# 31st Lambda Literary Awards

The 31st Lambda Literary Awards were held on June 3, 2019, to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2018. The list of nominees was released on March 7.

## Special awards

| Category | Winner |
| Trustee Award | Alexander Chee |
| Visionary Award | Masha Gessen |
| Publishing Professional Award | Barbara Smith |
| Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction | Karen Tongson |
| Judith A. Markowitz Emerging Writer Award | Hannah Ensor, Robert Fieseler |

## Nominees and winners

| Category | Winner | Nominated |
| Bisexual Fiction | Négar Djavadi, Disoriental (tr. Tina Kover) | Nathan Alling Long, The Origin of Doubt: Fifty Short Fictions Katrina Carrasco, The Best Bad Things Jennifer Natalya Fink, Bhopal Dance Jude Lucens, Behind These Doors: Radical Proposals Book 1 Emily Strelow, The Wild Birds J.E. Sumerau, Palmetto Rose Lilah Suzanne, Jilted |
| Bisexual Nonfiction | Anthony Moll, Out of Step | Sophie Lucido Johnson, Many Love: A Memoir of Polyamory and Finding Love(s) Julietta Singh, No Archive Will Restore You |
| Bisexual Poetry | Duy Doan, We Play a Game | Fatimah Asghar, If They Come for Us Frances Donovan, Mad Quick Hand of the Seashore: Love Poems Marcelo Hernandez Castillo, Cenzontle Xemiyulu Manibusan Tapepechul, My Woman Card Is Anti-Native & Other Two-Spirit Truths |
| Gay Fiction | Joshua Whitehead, Jonny Appleseed | David Jackson Ambrose, State of the Nation Joseph Cassara, The House of Impossible Beauties Martin Duberman, Luminous Traitor: The Just and Daring Life of Roger Casement John R. Gordon, Drapetomania, or the Narrative of Cyrus Tyler and Abednego Tyler Uzodinma Iweala, Speak No Evil Édouard Louis, History of Violence Patrick Nathan, Some Hell |
| Gay Memoir/Biography | Darnell L. Moore, No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black and Free in America | Alexander Chee, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel Lillian Faderman, Harvey Milk: His Lives and Death Casey Gerald, There Will Be No Miracles Here DeRay Mckesson, On the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for Hope Jeffrey C. Stewart, The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke Jerry Torre and Tony Maietta, The Marble Faun of Grey Gardens: A Memoir of the Beales, the Maysles Brothers and Jacqueline Kennedy Edmund White, The Unpunished Vice: A Life of Reading |
| Gay Mystery | Marshall Thornton, Late Fees | John Copenhaver, Dodging and Burning Bud Gundy, Somewhere Over Lorain Road Joseph Olshan, Black Diamond Fall David S. Pederson, Death Checks In Neil S. Plakcy, Survival Is a Dying Art Jeffrey Round, The God Game Marshall Thornton, Boystown 11: Heart’s Desire |
| Gay Poetry | Justin Phillip Read, Indecency | Kazim Ali, Inquisition Jonah Mixon-Webster, Stereo(TYPE) Brane Mozetič, Unfinished Sketches of a Revolution (tr. Barbara Jursa) Hieu Minh Nguyen, Not Here Carl Phillips, Wild Is the Wind Tommy Pico, Junk Aldrin Valdez, ESL or You Weren’t Here |
| Gay Romance | S. C. Wynne, Crashing Upwards | Melanie Hansen, Point of Contact Reesa Herberth and Michelle Moore, Detour Jenny Holiday, Undue Influence: A Persuasion Retelling Kris Jacen, Learn with Me Christina Lee and Riley Hart, Of Sunlight and Stardust Angela McCallister, The CEO’s Christmas Manny Kayleigh Sky, No Luck |
| Lesbian Fiction | Larissa Lai, The Tiger Flu | Lucy Jane Bledsoe, The Evolution of Love Nona Caspers, The Fifth Woman Amber Dawn, Sodom Road Exit Genevieve Hudson, Pretend We Live Here Trifonia Melibea Obono, La Bastarda (tr. Lawrence Schimel) Sarah Schulman, Maggie Terry Krystal A. Smith, Two Moons |
| Lesbian Memoir/Biography | Zahra Patterson, Chronology | Marusya Bociurkiw, Food Was Her Country: The Memoir of a Queer Daughter Barrie Jean Borich, Apocalypse, Darling Sandra Gail Lambert, A Certain Loneliness Esther Newton, My Butch Career Lindsay Nixon, nîtisânak Julia Van Haaften, Berenice Abbott: A Life in Photography Sarah Viren, MINE |
| Lesbian Mystery | Claire O'Dell, A Study in Honor | Joseph Fink, Alice Isn't Dead Charlotte Greene, Gnarled Hollow Ellen Hart, A Whisper of Bones Gerri Hill, The Locket Catherine Maiorisi, A Matter of Blood A. Rose Mathieu, Secrets of the Last Castle Linda J. Wright, Stolen |
| Lesbian Poetry | Nina Puro, Each Tree Could Hold a Noose or a House | Etel Adnan, Surge Kristin Chang, Past Lives T. Liem, Obits. Jane Miller, Who Is Trixie the Trasher? And Other Questions Eileen Myles, Evolution Emilia Nielsen, Body Work Marylyn Tan, Gaze Back |
| Lesbian Romance | Ann McMan, Beowulf for Cretins | Jenny Frame, Charming the Vicar Jae, Just for Show Lola Keeley, The Music and the Mirror Aurora Rey, Autumn’s Light Rachel Spangler, In Development Sheri Lewis Wohl, The Talebearer Erin Zak, Breaking Down Her Walls |
| LGBTQ Anthology | The Other Foundation, As You Like It: The Gerald Kraak Anthology, Volume II [fiction] Roxane Gay, Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture [nonfiction] | Lexie Bean, Written on the Body: Letters from Trans and Non-Binary Survivors of Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence Peter Dickinson, C. E. Gatchalian, Kathleen Oliver and Dalbir Singh, Q2Q: Queer Canadian Performance Texts Sadie Epstein-Fine and Makeda Zook, Spawning Generations: Rants and Reflections on Growing Up with LGBTQ Parents Miah Jefra and Chad Koch, Foglifter Volume 3, Issue 1 Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, Rikki Beadle-Blair and John R. Gordon, Sista!: An Anthology of Writing By and About Same Gender Loving Women of African/Caribbean Descent with a UK Connection Taneka Stotts and Sfé R. Monster, Beyond II: The Queer Post-Apocalyptic & Urban Fantasy Comic Anthology |
| LGBTQ Children's/Young Adult | Kacen Callender, Hurricane Child | Mark Oshiro, Anger Is a Gift Angelo Surmelis, The Dangerous Art of Blending In Adib Khorram, Darius the Great Is Not Okay Ashley Herring Blake, Girl Made of Stars Elizabeth Acevedo, The Poet X Claire Legrand, Sawkill Girls Kacen Callender, This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story |
| LGBTQ Drama | Mashuq Mushtaq Deen, Draw the Circle | Daniel Alexander Jones, Black Light Jen Silverman, Collective Rage: A Play in Five Betties Miranda Rose Hall, Plot Points in Our Sexual Development Erin Markey, Singlet |
| LGBTQ Erotica | Blue Delliquanti and Kazimir Lee, Miles & Honesty in SCFSX! | Sacchi Green, Best Lesbian Erotica of the Year, Volume 3 Niki Smith, Crossplay Matthew Bright, Gents: Steamy Stories from the Age of Steam Tom Cardamone, The Lurid Sea |
| LGBTQ Graphic Novel | Tommi Parrish, The Lie and How We Told It | Mark Russell, Sean Parsons, Mark Morales, Howard Porter, Mike Feehan, Exit, Stage Left!: The Snagglepuss Chronicles Paige Braddock, Love Letters to Jane’s World Tillie Walden, On a Sunbeam Eric Kostiuk Williams, Our Wretched Town Hall Michelle Perez and Remy Boydell, The Pervert Steve MacIsaac, Unpacking Jeanne Thornton and Tara Madison Avery, We’re Still Here: An All-Trans Comics Anthology |
| LGBTQ Nonfiction | Imani Perry, Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry | Ria Brodell, Butch Heroes Charlene A. Carruthers, Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements Avery Cassell, Resistance: The LGBT Fight Against Fascism in WWII Piper J. Daniels, Ladies Lazarus Martin Duberman, Has the Gay Movement Failed? Jim Elledge, The Boys of Fairy Town: Sodomites, Female Impersonators, Third-Sexers, Pansies, Queers, and Sex Morons in Chicago’s First Century C. J. Janovy, No Place Like Home: Lessons in Activism from LGBT Kansas |
| LGBTQ Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror | Isaac R. Fellman, The Breath of the Sun | Margaret Killjoy, The Barrow Will Send What It May J. Y. Yang, The Descent of Monsters Sonya Taaffe, Forget the Sleepless Shores Aliette de Bodard, In the Vanishers’ Palace Clay AD, Metabolize, If Able Fletcher DeLancey, Resilience C. L. Polk, Witchmark |
| LGBTQ Studies | William T. Hoston, Toxic Silence: Race, Black Gender Identity, and Addressing the Violence Against Black Transgender Women in Houston | E. Patrick Johnson, Black. Queer. Southern. Women.: An Oral History Lyndon K. Gill, Erotic Islands: Art and Activism in the Queer Caribbean Myrl Beam, Gay, Inc.: The Nonprofitization of Queer Politics Keridwen N. Luis, Herlands: Exploring the Women’s Land Movement in the United States Andrew Billings and Leigh Moscowitz, Media and the Coming Out of Gay Male Athletes in American Team Sports T. Jackie Cuevas, Post-Borderlandia: Chicana Literature and Gender Variant Critique Anne Balay, Semi Queer: Inside the World of Gay, Trans, and Black Truck Drivers |
| Transgender Fiction | Casey Plett, Little Fish | Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, Sketchtasy Akwaeke Emezi, Freshwater Calvin Gimpelevich, Invasions Jordy Rosenberg, Confessions of the Fox |
| Transgender Nonfiction | Jules Gill-Peterson, Histories of the Transgender Child | Aren Z. Aizura, Mobile Subjects: Transnational Imaginaries of Gender Reassignment Joy Ladin, The Soul of the Stranger: Reading God and Torah from a Transgender Perspective Thomas Page McBee, Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man Vivek Shraya, I’m Afraid of Men |
| Transgender Poetry | Raquel Salas Rivera, Lo Terciario / The Tertiary | Gwen Benaway, Holy Wild Luna Merbruja, Heal Your Love Sara Mithra, If the Color Is Fugitive Ely Shipley, Some Animal |