# Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry

The Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a lesbian-themed book of poetry by a female writer. At the first two Lambda Literary Awards in 1989 and 1990, a single award for LGBT Poetry, irrespective of gender, was presented. Beginning with the 3rd Lambda Literary Awards in 1991, the poetry award was split into two separate awards for Lesbian Poetry and Gay 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.

## Recipients

Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry winners and finalists :
| Year | Author | Title | Result |
| 1991 | Marilyn Hacker | Going Back to the River | Winner |
| 1991 | Irena Klepfisz | A Few Words in the Mother Tongue | Finalist |
| 1991 | S. Diane Bogus | Chant of the Women of Magdalena | Finalist |
| 1991 | Minnie Bruce Pratt | Crime Against Nature | Finalist |
| 1991 | Yvonne Zipter | Patience of Metal | Finalist |
| 1992 | Adrienne Rich | An Atlas of the Difficult World: Poems 1988-1991 | Winner |
| 1992 | Eloise Klein Healy | Artemis in Echo Park | Finalist |
| 1992 | Maureen Seaton | Fear of Subways | Finalist |
| 1992 | Eileen Myles | Not Me | Finalist |
| 1992 | Becky Birtha | The Forbidden Poems | Finalist |
| 1993 | Audre Lorde | Undersong | Winner |
| 1993 | Nancy Boutilier | According to Her Contours | Finalist |
| 1993 | Terry Wolverton | Black Slip | Finalist |
| 1993 | Lori Anderson | Cultivating Excess | Finalist |
| 1993 | Diane Stein | Lady Sun, Lady Moon | Finalist |
| 1994 | Audre Lorde | The Marvelous Arithmetics of Distance | Winner |
| 1994 | May Sarton | Collected Poems (1930-1993) | Finalist |
| 1994 | Cheryl Clarke | Experimental Love Poetry | Finalist |
| 1994 | Kate Rushin | The Black Back-Ups | Finalist |
| 1994 | Cherrie Moraga | The Last Generation | Finalist |
| 1995 | Marilyn Hacker | Winter Numbers | Winner |
| 1995 | Sapphire | American Dreams | Finalist |
| 1995 | June Jordan | Haruko/Love Poems | Finalist |
| 1995 | Linda Smukler | Normal Sex | Finalist |
| 1995 | Mary Oliver | White Pine | Finalist |
| 1996 | Adrienne Rich | Dark Fields of the Republic | Winner |
| 1996 | Chrystos | Fire Power | Finalist |
| 1996 | Gerry Gomez Pearlberg | Key to Everything | Finalist |
| 1996 | Eileen Myles | Maxfield Parrish | Finalist |
| 1996 | Jewelle Gomez | Oral Tradition | Finalist |
| 1997 | Robin Becker | All-American Girl | Winner |
| 1997 | Maureen Seaton | Furious Cooking | Winner |
| 1997 | Clare Coss | Arc of Love | Finalist |
| 1997 | Linda Smukler | Home in Three Days. Don’t Wash. | Finalist |
| 1997 | Jeredith Merrin | Shift | Finalist |
| 1998 | Joan Larkin | Cold River | Winner |
| 1998 | Eileen Myles | School of Fish | Winner |
| 1998 | Pat Califia | Diesel Fuel | Finalist |
| 1998 | Emma Donoghue | Poems Between Women | Finalist |
| 1998 | Gerry Gomez Pearlberg | Queer Dog: Homo/Pup/Poetry | Finalist |
| 1999 | Gerry Gomez Pearlberg | Marianne Faithfull's Cigarette | Winner |
| 1999 | Pamela Sneed | Imagine Being More Afraid of Freedom than Slavery | Finalist |
| 1999 | Beatrix Gates | In the Open | Finalist |
| 1999 | Letta Neely | Juba | Finalist |
| 1999 | Leslea Newman | The Little Butch Book | Finalist |
| 2000 | Olga Broumas | Rave | Winner |
| 2000 | Brenda Shaughnessy | Interior With Sudden Joy | Finalist |
| 2000 | Adrienne Rich | Midnight Salvage | Finalist |
| 2000 | Rita Wong | Monkeypuzzle | Finalist |
| 2000 | Minnie Bruce Pratt | Walking Back Up Depot Street | Finalist |
| 2001 | Elena Georgiou | Mercy Mercy Me | Winner |
| 2001 | Joy Harjo | A Map to the Next World | Finalist |
| 2001 | Nancy Boutilier | And on the Eighth Day Adam Slept Alone | Finalist |
| 2001 | Leslea Newman | Signs of Love | Finalist |
| 2001 | Robin Becker | The Horse Fair | Finalist |
| 2002 | Adrienne Rich | Fox | Winner |
| 2002 | Letta Neely | Here | Finalist |
| 2002 | Gerry Gomez Pearlberg | Mr. Bluebird | Finalist |
| 2002 | Eileen Myles | Skies | Finalist |
| 2002 | Daphne Gottlieb | Why Things Burn | Finalist |
| 2003 | Ellen Bass | Mules of Love | Winner |
| 2003 | C. C. Carter | Body Language | Finalist |
| 2003 | Eloise Klein Healy | Passing | Finalist |
| 2003 | Melanie Braverman | Red | Finalist |
| 2003 | Jenny Factor | Unraveling | Finalist |
| 2004 | Minnie Bruce Pratt | The Dirt She Ate | Winner |
| 2004 | Terry Wolverton | Embers | Finalist |
| 2004 | Daphne Gottlieb | Final Girl | Finalist |
| 2004 | Susan McCabe | Swirl | Finalist |
| 2004 | Michelle Tea | The Beautiful | Finalist |
| 2005 | Beverly Burch | Sweet to Burn | Winner |
| 2005 | Amy King | Antidotes for an Alibi | Finalist |
| 2005 | Carol Guess | Femme’s Dictionary | Finalist |
| 2005 | Adrienne Rich | The School Among the Ruins | Finalist |
| 2005 | Mary Oliver | Why I Wake Early | Finalist |
| 2006 | June Jordan | Directed by Desire: Collected Poems | Winner |
| 2006 | Amber Flora Thomas | Eye of Water | Finalist |
| 2006 | Jackie Kay | Life Mask | Finalist |
| 2006 | Mary Oliver | New and Selected Poems, Volume II | Finalist |
| 2006 | Samiya Bashir | Where the Apple Falls | Finalist |
| 2007 | Sina Queyras | Lemon Hound | Winner |
| 2007 | Cheryl Clarke | Days of Good Looks | Finalist |
| 2007 | Robin Becker | Domain of Perfect Affection | Finalist |
| 2007 | Juliet Patterson | The Truant Lover | Finalist |
| 2007 | Nathalie Stephens | Touch to Affliction | Finalist |
| 2008 | No award presented | No award presented | No award presented |
| 2009 | Judy Grahn | love belongs to those who do the feeling | Winner |
| 2009 | Elizabeth Bradfield | Interpretive Work | Finalist |
| 2009 | Daphne Gottlieb | Kissing Dead Girls | Finalist |
| 2009 | Maureen N. McLane | Same Life | Finalist |
| 2009 | Nancy K. Pearson | Two Minutes of Light | Finalist |
| 2010 | Stacie Cassarino | Zero at the Bone | Winner |
| 2010 | Kristin Naca | Bird Eating Bird | Finalist |
| 2010 | Samiya Bashir | Gospel: Poems | Finalist |
| 2010 | Marilyn Hacker | Names | Finalist |
| 2010 | Ana Božičević | Stars of the Night Commute | Finalist |
| 2011 | Anna Swanson | The Nights Also | Winner |
| 2011 | Elizabeth J. Colen | Money for Sunsets | Finalist |
| 2011 | Jen Currin | The Inquisition Yours | Finalist |
| 2011 | Eleanor Lerman | The Sensual World Re-Emerges | Finalist |
| 2011 | Laurie MacFadyen | White Shirt | Finalist |
| 2012 | Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha | Love Cake | Winner |
| 2012 | Daphne Gottlieb | 15 Ways to Stay Alive | Finalist |
| 2012 | Dawn Lundy Martin | Discipline | Finalist |
| 2012 | Julie R. Enszer (ed.) | Milk and Honey: A Celebration of Jewish Lesbian Poetry | Finalist |
| 2012 | Christina Hutchins | The Stranger Dissolves | Finalist |
| 2013 | Etel Adnan | Sea and Fog | Winner |
| 2013 | Kathryn L. Pringle | fault tree | Finalist |
| 2013 | Julia Bloch | Letters to Kelly Clarkson | Finalist |
| 2013 | Eileen Myles | snowflake/different streets | Finalist |
| 2013 | Marty McConnell | wine for a shotgun | Finalist |
| 2014 | Ana Božičević | Rise in the Fall | Winner |
| 2014 | Eloise Klein Healy | A Wild Surmise: New & Selected Poems & Recordings | Finalist |
| 2014 | Veronica Reyes | Chopper! Chopper! Poetry From Bordered Lives | Finalist |
| 2014 | Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers | Chord Box | Finalist |
| 2014 | R. Erica Doyle | Proxy | Finalist |
| 2014 | Kamilah Aisha Moon | She Has a Name | Finalist |
| 2014 | Ai | The Collected Poems of Ai | Finalist |
| 2014 | Sophie Cabot Black | The Exchange | Finalist |
| 2014 | Suzanne Parker | Viral | Finalist |
| 2014 | Tamiko Beyer | We Come Elemental | Finalist |
| 2015 | Valerie Wetlaufer | Mysterious Acts by My People | Winner |
| 2015 | Lenelle Moïse | Haiti Glass | Finalist |
| 2015 | Rachel Zolf | Janey’s Arcadia | Finalist |
| 2015 | Meg Day | Last Psalm at Sea Level | Finalist |
| 2015 | Ellen Bass | Like a Beggar | Finalist |
| 2015 | Sina Queyras | MxT | Finalist |
| 2015 | Megan Volpert | Only Ride | Finalist |
| 2015 | Susanna Mishler | Termination Dust | Finalist |
| 2016 | Dawn Lundy Martin | Life in a Box is a Pretty Life | Winner |
| 2016 | Claudia Rodriguez | Everybody’s Bread | Finalist |
| 2016 | Sara Jane Stoner | Experience in the Medium of Destruction | Finalist |
| 2016 | Margot Douaihy | Girls Like You | Finalist |
| 2016 | Jessica Jacobs | Pelvis with Distance | Finalist |
| 2016 | J. P. Howard | Say/Mirror: Poems and Histories | Finalist |
| 2016 | Stephanie Gray | Shorthand and Electric Language Stars | Finalist |
| 2016 | Melissa Buzzeo | The Devastation | Finalist |
| 2017 | Pat Parker (Julie R. Enszer, ed.) | Complete Works of Pat Parker | Winner |
| 2017 | Francine J. Harris | play dead | Winner |
| 2017 | Donika Kelly | Bestiary | Finalist |
| 2017 | Etel Adnan | Night | Finalist |
| 2017 | Stacy Szymaszek | Sinister Wisdom/A Midsummer Night’s Press Journal of Ugly Sites | Finalist |
| 2017 | Stephanie Adams-Santos | Swarm Queen’s Crown | Finalist |
| 2017 | Vi Khi Nao | The Old Philosopher | Finalist |
| 2017 | Arisa White | You’re the Most Beautiful Thing That Happened | Finalist |
| 2018 | Rosamond S. King | Rock | Salt | Stone | Winner |
| 2018 | Constance Merritt | Blind Girl Grunt | Finalist |
| 2018 | Sarah Pinder | Common Place | Finalist |
| 2018 | Dawn Lundy Martin | Good Stock Strange Blood | Finalist |
| 2018 | Ana-Maurine Lara | Kohnjehr Woman | Finalist |
| 2018 | Sina Queyras | My Ariel | Finalist |
| 2018 | Ife-Chudeni A. Oputa | Rummage | Finalist |
| 2018 | Jen Bervin | Silk Poems | Finalist |
| 2019 | Nina Puro | Each Tree Could Hold a Noose or a House | Winner |
| 2019 | Emilia Nielsen | Body Work | Finalist |
| 2019 | Eileen Myles | Evolution | Finalist |
| 2019 | Marylyn Tan | Gaze Back | Finalist |
| 2019 | T. Liem | Obits. | Finalist |
| 2019 | Kristin Chang | Past Lives | Finalist |
| 2019 | Etel Adnan | Surge | Finalist |
| 2019 | Jane Miller | Who Is Trixie the Trasher? And Other Questions | Finalist |
| 2020 | t'ai freedom ford | & more black | Winner |
| 2020 | Rocío Carlos | (the other house) | Finalist |
| 2020 | Shira Erlichman | Odes to Lithium | Finalist |
| 2020 | Sharanpal Ruprai | Pressure Cooker Love Bomb | Finalist |
| 2020 | Franny Choi | Soft Science | Finalist |
| 2020 | Etel Adnan | Time | Finalist |
| 2020 | Lee Ann Roripaugh | tsunami vs. the fukushima 50 | Finalist |
| 2020 | Gala Mukomolova | Without Protection | Finalist |
| 2021 | Pamela Sneed | Funeral Diva | Winner |
| 2021 | Kimberly Alidio | : once teeth bones coral : | Finalist |
| 2021 | Roya Marsh | dayliGht | Finalist |
| 2021 | Sarah M. Sala | Devil’s Lake | Finalist |
| 2021 | Mary Jean Chan | Flèche | Finalist |
| 2022 | Tamiko Beyer | Last Days | Winner |
| 2022 | Rosamond S. King | All the Rage | Finalist |
| 2022 | Grace Lau | The Language We Were Never Taught to Speak | Finalist |
| 2022 | Donika Kelly | The Renunciations: Poems | Finalist |
| 2022 | Arisa White | Who’s Your Daddy | Finalist |
| 2023 | Shelley Wong | As She Appears | Winner |
| 2023 | Natalie Wee | Beast at Every Threshold | Finalist |
| 2023 | Courtney Faye Taylor | Concentrate | Finalist |
| 2023 | Brynne Rebele-Henry | Prelude | Finalist |
| 2023 | Rage Hezekiah | Yearn | Finalist |
| 2024 | Kimberly Alidio | Teeter | Winner |
| 2024 | Alyse Knorr | Ardor | Finalist |
| 2024 | Brionne Janae | Because You Were Mine | Finalist |
| 2024 | Maggie Millner | Couplets | Finalist |
| 2024 | Stephanie Adams-Santos | Dream of Xibalba | Finalist |