Lambda Literary Awards Names 2019 Winners

June 4, 2019 | 13 books mentioned

The Lambda Literary Awards named its 2019 winners in a ceremony last night in New York City. The annual award, now in its 31st year, celebrates the “best lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender books of the year and affirm[s] that LGBTQ stories are part of the literature of the world.”

In addition to the category awards, Lambda’s Trustee and Visionary Awards were given to Alexander Chee and Masha Gessen.

The winners of the 2019 Lambda Literary Awards were announced in 24 categories. Here are some highlights:

Lesbian Fiction
The Tiger Flu by Larissa Lai

Gay Fiction
Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

Bisexual Fiction
Disoriental by Négar Djavadi and translated by Tina Kover (One of our Most Anticipated titles from 2018)

Transgender Fiction
Little Fish by Casey Plett

LGBTQ Nonfiction
Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry (A “must read” according to Well-Read Black Girl’s Glory Edim)

Bisexual Nonfiction
Out of Step: A Memoir by Anthony Moll

Transgender Nonfiction
History of the Transgender Child by Julian Gill-Peterson

Lesbian Memoir/Biography
Chronology by Zahra Patterson

Gay Memoir/Biography
No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America by Darnell L. Moore

Graphic Novel
The Lie and How We Told It by Tommi Parrish

Lesbian Poetry
Each Tree Could Hold a Noose or a House by Nina Puro

Gay Poetry
Indecency by Justin Phillip Reed (One of Nick Ripatrazone‘s Poems That End with Questions)

Bisexual Poetry
We Play a Game by Duy Doan

Transgender Poetry
Lo Terciaro / The Tertiary by Raquel Salas Rivera (Described as “artful” by Ada Limón in her 2018 Year in Reading post)

The full list of winners can be found here.

is a staff writer for The Millions. Born and raised in New York, she now lives in the Midwest, where she is a PhD student in American literature.