (Mid-List Press)
- Other Men’s Sons
- Imagining Transgender: An Ethnography of a Category
, David Valentine (Duke University Press)
LGBT Poetry
- Winner: Blackbird and Wolf
by Henri Cole (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
- Finalists
- A Gathering of Matter/A Matter of Gathering
, Dawn Lundy Martin (University of Georgia Press)
- Otherwise Obedient
, Carol Potter (Red Hen Press)
- Fata Morgana
, Reginald Shepherd (University of Pittsburgh)
- The Second Person
, C. Dale Young (Four Way Books)
- Human Resources
, Rachel Zolf (Coach House Books)
LGBT Spirituality
- Winner: The After-Death Room: Journey Into Spiritual Activism
by Michael McColly (Soft Skull Press)
- Finalists
- Sex & the Sacred: Gay Identity and Spiritual Growth
by Daniel Helminiak (Harrington Park Press)
- Spirited: Affirming the Soul and Black Gay/Lesbian Identity
edited by Lisa Moore & G. Winston James (Redbone Press)
- The Singing of Swans
by Mary Saracino (Pearlsong Press )
- Moebius Trip: Digressions from India's Highways
by Giti Thadani (Spinifex Press)
LGBT Studies
- Winner: Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England
- Finalists
- Writing Desire: Sixty Years of Gay Autobiography
, Bertram Cohler (University of Wisconsin Press)
- The First Man-Made Man: The Story of Two Sex Changes, One Love Affair and a Twentieth-Century Medical Revolution
, Pagan Kennedy (Bloomsbury)
- Caribbean Pleasure Industry
, Mark Padilla (University of Chicago Press)
- Once You Go Black: Choice, Desire, & the Black American Intellectual
, Robert Reid-Pharr (NYU Press)
LGBT Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror - Winner: The Dust of Wonderland
by Lee Thomas (Alyson Books) [Gay, Horror]
- Finalists
- Wicked Gentlemen
, Ginn Hale (Blind Eye Books) [Winner of Best Novel, Gaylactic Spectrum Awards 2008] [Gay, Fantasy]
- A Companion to Wolves
, Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear (Tor Books) [Gay, Fantasy]
- Spaceman Blues: A Love Song
, Brian Francis Slattery (Tor Books) [Shortlisted for Best Novel, Gaylactic Spectrum Awards 2008] [Gay, Science fiction]
- Ha’penny
, Jo Walton (Tor Books) [Shortlisted for Best Novel, Gaylactic Spectrum Awards 2008] [Gay, Alternate history]
Gay Debut Fiction
- Winner: A Push and a Shove
by Christopher Kelly (Alyson Books)
- Finalists
- Tales from the Town of Widows
, James Canon (Harpercollins)
- That Was Then
, Michael Quadland (Red Hen Press)
- SoMa
, Kemble Scott (Kensington)
- Freak Show
Gay/Men's General Fiction
- Winner: Call Me By Your Name
by André Aciman (Farrar Straus Giroux)
- Finalists
- First Person Plural
, Andrew W.M. Beierle (Kensington)
- Dark Reflections
, Samuel R. Delany (Carroll & Graf)
- Fellow Travelers
, Thomas Mallon (Pantheon)
- The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue
, Manuel Munoz (Algonquin)
Gay/Men's Memoir/Biography
- Winner: Mississippi Sissy
by Kevin Sessums (St. Martin's Press)
- Finalists
- Forgiving Troy: A True Story of Murder, Mental Illness and Recovery
, Thom Bierdz (Hudson House)
- Dog Years
, Mark Doty (HarperCollins) [Non-fiction winner, Stonewall Awards 2008]
- The Worlds of Lincoln Kirstein
, Martin Duberman (Knopf)
- The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin’s Theory
, Kenny Fries (Perseus Books)
- What Becomes You
, Aaron Raz Link & Hilda Raz (University of Nebraska Press)
Gay/Men's Mystery
- Winner: Murder in the Rue Chartres
by Greg Herren (Alyson Books)
- Finalists
- Double Abduction
, Chris Beakey (J. Boylston/ ibooks, Inc.)
- Stain of the Berry: A Russell Quant Mystery
, Anthony Bidulka (Insomniac Press)
- Pierce
, Roberto Ferrari (Haworth)
- Mahu Surfer
: A Hawaiian Mystery, Neil Plakcy (Alyson Books)
- Drag Queen in the Court of Death
, Caro Soles (Haworth)
Gay/Men's Romance
- Winner: Changing Tides
by Michael Thomas Ford (Kensington Books)
- Finalists
- A Secret Edge
, Robin Reardon (Kensington)
- Right Side of the Wrong Bed
, Frederick Smith (Kensington)
- Broadway Nights: A Romp of Life, Love and Musical Theatre
, Seth Rudetsky (Alyson Books)
- A Few Hints and Clews
, Robert Taylor (Haworth)
- Winner: Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers
by Cris Beam, eds. (Harcourt)
- Finalists
- Male Bodies, Women’s Souls
, LeeRay M. Costa, PhD, (Haworth)
- The Marrow’s Telling
, Eli Clare (Homofactus Press)
- What Becomes You
- Nobody Passes: Rejecting the Rules of Gender and Conformity
, Mattilda, aka Matt Bernstein Sycamore (Seal Press)
