Last night was the 27th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Ceremony, and if you’re looking for your next good read, may I suggest one of these stunning titles? Below are links to their review (when available), as well as links to buy them from small presses or WORD in Brooklyn (for those outside of NYC, media mail shipping is an option when you purchase online).

LESBIAN FICTION

• Yabo, Alexis De Veaux, RedBone Press [You can read an excerpt here. Be sure to see Alexis’ dapper outfit when more photos of the ceremony come out.]

GAY FICTION

• I Loved You More, Tom Spanbauer, Hawthorne Books [Read the review here.]

BISEXUAL FICTION

• Give It to Me, Ana Castillo, The Feminist Press [Read a review from The Rumpus here.]

TRANSGENDER FICTION

• A Safe Girl To Love, Casey Plett, Topside Press [This was my favorite win of the night. Casey Plett gave a passionate speech, honoring how thrilling trans literature is right now. “We’re writing to each other, for each other, by each other. We are going to tell our stories,” she said. She also gave a shout out to the film-in-progress Happy Birthday Marsha, which tells the story of Sylvia Rivera and Marsha “Pay it No Mind” Johnson, in the hours before the 1969 Stonewall Riots. Read a review of A Safe Girl To Love here.]

LGBT DEBUT FICTION

• The Walk-In Closet, Abdi Nazemian, Curtis Brown Unlimited [“Thank you to my parents for a lifetime of material,” Abdi joked in his acceptance speech. Read the review here.]
• While it didn’t win in this category, I’m super excited to read Elizabeth Earley’s A Map of Everything, published by Jaded Ibis Press and illustrated by Christa Donner. El and I had lunch yesterday, and she’s simply fantastic. You can read a review of the novel here.]

LGBT NONFICTION

• Hold Tight Gently: Michael Callen, Essex Hemphill, and the Battlefield of AIDS, Martin Duberman, The New Press [Read the review here. This looks like an incredible book addressing both race and AIDS.]

BISEXUAL NONFICTION

• Fire Shut Up In My Bones, Charles M. Blow, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt [The New York Times columnist gave a moving speech, citing Toni Morrison’s advice: “If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”]

TRANSGENDER NONFICTION

• Man Alive: A True Story of Violence, Forgiveness and Becoming a Man, Thomas Page McBee, City Lights/Sister Spit [This is the most humble memoir I’ve ever read. I can’t recommend it enough. Read the review here.]

LESBIAN POETRY

• Mysterious Acts by My People, Valerie Wetlaufer, Sibling Rivalry Press

GAY POETRY

• [insert] boy, Danez Smith, YesYes Books [Goddamn, I love this book. You can read poems from the book here. It was a stunning list of finalists, including Saeed Jones’ Prelude to Bruise and Jericho Brown’s The New Testament. Treat yourself and support small presses by ordering all three of these incredible books.]

LESBIAN MYSTERY

• The Old Deep and Dark, Ellen Hart, Minotaur Books [Read the review here.]

GAY MYSTERY

• Blackmail, My Love: A Murder Mystery, Katie Gilmartin, Cleis Press [Read the review here.]

LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY

• Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years of Movement Building with Barbara Smith, Alethia Jones and Virginia Eubanks, with Barbara Smith,  SUNY Press [You can read a write up from Autostraddle here.]
• [Truth be told, I was rooting for Terry Mutchler’s Under This Beautiful Dome, which I reviewed last year and simply loved.]

GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY – 2 WINNERS:

GAY MEMOIR:

• The Prince of Los Cocuyos, Richard Blanco, HarperCollins/Ecco [Read the review here.]

GAY BIOGRAPHY:

• Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh, John Lahr, W. W. Norton & Company [If this title looks familiar, it’s because it was also a National Book Awards finalist. Read the review here.]

 

LESBIAN ROMANCE

• The Farmer’s Daughter, Robbi McCoy, Bella Books [Read a review from Curve here.]

GAY ROMANCE

• Salvation: A Novel of the Civil War, Jeff Mann, Bear Bones Books

LESBIAN EROTICA

• Lesbian Sex Bible, Diana Cage, Quiver Books [This was a fun win! I guess I can pack up my copy of The Whole Lesbian Sex Book and make room for this one. Here’s Diana Cage’s Lambda column Notes on Smut.]

GAY EROTICA

• The King, Tiffany Reisz, MIRA Books

LGBT ANTHOLOGY

• Understanding and Teaching US Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History, Leila J. Rupp & Susan K. Freeman, University of Wisconsin Press

LGBT CHILDREN’S/YOUNG ADULT

• Five, Six, Seven, Nate!, Tim Federle, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers [Tim adorably brought a weathered copy of one of this first gay books he loved, Openly Bob by Bob Smith, along with him to accept his award. Read the starred review from Kirkus here.]

LGBT DRAMA

• Bootycandy, Robert O’Hara, Samuel French [Read a review of this NYT Critics Pick here.]

LGBT GRAPHIC NOVELS

• Second Avenue Caper, Joyce Brabner; Art by Mark Zingarelli, Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux [Read the review here.]

LGBT SF/F/HORROR

• Bitter Waters, Chaz Brenchley, Lethe Press [Read the review here.]

LGBT STUDIES

• The Delectable Negro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism within U.S. Slave Culture, Vincent Woodard, Ed. Justin A. Joyce and Dwight McBride, New York University Press [Read more from NYU Press here.]