Current Finalists
Congratulations to these creators of the 2025 Lammy Award finalist titles. The virtual ceremony will take place Saturday, October 4, 2025 as part of LAMMYS DAY, a day of virtual panels, interviews, and readings by this year’s finalists. We’ll see you there!
Lesbian Fiction
- Dead in Long Beach, California // Venita Blackburn. MCD
- Housemates // Emma Copley Eisenberg. Hogarth
- Oye // Melissa Mogollon. Hogarth
- Rainbow Black // Maggie Thrash. HarperCollins
- The Safekeep // Yael van der Wouden. Avid Reader Press | Simon & Schuster
Gay Fiction
- Cinema Love // Jiaming Tang. Dutton
- Henry Henry // Allen Bratton. Unnamed Press
- In Tongues // Thomas Grattan. MCD
- Napalm in the Heart // Pol Guasch; Translated from the Catalan by Mara Faye Lethem. FSG Originals
- Our Evenings // Alan Hollinghurst. Random House
Bisexual Fiction
- Anyone’s Ghost // August Thompson. Penguin Press
- Greta & Valdin // Rebecca K Reilly. Avid Reader Press | Simon & Schuster
- How To Fall in Love in a Time of Unnameable Disaster // Muriel Leung. W. W. Norton & Company
- The Pairing: Special 1st Edition // Casey McQuiston. St. Martin’s Griffin
- We Were the Universe // Kimberly King Parsons. Alfred A. Knopf
Transgender Fiction
- All Things Seen and Unseen: A Novel // RJ McDaniel. ECW Press
- Firebugs // Nino Bulling. Drawn & Quarterly
- Love the World or Get Killed Trying // Alvina Chamberland. Noemi Press
- Love/Aggression // June Martin. tRaum Books
- Yellow Barks Spider // Harman Burns. Radiant Press
Bisexual Nonfiction
- Djuna: The Extraordinary Life of Djuna Barnes // Jon Macy. Street Noise Books
- First Love: Essays on Friendship // Lilly Dancyger. The Dial Press
- Simmering: A Kitchen Memoir // Rebecca Orchant. Unbound Edition Press
- You Get What You Pay For // Morgan Parker. One World
- You’re Embarrassing Yourself // Desiree Akhavan. Random House
Transgender Nonfiction
- American Teenager: How Trans Kids Are Surviving Hate and Finding Joy in a Turbulent Era // Nico Lang. Harry N. Abrams
- How to Fuck Like a Girl // Vera Blossom. DOPAMINE Books
- Make it Count // CeCé Telfer. Grand Central Publishing
- Pretty // KB Brookins. Alfred A. Knopf
- Trans Femme Futures: Abolitionist Ethics for Transfeminist Worlds // Nat Raha and Mijke van der Drift. Pluto Press
Gay Memoir/Biography
- Be Not Afraid of My Body: A Lyrical Memoir // Darius Stewart. Belt Publishing
- Manboobs: A Memoir of Musicals, Visas, Hope, and Cake // Komail Aijazuddin. Harry N. Abrams
- RADIANT: The Life and Line of Keith Haring// Brad Gooch. HarperCollins
- Thom Gunn // Michael Nott. Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- When the Band Played On // Michael G. Lee. Chicago Review Press
Lesbian Memoir/Biography
- Mama: A Queer Black Woman’s Story of a Family Lost and Found // Nikkya Hargrove. Algonquin Books | Little, Brown & Company
- My Withered Legs and Other Essays // Sandra Gail Lambert. University of Georgia Press
- Portrait of a Body // Julie Delporte. Drawn & Quarterly
- The Mary Years // Julie Marie Wade. TRP: The University Press of SHSU
- Wrong is Not My Name // Erica N. Cardwell. The Feminist Press
LGBTQ+ Nonfiction
- Fierce Desires // Rebecca L. Davis. W. W. Norton & Company
- Gender Explained: A New Understanding of Identity in a Gender Creative World // Diane Ehrensaft and Michelle Jurkiewicz. The Experiment
- Long Live Queer Nightlife: How the Closing of Gay Bars Sparked a Revolution // Amin Ghaziani . Princeton University Press
- Queer Art: From Canvas to Club, and the Spaces Between // Gemma Rolls-Bentley. Frances Lincoln
- The Other Olympians // Michael Waters. Farrar, Straus and Giroux
LGBTQ+ Studies
- Dysphoric Modernism: Undoing Gender in French Literature // Mat Fournier. Columbia University Press
- Jill Johnston in Motion: Dance, Writing, and Lesbian Life // Clare Croft. Duke University Press
- Queer Childhoods: Institutional Futures of Indigeneity, Race, and Disability // Mary Zaborskis. New York University Press
- The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China // Matthew H. Sommer. Columbia University Press
- When Monsters Speak: A Susan Stryker Reader // Susan Stryker, edited by McKenzie Wark. Duke University Press
LGBTQ+ Children's Books
- Glenn Burke, Game Changer: The Man Who Invented the High Five // Phil Bildner, Illustrated by Daniel J. O’Brien. Farrar, Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers
- Harper Becomes a Big Sister // Seamus Kirst. American Psychological Association Magination Press
- Jacob’s Missing Book // Sarah and Ian Hoffman. American Psychological Association Magination Press
- Just Us // Molly Beth Griffin; Illustrated by Anait Semirdzhyan. Charlesbridge
- Love of the Half-Eaten Peach // Lee Wind, Illustrated by Jieting Chen. Reycraft
LGBTQ+ Middle Grade
- Mallory in Full Color // Elisa Stone Leahy. Quill Tree Books | HarperCollins
- Murray Out of Water // Taylor Tracy. Quill Tree Books | HarperCollins
- Noah Frye Gets Crushed // Maggie Horn. HarperCollins
- Splinter & Ash // Marieke Nijkamp. Greenwillow Books | HarperCollins
- Wishbone // Justine Pucella Winans. Bloomsbury
LGBTQ+ Young Adult
- Icarus // K. Ancrum. HarperCollins
- Old Wounds // Logan-Ashley Kisner. Delacorte Press | Random House Children’s Books
- So Let Them Burn // Kamilah Cole. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
- The Feast Makers // H. A. Clarke. Erewhon Books
- Time and Time Again // Chatham Greenfield. Bloomsbury
Gay Poetry
- How to Kill a Goat and Other Monsters // Saúl Hernández. University of Wisconsin Press
- Pentimento // Joshua Garcia. Black Lawrence Press
- Rara Avis // Blas Falconer. Four Way Books
- Scattered Snows, to the North // Carl Phillips. Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Terminal Maladies // Okwudili Nebeolisa. Autumn House Press
Lesbian Poetry
- Alt-Nature // Saretta Morgan. Coffee House Press
- Born Backwards // Tanya Olson. YesYes Books
- Dancing Backwards Towards Pluperfect // Koss. Diode Editions
- Instructions for the Lovers // Dawn Lundy Martin. Nightboat Books
- Song of My Softening // Omotara James. Alice James Books
- The Velvet Book // Rae Gouirand. Cornerstone Press
Bisexual Poetry
- Good Dress // Brittany Rogers. Tin House
- Interrogation Records // Jeddie Sophronius. Gaudy Boy
- Return of the Chinese Femme // Dorothy Chan. Deep Vellum
- The Endless Animal // Nathan Mader. fine. Press
- The Stuff of Hollywood // Niki Herd. Copper Canyon Press
Transgender Poetry
- Arasahas: Poems from the Tropics // Jaya Jacobo, Translated from Filipino by Christian Jil Benitez. PAWA Press*
- Consider the Rooster // Oliver Baez Bendorf. Nightboat Books
- Girl Work // Zefyr Lisowski. Noemi Press
- I Don’t Want to Be Understood // Joshua Jennifer Espinoza. Alice James Books
- TRANZ // Spencer Williams. Four Way Books
* Philippine American Writers and Artists (PAWA), Inc., in association with Paloma Press, made possible with support from the GOH Translation Committee, the National Book Development Board of the Philippines, National Commission for Culture and the Arts, the Department of Foreign Affairs (Philippines), Savage Mind Publishing House, and The Office of Senator Loren Legarda
LGBTQ+ Poetry
- Cowboy Park // Eduardo Martínez-Leyva. University of Wisconsin Press
- I Hate Parties // Jes Battis. Nightwood Editions
- No Credit River // Zoe Whittall. Book*hug Press
- Nonbinary Bird of Paradise // Emilia Phillips. University of Akron Press
- Your Dazzling Death // Cass Donish. Alfred A. Knopf
Gay Romance
- It Takes Three To Tango // Jem Wendel. Larking About Press
- Our Own Light // Logan Sage Adams. Self-published
- Outside the Wire // William Leet. Flashpoint Publications
- The Spring Before Obergefell: A Novel // Ben Grossberg. University of Nebraska Press
- We Could Be Heroes // Philip Ellis. G.P. Putnam’s Sons | Penguin Random House
Lesbian Romance
- Bachelorette Number Twelve // Jae. Ylva Publishing
- Here We Go Again // Alison Cochrun. Atria Books
- Loser of the Year // Carrie Byrd. Ylva Publishing
- Loving Safoa // Liza Wemakor. Neon Hemlock
- Outlaw Hearts // Lori G. Matthews. Bella Books
LGBTQ+ Romance and Erotica
- Bradford, Bru and Brendan Too // Colin Dereham. Self-published
- Leather, Lace and Locs // Anne Shade. Bold Strokes Books
- Midsummer // Jena Doyle. Self-published
- Mr. Blue Sky // Isla Olsen. Self-published
- Oyster // Fearne Hill. Self-published
LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction
- Bury Your Gays // Chuck Tingle. Tor Publishing Group
- Markless // C.G. Malburi. Levine Querido
- Metal From Heaven // August Clarke. Erewhon Books
- The Sunforge // Sascha Stronach. Saga Press | Simon and Schuster
- The Palace of Eros // Caro De Robertis. Primero Sueno Press | Simon and Schuster
LGBTQ+ Anthology
- Swagger: A Celebration of the Butch Experience // Rae Theodore and Nat Burns. Flashpoint Publications
- The Queer Arab Glossary // Marwan Kaabour. Saqi Books
- Transmasculine Poetics: Filling the Gap in Literature & the Silences Around Us // Remi Recchia. Sundress Publications
- We Mostly Come Out At Night: 15 Queer Tales of Monsters, Angels & Other Creatures // Contributing Editor Rob Costello, with additional stories by: Kalynn Bayron, David Bowles, Shae Carys, H.E. Edgmon, Michael Thomas Ford, Val Howlett, Brittany Johnson, Naomi Kanakia, Claire Kann, Jonathan Lenore Kastin, Sarah Maxfield, Sam J. Miller, Alexandra Villasante, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor. Running Press Teens
- When I Was Straight: A Tribute to Maureen Seaton // Dustin Brookshire. Harbor Anthologies | Harbor Editions
LGBTQ+ Drama
- Bathhouse.pptx // Jesus I. Valles. Yale University Press
- Casey and Diana // Nick Green. Scirocco Drama (J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing)
- Goldie, Max & Milk // Karen Hartman. Samuel French, A Concord Theatricals imprint
- In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot // Sarah Mantell. Playwrights Horizons
- The Green Line | خطّ التماس // Makram Ayache. Playwrights Canada Press
LGBTQ+ Comics
- Girlmode // Magdalene Visaggio, Illustrated by Paulina Ganucheau. HarperCollins
- Putty Pygmalion // Lonnie Garcia. Silver Sprocket
- SN_33P’sCoolZine.pdf // Tenacity Plys. fifth wheel press
- Something, Not Nothing: A Story of Grief and Love // Sarah Leavitt. Arsenal Pulp Press
- We Belong: An All-Black/All-Queer Sci-Fi/Fantasy Comics Anthology // Viktor T. Kerney and William O. Tyler. Stacked Deck Press
LGBTQ+ Mystery
- Charlotte Illes is Not a Teacher // Katie Siegel. Kensington
- One of Us Knows // Alyssa Cole. William Morrow
- Rough Pages // Lev AC Rosen. Tor Publishing Group
- Rough Trade // Katrina Carrasco. MCD
- The Night of Baba Yaga // Akira Otani, Translated by Sam Bett. Soho Crime
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