Finalists for the 18th Annual Lambda Literary Awards

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March 3, 2006, New York, NY—The Lambda Literary Foundation announced the finalists for the 18th Annual Lambda Literary Awards, celebrating achievements in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) literature for books published in 2005.

Launched in 1989, the Lambda Literary Awards is the nation's most celebrated and comprehensive collection of awards for LGBT writing. Spanning twenty categories, the 100 finalists reflect a diverse range of distinguished voices from the LGBT community and highlight the full range of achievement in LGBT literature.

 The finalists are selected based on a two-part process. In the fall of 2005, readers, authors, and publishers formally nominated books, with the nomination period closing on December 31. A finalist selection committee of reviewers and booksellers chose the finalists by first voting on their top choices and then, in conference calls, discussing the top titles in each category.

 "This is a remarkable list of finalists," observed Charles Flowers, executive director of Lambda Literary Foundation. "From small press to university press to New York mainstream houses, LGBT publishing is vibrant and vigorous, with new voices like Tennessee Jones and Michelle Embree joining established favorites like Jeanette Winterson and Dennis Cooper. We are most proud of our debut fiction awards, which allow Lambda to recognize the emerging talent in our community that these publishers are investing in and introducing to the world."

 Seventy-two judges, representing a broad cross-section of the gay and lesbian literary community, will select a single book in each category to win the prestigious Lambda Literary Award, considered to be the highest accolade for a book from the LGBT community. The recipients will be announced at a gala ceremony in Washington, DC on Thursday, May 18, 2006, on the eve of the BookExpo America Convention. Information about the awards ceremony will be announced at a later date, or can be requested at asklambda@earthlink.net.


Finalists for the 2005 Lambda Literary Awards (alphabetical by category):

Anthology Red Light: Superheroes, Saints, & Sluts, ed. Anna Camilleri (Arsenal Pulp Press) Lesbian Pulp Fiction, ed. Katherine Forrest (Cleis) Freedom in the Village: 25 Years of Black, Gay Men’s Writing, ed. E. Lynn Harris (Carroll & Graf) Everything I Have is Blue: Short Fiction by Working-Class Men, ed. Wendell Ricketts (Suspect Thoughts) Bullets and Butterflies: Queer Spoken Word Poetry, ed. Emanuel Xavier (Suspect Thoughts)

Belles Lettres Quicksands: A Memoir by Sybille Bedford (Counterpoint Press) Tab Hunter Confidential by Tab Hunter, with Eddie Muller (Algonquin) My One Night Stand with Cancer by Tania Katan (Alyson Books) The Tricky Part by Martin Moran (Beacon Press) When I Knew, edited by Robert Trachtenberg, illustrated by Tom Bachtell (Regan Books)

Biography The Fabulous Sylvester by Joshua Gamson (Henry Holt) Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted: The Life of Brion Gysin by John Geiger (The Disinformation Company) Beyond Recall by Mary Meigs and Lise Weil (Talonbooks) Wild Girls: Paris, Sappho, & Art by Diana Souhami (St. Martins) February House by Sherrill Tippins (Houghton Mifflin)

Children's/Young Adult Antonio's Card/La Tarjeta de Antonio by Rigoberto Gonzalez (Children’s Book Press) Totally Joe by James Howe (Simon & Schuster) And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell & Justin Richardson (Simon & Schuster) Rainbow Road by Alex Sanchez (Simon & Schuster) Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai (Tundra Books)

Erotica Best Gay Erotica 2006, ed. by Matt Bernstein Sycamore and Richard Labonte (Cleis) Best Lesbian Erotica 2006, ed. by Eileen Myles and Tristan Taormino (Cleis) Rode Hard But Away Wet: Lesbian Cowboy Erotica edited by Sacchi Green & Rakelle Valencia (Suspect Thoughts) Close Contact by Sean Wolfe (Kensington) Stolen Moments: Erotic Interludes 2, edited by Stacia Seaman and Radclyffe (Bold Strokes)

Gay Men’s Debut Fiction Setting the Lawn on Fire by Mack Friedman (Wisconsin) Mother of Sorrows by Richard McCann (Pantheon) The First Verse by Barry McCrea (Carroll & Graf) You Are Not the One by Vestal McIntyre (Carroll & Graf) Bilal's Bread by Sulyman X (Alyson)

Gay Men's Fiction The Sluts by Dennis Cooper (Carroll & Graf) German Officer’s Boy by Harlan Greene (Wisconsin) Faith for Beginners by Aaron Hamburger (Random House) What We Do is Secret by Kief Hillsbery (Villard) Acqua Calda by Keith McDermott (Carroll & Graf)

Gay Men's Mystery One of These Things is Not Like the Others by D. Travers Scott (Suspect Thoughts) The Actor’s Guide to Greed by Rick Copp (Kensington) The Paper Mirror by Dorien Grey (GLB Publishers) White Tiger by Michael Allen Dymmoch (St. Martins Minotaur) Cajun Snuff by W. Randy Haynes (Publish America)

Gay Men's Poetry School of the Arts by Mark Doty (HarperCollins) For Dust Thou Art by Timothy Lui (Southern Illinois) Sugar by Martin Pousson (Suspect Thoughts) Crush by Richard Siken (Yale) Blue on Blue Ground by Aaron Smith (Pittsburgh)

Humor Invasion of Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel, (Alyson Books) Juicy Mother by Jennifer Camper (Soft Skull Press) What the L ? by Kate Clinton (Carroll & Graf) Revenge of the Paste Eaters by Cheryl Peck (5 Spot, Warner Books) Don't Get too Comfortable by David Rakoff (Doubleday)

Lesbian Debut Fiction Crashing America by Katia Noyes (Alyson) Manstealing for Fat Girls by Michelle Embree (Soft Skull Press) The Beautifully Worthless by Ali Leibegott (Suspect Thoughts) In Too Deep by Ronica Black (Bold Strokes) Bliss by Fiona Zedde (Kensington)

Lesbian Fiction Babyji by Abha Dawesar (Anchor Books) Wild Dogs by Helen Humphrys (W. W. Norton) With or Without You by Lauren Sanders (Akashic) Five Books of Moses Lapinsky by Karen Tulchinsky (Raincoast Books) Lighthousekeeping by Jeanette Winterson (Harcourt)

Lesbian Mystery Women of Mystery edited by Katherine Forrest (Haworth) The Iron Girl by Ellen Hart (St. Martins Minotaur) Desert Blood: The Juarez Murders by Alicia Gaspar De Alba (Arte Publico) Darkness Descending by Penny Mickelbury (Kings Crossing) Justice Served by Radclyffe (Bold Strokes)

Lesbian Poetry Where the Apple Falls by Samiya Bashir (redbone press) Directed by Desire: Collected Poems by June Jordan (Copper Canyon) Life Mask by Jackie Kay (Bloodaxe Books) New and Selected Poems, Volume II by Mary Oliver (Beacon Press) Eye of Water by Amber Flora Thomas (Pittsburgh)

LGBT Studies When Heroes Love: The Ambiguity of Eros in the Stories of Gilgamesh and David by Susan Ackerman (Columbia) Zest for Life: Lesbians’ Experience of Menopause by Jennifer Kelly (Spinifex) Why I Hate Abercrombie and Fitch by Dwight A. McBride (NYU Press) Lesbian Communities Festivals, Rvs And the Internet, edited by Esther D. Rothblum and Penny Sablove (Harrington Park Press) Love’s Rite: Same-Sex Marriage in India and the West by Ruth Vanita (Palgrave Macmillan)

Nonfiction Gore Vidal’s America by Dennis Altman (Polity Press) Beyond the Down Low by Keith Boykin (Carroll & Graf) Words to Our Now by Thomas Glave (Minnesota) Raising Boys without Men by Peggy Drexler (Rodale) Women Together/Women Apart by Tirza True Latimer (Rutgers)

Romance Artist’s Dream by Gerri Hill (Bella Books) Just Like That by Karin Kallmaker (Bella Books) The Price of Temptation by M. J. Pearson (Seventh Window) Distant Shores, Silent Thunder by Radclyffe (Bold Strokes) Walt Loves the Bearcat by Randy Boyd (West Beach Books)

Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Fledgling by Octavia Butler (Seven Stories) Shapers of Darkness by David B. Coe (Tor) Temple Landfall by Jane Fletcher (Bold Strokes) Daughters of an Emerald Dusk by Katherine Forrest (Alyson Books) No Sister of Mine by Jeanne G’Fellers (Bella Books)

Spirituality The Seven Sisters of the Pleiades by Munya Andrews (Spinifex) Qu(e)erying Evangelism by Cheri DiNovo (The Pilgrim Press). I Am This One Walking Beside Me by Daniel Gebhardt (The Pilgrim Press) Fumbling Toward Divinity by Craig Hickman (Annabessacook Farm)

Transgender/GenderQueer Choir Boy by Charlie Anders (Soft Skull Press) In a Queer Time and Place by Judith Halberstam (NYU Press) Deliver Me from Nowhere by Tennessee Jones (Soft Skull Press) Just Add Hormones by Matt Kailey (Beacon Press) The Riddle of Gender by Deborah Rudacille (Pantheon)

Lambda Literary Foundation is a 501© 3 non-profit dedicated to the celebration and advocacy of LGBTQ literature in all its dimensions. The Lambda Literary Awards, the most visible expression of the foundation’s mission, recognize annually the most significant books published in more than fifteen categories, from fiction to poetry to spiritual writing to best debut novel. In addition, the foundation publishes a quarterly review of lesbian and gay literature, Lambda Book Report.

Find out more Lambda and its programs at www.lambdaliterary.org. Lambda Literary Foundation 16 West 32nd Street, Suite 10E New York, NY 10001 212-239-6575 fax 212-239-6576 asklambda@earthlink.net