# 21st Lambda Literary Awards

The 21st Lambda Literary Awards were held in 2009, to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2008.

## Special awards

| Category | Winner |
| Pioneer Award | Leslie Feinberg, The Violet Quill |

## Nominees and winners

| Category | Winner | Nominated |
| Bisexual Literature | Jenny Block, Open | Lisa M. Diamond, Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love & Desire Honor Moore, The Bishop’s Daughter Ron Jackson Suresha, Kinsey Zero Through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey Edmund White, Rimbaud |
| Gay Debut Fiction | Shawn Stewart Ruff, Finlater | Daniel Allen Cox, Shuck Evan Fallenberg, Light Fell Drew Ferguson, The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie the Second Mike Hoolboom, The Steve Machine |
| Gay Erotica | Richard Labonté and James Lear, eds., Best Gay Erotica 2009 | James Lear, The Secret Tunnel William Maltese, Victor J. Banis, Jardonn Smith and J.P. Bowie, Hard Working Men |
| Gay Fiction | Scott Heim, We Disappear | David Francis, Stray Dog Winter Thomas Glave, The Torturer’s Wife Joseph Olshan, The Conversion Jay Quinn, The Boomerang Kid |
| Gay Memoir/Biography | Sheila Rowbotham, Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and Love | Aaron Cooper, Bringing Him Home Joel Derfner, Swish Bob Morris, Assisted Loving Aaron Shurin, King of Shadows |
| Gay Mystery | Scott Sherman, First You Fall | Stephen Anable, The Fisher Boy Anthony Bidulka, Sundowner Ubuntu Neil Plakcy, Mahu Fire John Morgan Wilson, Spider Season |
| Gay Poetry | Mark Doty, Fire to Fire James Allen Hall, Now You're the Enemy | Rick Barot, Want Jericho Brown, Please Jack Spicer (Peter Gizzi and Kevin Killian, eds.), My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer |
| Gay Romance | Larry Duplechan, Got 'til it's Gone | Laura Baumbach and Josh Lanyon, Mexican Heat N. L. Gassert, The Protector |
| Lesbian Debut Fiction | Magdalena Zurawski, The Bruise | Jill Malone, Red Audrey & the Roping Linda Villarosa, Passing for Black Meri Weiss, Closer to Fine Chavisa Woods, Love Does Not Make Me Gentle or Kind |
| Lesbian Erotica | Radclyffe and Karin Kallmaker, In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip | Sacchi Green and Rakelle Valencia, Lipstick on Her Collar Lynne Jamneck, Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures |
| Lesbian Fiction | Emma Donoghue, The Sealed Letter Chandra Mayor, All the Pretty Girls | Ivan Coyote, The Slow Fix Stephanie Grant, Map of Ireland Ruth Perkinson, Breaking Spirit Bridge |
| Lesbian Memoir/Biography | Maureen Seaton, Sex Talks to Girls: A Memoir | Susan Griffin, Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy Thea Hillman, Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word) Joanne Passet, Sex Variant Woman Abbe Smith, Case of a Lifetime |
| Lesbian Mystery | Josie Gordon, Whacked | Diane Anderson-Minshall and Jacob Anderson-Minshall, Blind Faith Ellen Hart, Sweet Poison Jessica Thomas, Losers Weepers Ali Vali, Calling the Dead |
| Lesbian Poetry | Judy Grahn, love belongs to those who do the feeling | Elizabeth Bradfield, Interpretive Work Daphne Gottlieb, Kissing Dead Girls Maureen N. McLane, Same Life Nancy K. Pearson, Two Minutes of Light |
| Lesbian Romance | Karin Kallmaker, The Kiss That Counted | Georgia Beers, Finding Home Catherine Friend, A Pirate’s Heart JLee Meyer, Hotel Liaison Radclyffe, The Lonely Hearts Club |
| LGBT Anthology | Thomas Glave, Our Caribbean | Peter Burton, ed., A Casualty of War: Gay Short Fiction Sabrina Chapadjiev, ed., Live Through This Chris Freeman and James J. Berg, eds., Love, West Hollywood Raphael Kadushin, ed., Big Trips: More Good Gay Travel Writing |
| LGBT Children's/Young Adult | Bill Konigsberg, Out of the Pocket | Christian Burch, Hit the Road, Manny David Levithan, How They Met & Other Stories Pat Schmatz, Mousetraps Martin Wilson, What They Always Tell Us Ellen Wittlinger, Love & Lies: Marisol’s Story |
| LGBT Drama | Carolyn Gage, The Second Coming of Joan of Arc | Dan Bernitt, Phi Alpha Gamma Martin Duberman, Radical Acts: Collected Political Plays Scott Schofield, Two Truths and a Lie Vanda, Vile Affections |
| LGBT Non-Fiction | Jane Rule, Loving the Difficult | Nancy Agabian, Me as Her Again Michelle Cliff, If I Could Write This in Fire William N. Eskridge, Jr., Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America 1861-2003 Nancy Polikoff, Beyond (Straight & Gay) Marriage Kai Wright, Drifting Toward Love |
| LGBT Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror | Nicole Kimberling, Turnskin | Astrid Amara, The Archer’s Heart Barth Anderson, The Magician and the Fool Steve Berman, Wilde Stories 2008 Craig Laurance Gidney, Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories |
| LGBT Studies | Regina Kunzel, Criminal Intimacy: Prison and the Uneven History of Modern American Sexuality | Michelle Ann Abate, Tomboys: A Literary & Cultural History Amin Ghaziani, The Dividends of Dissent: How Conflict and Culture Work in Lesbian and Gay Marches on Washington Kevin P. Murphy, Political Manhood: Red Bloods, Mollycoddles, & the Politics of Progressive Reform Linda Williams, Screening Sex |
| Transgender Literature | Thea Hillman, Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word) | Marcus Ewert and Rex Ray, 10,000 Dresses Scott Schofield, Two Truths and a Lie Ely Shipley, Boy with Flowers Susan Stryker, Transgender History |