# Lambda Literary Award for Poetry

The Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Poetry is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a LGBTQ+ themed book of poetry.
At the first two Lambda Literary Awards in 1989 and 1990, a single award for Poetry was presented, irrespective of gender. Beginning with the 3rd Lambda Literary Awards in 1991, the poetry award was split into two separate awards for Gay Poetry and Lesbian Poetry, which have been presented continuously since then except at the 20th Lambda Literary Awards in 2008, when a merged LGBTQ poetry award was again presented for that year only. In 2016, an award for Transgender Poetry was introduced and has been presented every year since; likewise an award for Bisexual Poetry has been presented since 2019.
In 2024, an award for LGBTQ+ Poetry was again shortlisted, in addition to the 4 newer categories.

## Honorees

Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Poetry winners and finalists :
| Year | Author | Title | Result | |
| 1989 | Carl Morse and Joan Larkin (eds.) | Gay & Lesbian Poetry in our Time | Winner | |
| 1989 | Josephine Balmer (transl.) | Sappho: Poems and Fragments | Finalist | |
| 1989 | James Merrill | The Inner Room | Finalist | |
| 1989 | Paul Monette | Love Alone: Eighteen Elegies for Rog | Finalist | |
| 1989 | May Sarton | The Silence Now | Finalist | |
| 1990 | Michael Klein | Poets for Life | Winner | |
| 1990 | Cheryl Clarke | Humid Pitch: Narrative Poetry | Finalist | |
| 1990 | Robert Glück | Reader | Finalist | |
| 1990 | Christian McEwen | Naming the Waves | Finalist | |
| 1990 | Adrienne Rich | Time’s Power: Poems 1985–1988 | Finalist | |
| 1991–2007 | See separate awards for Gay Poetry and Lesbian Poetry | See separate awards for Gay Poetry and Lesbian Poetry | See separate awards for Gay Poetry and Lesbian Poetry | See separate awards for Gay Poetry and Lesbian Poetry |
| 2008 | Henri Cole | Blackbird and Wolf | Winner | |
| 2008 | Dawn Lundy Martin | A Gathering of Matter/A Matter of Gathering | Finalist | |
| 2008 | Carol Potter | Otherwise Obedient | Finalist | |
| 2008 | Reginald Shepherd | Fata Morgana | Finalist | |
| 2008 | C. Dale Young | The Second Person | Finalist | |
| 2008 | Syd Zolf | Human Resources | Finalist | |
| 2009–2015 | See separate awards for Gay Poetry and Lesbian Poetry | See separate awards for Gay Poetry and Lesbian Poetry | See separate awards for Gay Poetry and Lesbian Poetry | See separate awards for Gay Poetry and Lesbian Poetry |
| 2016–2018 | See awards for Gay Poetry, Lesbian Poetry and Transgender Poetry | See awards for Gay Poetry, Lesbian Poetry and Transgender Poetry | See awards for Gay Poetry, Lesbian Poetry and Transgender Poetry | See awards for Gay Poetry, Lesbian Poetry and Transgender Poetry |
| 2019–2023 | See awards for Gay Poetry, Lesbian Poetry, Transgender Poetry and Bisexual Poetry | See awards for Gay Poetry, Lesbian Poetry, Transgender Poetry and Bisexual Poetry | See awards for Gay Poetry, Lesbian Poetry, Transgender Poetry and Bisexual Poetry | See awards for Gay Poetry, Lesbian Poetry, Transgender Poetry and Bisexual Poetry |
| 2024 | Robin Gow | Lanternfly August | Finalist | |
| 2024 | Destiny Hemphill | motherworld: a devotional for the alter-life | Finalist | |
| 2024 | Sam Sax | Pig | Finalist | |
| 2024 | Quinn Carver Johnson | The Perfect Bastard | Finalist | |
| 2024 | Alina Pleskova | Toska | Finalist | |