# Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction

The Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a work of fiction on lesbian themes. As the award is presented based on themes in the work, not the sexuality or gender of the writer, men and heterosexual women may also be nominated for or win the award.

## Recipients

Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction winners and finalists :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 1989 | Dorothy Allison | Trash: Short Stories | Winner |
| 1989 | Sarah Schulman | After Delores | Finalist |
| 1989 | Rita Mae Brown | Bingo | Finalist |
| 1989 | Jan Clausen | The Prosperine Papers | Finalist |
| 1989 | Camarin Grae | The Secret in the Bird | Finalist |
| 1990 | Nisa Donnelly | The Bar Stories: A Novel After All | Winner |
| 1990 | Jane Rule | After the Fire | Finalist |
| 1990 | May Sarton | Education of Harriet Hatfield | Finalist |
| 1990 | Shay Youngblood | The Big Mama Stories | Finalist |
| 1990 | Valerie Miner | Trespassing and Other Stories | Finalist |
| 1991 | Paula Martinac | Out of Time | Winner |
| 1991 | Jane DeLynn | Don Juan in the Village | Finalist |
| 1991 | Anna Livia | Incidents Involving Mirth | Finalist |
| 1991 | Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz | My Jewish Face | Finalist |
| 1991 | Sarah Schulman | People in Trouble | Finalist |
| 1992 | Jewelle Gomez | The Gilda Stories | Winner (tie) |
| 1992 | Blanche McCrary Boyd | The Revolution of Little Girls | Winner (tie) |
| 1992 | Diane Salvatore | Benediction | Finalist |
| 1992 | Judith McDaniel | Just Say Yes | Finalist |
| 1992 | Anna Livia | Minimax | Finalist |
| 1993 | Judith Katz | Running Fiercely Toward a High Thin Sound | Winner |
| 1993 | Carol Anshaw | Aquamarine | Finalist |
| 1993 | Sarah Schulman | Empathy | Finalist |
| 1993 | Madelyn Arnold | On Ships at Sea | Finalist |
| 1993 | Rebecca Brown | Terrible Girls | Finalist |
| 1994 | Jeanette Winterson | Written on the Body | Winner |
| 1994 | Paula Martinac | Home Movies | Finalist |
| 1994 | Jenifer Levin | Sea of Light | Finalist |
| 1994 | Leslie Feinberg | Stone Butch Blues | Finalist |
| 1994 | Joan Nestle and Naomi Holoch | Women on Women 2 | Finalist |
| 1995 | Rebecca Brown | The Gifts of the Body | Winner |
| 1995 | Eileen Myles | Chelsea Girls | Finalist |
| 1995 | Heather Lewis | House Rules | Finalist |
| 1995 | Emma Donoghue | Sir Fry | Finalist |
| 1995 | Ellen Galford | The Dyke and the Dybbuk | Finalist |
| 1996 | Jacqueline Woodson | Autobiography of a Family Photo | Winner |
| 1996 | Louise Blum | Amnesty | Finalist |
| 1996 | Stephanie Grant | Passion of Alice | Finalist |
| 1996 | Sarah Schulman | Rat Bohemia | Finalist |
| 1996 | Lucy Jane Bledsoe | Sweat | Finalist |
| 1997 | Achy Obejas | Memory Mambo | Winner |
| 1997 | Barbara Wilson | If You Had a Family | Finalist |
| 1997 | Carol Anshaw | Seven Moves | Finalist |
| 1997 | Sarah Van Arsdale | Toward Amnesia | Finalist |
| 1997 | Rebecca Brown | What Keeps Me Here | Finalist |
| 1998 | Elana Dykewomon | Beyond the Pale | Winner |
| 1998 | Frankie Hucklenbroich | A Crystal Diary | Finalist |
| 1998 | Ruthann Robson | A/K/A | Finalist |
| 1998 | Persimmon Blackbridge | Prozac Highway | Finalist |
| 1998 | Blanche McCrary Boyd | Terminal Velocity | Finalist |
| 1999 | Dorothy Allison | Cavedweller | Winner |
| 1999 | Sarah Schulman | Shimmer | Finalist |
| 1999 | Sharon Bridgforth | the bull-jean stories | Finalist |
| 1999 | Rebecca Brown | The Dogs | Finalist |
| 1999 | Erika Lopez | They Call Me Mad Dog | Finalist |
| 2000 | Sarah Waters | Tipping the Velvet | Winner |
| 2000 | Anna Livia | Bruised Fruit | Finalist |
| 2000 | Barbara Wilson | Salt Water and Other Stories | Finalist |
| 2000 | Terri de la Pena | Faults | Finalist |
| 2000 | Elizabeth Stark | Shy Girl | Finalist |
| 2001 | Michelle Tea | Valencia | Winner |
| 2001 | Sarah Waters | Affinity | Finalist |
| 2001 | Shay Youngblood | Black Girl in Paris | Finalist |
| 2001 | Stacey D'Erasmo | Tea | Finalist |
| 2001 | Jeanette Winterson | The Powerbook | Finalist |
| 2002 | Achy Obejas | Days of Awe | Winner |
| 2002 | Erika Lopez | Hoochie Mama: The Other White Meat | Finalist |
| 2002 | Ann Wadsworth | Light, Coming Back | Finalist |
| 2002 | Sylvia Brownrigg | Pages for You | Finalist |
| 2002 | Alexandra Grilikhes | Yin Fire | Finalist |
| 2003 | Sarah Waters | Fingersmith | Winner |
| 2003 | Lynn Breedlove | Godspeed | Finalist |
| 2003 | Carol Anshaw | Lucky in the Corner | Finalist |
| 2003 | Nicola Griffith | Stay | Finalist |
| 2003 | Lydia Kwa | This Place Called Absence | Finalist |
| 2004 | Nina Revoyr | Southland | Winner |
| 2004 | Susan J. Leonardi | And Then They Were Nuns | Finalist |
| 2004 | Ann-Marie MacDonald | The Way the Crow Flies | Finalist |
| 2004 | Lucy Jane Bledsoe | This Wild Silence | Finalist |
| 2004 | Carla Trujillo | What Night Brings | Finalist |
| 2005 | Stacey D'Erasmo | A Seahorse Year | Winner |
| 2005 | Valerie Miner | Abundant Light | Finalist |
| 2005 | Emma Donoghue | Life Mask | Finalist |
| 2005 | Maggie Dubris | Skels | Finalist |
| 2005 | Susan Stinson | Venus of Chalk | Finalist |
| 2006 | Abha Dawesar | Babyji | Winner |
| 2006 | Jeanette Winterson | Lighthousekeeping | Finalist |
| 2006 | Aren X. Tulchinsky | The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky | Finalist |
| 2006 | Helen Humphreys | Wild Dogs | Finalist |
| 2006 | Lauren Sanders | With or Without You | Finalist |
| 2007 | Sarah Waters | The Night Watch | Winner |
| 2007 | Sheila Ortiz Taylor | Outrageous | Finalist |
| 2007 | J. D. Glass | Punk Like Me | Finalist |
| 2007 | Michelle Tea | Rose of No Man's Land | Finalist |
| 2007 | Leslie Larson | Slipstream | Finalist |
| 2008 | Ali Liebegott | The IHOP Papers | Winner |
| 2008 | Lucy Jane Bledsoe | Biting the Apple | Finalist |
| 2008 | Mari SanGiovanni | Greetings from Jamaica | Finalist |
| 2008 | Sarah Schulman | The Child | Finalist |
| 2008 | Julia Watts | The Kind of Girl I Am | Finalist |
| 2008 | Jess Wells | The Mandrake Broom | Finalist |
| 2009 | Chandra Mayor | All the Pretty Girls | Winner (tie) |
| 2009 | Emma Donoghue | The Sealed Letter | Winner (tie) |
| 2009 | Ruth Perkinson | Breaking Spirit Bridge | Finalist |
| 2009 | Stephanie Grant | Map of Ireland | Finalist |
| 2009 | Ivan Coyote | The Slow Fix | Finalist |
| 2010 | Jill Malone | A Field Guide to Deception | Winner |
| 2010 | Jennifer McMahon | Dismantled | Finalist |
| 2010 | Emma Pérez | Forgetting the Alamo, or, Blood Memory | Finalist |
| 2010 | Elana Dykewomon | Risk | Finalist |
| 2010 | Nairne Holtz | This One's Going to Last Forever | Finalist |
| 2011 | Eileen Myles | Inferno (a poet's novel) | Winner |
| 2011 | Lucy Jane Bledsoe | Big Bang Symphony | Finalist |
| 2011 | Zelda Lockhart | Fifth Born II: The Hundredth Turtle | Finalist |
| 2011 | Zoe Whittall | Holding Still for as Long as Possible | Finalist |
| 2011 | Carol Guess | Homeschooling | Finalist |
| 2012 | Farzana Doctor | Six Metres of Pavement | Winner |
| 2012 | Kristyn Dunnion | The Dirt Chronicles | Finalist |
| 2012 | Shannon Cain | The Necessity of Certain Behaviors | Finalist |
| 2012 | Hillary Jordan | When She Woke | Finalist |
| 2012 | Nina Revoyr | Wingshooters | Finalist |
| 2013 | Thrity Umrigar | The World We Found | Winner |
| 2013 | Carol Anshaw | Carry the One | Finalist |
| 2013 | Ellis Avery | The Last Nude | Finalist |
| 2013 | Jesse Blackadder | The Raven's Heart | Finalist |
| 2013 | B. K. Loren | Theft | Finalist |
| 2013 | Catherine Jones | Wonder Girls | Finalist |
| 2014 | Chinelo Okparanta | Happiness, Like Water | Winner |
| 2014 | T. Greenwood | Bodies of Water | Finalist |
| 2014 | Ali Liebegott | Cha-Ching! | Finalist |
| 2014 | Christiana Harrell | Cream | Finalist |
| 2014 | e.E. Charlton-Trujillo | Fat Angie | Finalist |
| 2014 | Kate Worsley | She Rises | Finalist |
| 2014 | Jean Ryan | Survival Skills | Finalist |
| 2014 | Chavisa Woods | The Albino Album | Finalist |
| 2014 | Jeanette Winterson | The Daylight Gate | Finalist |
| 2014 | Wally Lamb | We Are Water | Finalist |
| 2015 | Alexis De Veaux | Yabo | Winner |
| 2015 | Ann-Marie MacDonald | Adult Onset | Finalist |
| 2015 | Qiu Miaojin | Last Words of Montmartre | Finalist |
| 2015 | Francine Prose | Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 | Finalist |
| 2015 | M. B. Caschetta | Miracle Girls | Finalist |
| 2015 | Shelly Oria | New York 1, Tel Aviv 0 | Finalist |
| 2015 | Brandy T. Wilson | The Palace Blues | Finalist |
| 2015 | Sarah Waters | The Paying Guests | Finalist |
| 2016 | Chinelo Okparanta | Under the Udala Trees | Winner |
| 2016 | Virginie Despentes | Apocalypse Baby | Finalist |
| 2016 | Mecca Jamilah Sullivan | Blue Talk and Love | Finalist |
| 2016 | LaShonda Katrice Barnett | Jam on the Vine | Finalist |
| 2016 | Debra Busman | Like a Woman | Finalist |
| 2016 | Tiya Miles | The Cherokee Rose | Finalist |
| 2016 | Miranda July | The First Bad Man | Finalist |
| 2016 | Violette Leduc | Thérèse and Isabelle | Finalist |
| 2017 | Nicole Dennis-Benn | Here Comes the Sun | Winner |
| 2017 | Lucy Jane Bledsoe | A Thin Bright Line | Finalist |
| 2017 | Jacqueline Woodson | Another Brooklyn | Finalist |
| 2017 | Kathy Anderson | Bull & Other Stories | Finalist |
| 2017 | M. B. Caschetta | Pretend I'm Your Friend | Finalist |
| 2017 | Lynda A. Archer | Tears in the Grass | Finalist |
| 2017 | Lynn C. Miller | The Day After Death | Finalist |
| 2017 | Cathleen Schine | They May Not Mean To, But They Do | Finalist |
| 2018 | Carmen Maria Machado | Her Body and Other Parties | Winner |
| 2018 | Roxane Gay | Difficult Women | Finalist |
| 2018 | S. J. Sindu | Marriage of a Thousand Lies | Finalist |
| 2018 | Anne Garréta | Not One Day | Finalist |
| 2018 | Leona Beasley | Something Better than Home | Finalist |
| 2018 | Patricia A. Smith | The Year of Needy Girls | Finalist |
| 2018 | Chavisa Woods | Things to Do When You're Goth in the Country | Finalist |
| 2018 | Ariel Gore | We Were Witches | Finalist |
| 2019 | Larissa Lai | The Tiger Flu | Winner |
| 2019 | Trifonia Melibea Obono with Lawrence Schimel (trans.) | La Bastarda | Finalist |
| 2019 | Sarah Schulman | Maggie Terry | Finalist |
| 2019 | Genevieve Hudson | Pretend We Live Here | Finalist |
| 2019 | Amber Dawn | Sodom Road Exit | Finalist |
| 2019 | Lucy Jane Bledsoe | The Evolution of Love | Finalist |
| 2019 | Nona Caspers | The Fifth Woman | Finalist |
| 2019 | Krystal A. Smith | Two Moons | Finalist |
| 2020 | Nicole Dennis-Benn | Patsy | Winner |
| 2020 | Janice Gould | A Generous Spirit: Selected Work by Beth Brant | Finalist |
| 2020 | Mathangi Subramanian | A People's History of Heaven | Finalist |
| 2020 | Carolina De Robertis | Cantoras | Finalist |
| 2020 | Kristen Arnett | Mostly Dead Things | Finalist |
| 2020 | Shannon Pufahl | On Swift Horses | Finalist |
| 2020 | Jacqueline Woodson | Red at the Bone | Finalist |
| 2020 | Madeline Ffitch | Stay and Fight | Finalist |
| 2021 | Juli Delgado Lopera | Fiebre Tropical | Winner |
| 2021 | K-Ming Chang | Bestiary | Finalist |
| 2021 | Francesca Ekwuyasi | Butter Honey Pig Bread | Finalist |
| 2021 | Jennifer Steil | Exile Music | Finalist |
| 2021 | Jean Kyoung Frazier | Pizza Girl | Finalist |
| 2022 | Mia McKenzie | Skye Falling | Winner |
| 2022 | Lauren Groff | Matrix | Finalist |
| 2022 | Kirstin Valdez Quade | The Five Wounds | Finalist |
| 2022 | Venita Blackburn | How to Wrestle a Girl | Finalist |
| 2022 | Kristen Arnett | With Teeth | Finalist |
| 2023 | K-Ming Chang | Gods of Want | Winner |
| 2023 | Leila Mottley | Nightcrawling | Finalist |
| 2023 | Mecca Jamilah Sullivan | Big Girl | Finalist |
| 2023 | Julia Armfield | Our Wives Under the Sea | Finalist |
| 2023 | Mónica Ojeda, trans. by Sarah Booker | Jawbone | Finalist |
| 2024 | Catherine Lacey | Biography of X | Winner |
| 2024 | Jen Beagin | Big Swiss | Finalist |
| 2024 | K-Ming Chang | Organ Meats | Finalist |
| 2024 | C. E. McGill | Our Hideous Progeny | Finalist |
| 2024 | Helen Elaine Lee | Pomegranate | Finalist |