25th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners Announced!
Author: Edit Team
June 4, 2013
25th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners Announced
A Quarter Century of Outstanding LGBT Literature Celebrated
Augusten Burroughs, John Irving and Cherrie Moraga Honored
PHOTOS OF THE 25TH ANNUAL LAMBDA LITERARY AWARDS
(Ceremony Photography: David Martin;
Red Carpet Photography: Brian Sargent)
The winners of the 25th Annual Lambda Literary Awards were announced last night in a sold-out gala ceremony hosted by comedienne Kate Clinton at The Great Hall at Cooper Union. Taking place just after BookExpo America, – the book publishing industry’s largest annual gathering of booksellers, publishers, authors, and readers – the Lambda ceremony brought together almost 500 attendees, sponsors, and celebrities to celebrate excellence in LGBT literature and 25 years of the groundbreaking literary awards. Legendary performer Janis Ian took to the stage at the ceremony, and the VIP After-Party at the New Museum was hosted by super-hot DJ Honey Dijon making a quarter century of the “Lammys” a night to remember.
As “mistress” of ceremonies, Clinton, for the second consecutive year, treated the audience to her brand of topical, political comedy that The New York Times has called, “Quick-witted, clear-spoken … a bizarrely logical, seemingly free-associating style of delivery…” Welcoming the members of the audience from out of town, she joked, “There’s fringe on the podium. That’s so gay. They thought of everything.”
New York Times columnist and bestselling author Frank Bruni, in presenting the Board of Trustees Award for Excellence in Literature to Augusten Burroughs said of his work, “There are memoirs but then there are people who redefined them… He’s not just a talented man, he’s a freakishly talented one.”
Later in the night a new milestone was achieved. “For the first time transgender people are accepting the award for transgender fiction,” said Imogen Binnie, in a commentary during the acceptance of the award for the winner of Transgender fiction for The Collection: Short Fiction From The Transgender Vanguard.*
Janis Ian performed a moving rendition of her evocative song At Seventeen garnering a standing ovation.
Cherrie Moraga, Chicana writer, feminist, activist, poet, essayist, and playwright, accepted Lambda Literary’s Pioneer Award. International bestseller John Irving, a Lambda winner for In One Person, also received LLF’s Bridge Builder Award introduced to him by Edmund White.
Finally, near the end of the ceremony, Randy Jones, original member of the Village People, took the stage to present the Lammy in Gay and Lesbian Erotica saying, “I am privileged to be in a place of such history and in front of an audience of such talent.”
“I’ve never been more proud of our community of writers.” said Tony Valenzuela, Lambda Literary Foundation Executive Director. “I can’t wait to see what the next 25 years brings.”
Once again, The Lammys raised the bar for glamour with its dazzling roster of presenters from the worlds of film, television, theatre, politics, religion, sex, and, of course, literature. Gracing the stage were: Ingrid Abrams, Children’s Librarian, Brooklyn Public Library; Justin Vivian Bond, author and Tony-nominated cabaret performer; Frank Bruni, first openly gay Op-Ed columnist of The New York Times, and bestselling author; acclaimed young adult author Nick Burd; Jonathan Capehart, Washington Post columnist and MSNBC contributor; Stacey D’Erasmo, novelist and literary critic; David France, journalist and documentary film maker; Deborah Gregory, television producer and award-winning author; Nina Hartley, legendary adult film actress and feminist sex educator; Amber Hollilbaugh, activist and writer; Karla Jay, writer and professor; Randy Jones, pop star and original cowboy of Village People; James Lecesne, actor, writer and Academy Award winning short filmmaker; Deacon Maccubbin & Jim Bennett, founders of Lambda Rising Bookstore and of the Lambda Literary Foundation; Keith Price, stand-up comic and Sirius OUT Z radio personality; Peter Staley, AIDS and gay rights activist; Kim Stolz, fashion model, television personality, and financial executive at Citigroup; Edmund White, award-winning novelist and memoirist; and Jacqueline Woodson, award-winning young adult author.
Ceremony Sponsors:
Benefactor Level: Ketel One Vodka, Patron Level: American Institute on Bisexuality, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, Barefoot Wines & Bubbly, Bold Strokes Books, Simon & Schuster; Mentor Level: Chronicle Books, Harper Perennial, The New York Times, Samhain Publishers: Friends Level:Bywater Books, Arsenal Pulp Press, Circlet Press, Fararr, Straus, and Giroux, Hachette Book Group, Riverdale/Magnus, Seal Press Gift Bag Level: ABRAMS, Galison, Topside Press.
Winners of the 25th Annual Lambda Literary Awards
Transgender Fiction
1. Being Emily, Rachel Gold, Bella Books
2. The Collection: Short Fiction From The Transgender Vanguard, edited by Tom Léger and Riley MacLeod, Topside Press [WINNER]
3. Dialectic of the Flesh, Roz Kaveney, A Midsummer Night’s Press
4. First Spring Grass Fire, Rae Spoon, Arsenal Pulp Press
5. Offspring, Michael Quadland, Red Hen Press
Transgender Nonfiction
1. Seasonal Velocities, Ryka Aoki, Trans-Genre Press
2. Teeny Weenies and Other Short Subjects, Matt Kailey, Outskirts Press
3. Transfeminist Perspectives in and beyond Transgender and Gender Studies, edited by Anne Enke, Temple University Press [WINNER]
4. Transposes, Dylan Edwards, Northwest Press
Bisexual Literature [TIE]
1. Axel Hooley’s Death Watch List, Scotty-Miguel Sandoe, CreateSpace
2. Girlfag: A Life Told In Sex and Musicals, Janet W. Hardy, Beyond Binary Books
3. History of a Pleasure Seeker, Richard Mason, Random House / Alfred A. Knopf
4. In One Person, John Irving, Simon & Schuster [WINNER]
5. My Awesome Place: The Autobiography of Cheryl B, Cheryl Burke, Topside Signature [WINNER]
Gay General Fiction
1. A Horse Named Sorrow, Trebor Healey, University of Wisconsin Press
2. The Absolutist, John Boyne, Other Press
3. Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club, Benjamin Alire Saenz, Cinco Puntos Press [WINNER]
4. The Lava in My Bones, Barry Webster, Arsenal Pulp Press
5. Lovers, Daniel Arsand, Europa Editions
6. The Paternity Test, Michael Lowenthal, University of Wisconsin Press
7. Sighs Too Deep For Words, William Jack Sibley, Createspace
8. Spreadeagle, Kevin Killian, Publication Studio
9. These Things Happen, Richard Kramer, Unbridled Books
10. Unbuilt Projects, Paul Lisicky, Four Way Books
Gay Memoir/Biography
1. The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard, Ron Padgett, editor, The Library of America
2. Fire in the Belly, Cynthia Carr, Bloomsbury [WINNER]
3. Intolerable, Kamal Al-Solaylee, HarperCollins Canada
4. Midstream: An Unfinished Memoir, Reynolds Price, Scribner
5. My Husband and My Wives: A Gay Man’s Odyssey, Charles Rowan Beye, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
6. Twelve Views from the Distance, Mutsuo Takahashi, author, Jeffrey Angles, translator, University of Minnesota Press
Gay Mystery
1. Bokassa’s Last Apostle, Rod Shelton, Paradise Press UK
2. Dos Equis, Anthony Bidulka, Insomniac Press
3. Fires of London, Janice Law, MysteriousPress.com/Open Road
4. Lake on the Mountain: A Dan Sharp Mystery, Jeffrey Round, Dundurn [WINNER]
5. The Yellow Canary, Steve Neil Johnson, Clutching Hand Books
Gay Poetry
1. Appetite, Aaron Smith, University of Pittsburgh Press
2. He Do the Gay Man in Different Voices, Stephen S. Mills, Sibling Rivalry Press [WINNER]
3. Looking for the Gulf Motel, Richard Blanco, University of Pittsburgh Press
4. Nocturnes of the Brothel of Ruin, Patrick Donnelly, Four Way Books
5. Slow Lightning, Eduardo C. Corral, Yale University Press
Gay Romance
1. The Celestial, Barry Brennessel, MLR Press
2. Don’t Let Me Go, J.H. Trumble, Kensington
3. Kamikaze Boys, Jay Bell, Jay Bell Books [WINNER]
4. The Nothingness of Ben, Brad Boney, Dreamspinner Press
5. Toughskins, William Masswa, Bold Strokes Books
Gay Erotica
1. Coming To: A Collection of Erotic and Other Epiphanies, Lukas Hand, Lethe Press
2. The Facialist, Mykola Dementiuk, JMS Books [WINNER]
3. Raising Hell: Demonic Gay Erotica, Todd Gregory, ed., Bold Strokes Books
4. Secret Societies, William Holden, Bold Strokes Books
5. Strawberries and Other Erotic Fruits, Jerry L. Wheeler, Lethe Press
Lesbian General Fiction
1. Carry the One, Carol Anshaw, Simon & Schuster
2. The Last Nude, Ellis Avery, Riverhead Books
3. The Raven’s Heart, Jesse Blackadder, Bywater Books
4. Theft: A Novel, BK Loren, Counterpoint Press
5. Wonder Girls, Catherine Jones, Simon & Schuster UK
6. The World We Found: A Novel, Thrity Umrigar, HarperCollins Publishers / Harper [WINNER]
Lesbian Memoir/Biography
1. A Simple Revolution: The Making of an Activist Poet, Judy Grahn, Aunt Lute Books
2. All We Know: Three Lives, Lisa Cohen, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
3. Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama, Alison Bechdel, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. Before the Rain, Luisita Lopez Torregrosa, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. The Gentrification of the Mind: Witness to a Lost Imagination, Sarah Schulman, University of California Press
6. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, Jeanette Winterson, Grove/Atlantic [WINNER]
Lesbian Mystery
1. Ill Will, J.M. Redmann, Bold Strokes Books [WINNER]
2. Jacob’s War, C.P. Rowlands, Bold Strokes Books
3. Lemon Reef, Robin Silverman, Bold Strokes Books
4. Molly: House on Fire, R. E. Bradshaw, R. E. Bradshaw Books
5. Rest for the Wicked, Ellen Hart, Minotaur Books
Lesbian Poetry
1. fault tree, kathryn l. pringle, Omnidawn Publishing
2. Letters to Kelly Clarkson, Julia Bloch, Sidebrow
3. Sea and Fog, Etel Adnan, Nightboat Books [WINNER]
4. Snowflake/different streets, Eileen Myles, Wave Books
5. wine for a shotgun, Marty McConnell, EM Press
Lesbian Romance
1. Appointment with a Smile, Kieran York, Blue Feather Books
2. Dark Wings Descending, Lesley Davis, Bold Strokes Books
3. Love Match, Ali Vali, Bold Strokes Books
4. Month of Sundays, Yolanda Wallace, Bold Strokes Books [WINNER]
5. Runaway, Anne Laughlin, Bold Strokes Books
6. She Left Me Breathless, Trin Denise, Ragz Books USA
7. Sometime Yesterday, Yvonne Heidt, Bold Strokes Books
8. Survived by Her Longtime Companion, Chris Paynter, Blue Feather Books
9. Tactical Pursuit, Lynette Mae, Regal Crest Publishing
10. Third, Q. Kelly, Ride the Rainbow Books
Lesbian Erotica
1. Girls Who Score: Hot Lesbian Erotica, edited by Ily Goyanes, Cleis Press
2. The Harder She Comes: Butch/Femme Erotica, D.L. King, Cleis Press [WINNER]
3. One Saved to the Sea, Catt Kingsgrave, Clasp Editions; An Imprint of Circlet Press
LGBT Anthology
1. For Colored Boys, Keith Boykin, Magnus Books
2. Here Come the Brides!: Reflections on Lesbian Love and Marriage, Edited by Audrey Bilger & Michele Kort, Seal Press
3. No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, Justin Hall – Editor, Fantagraphics Books [WINNER]
4. Why Are Faggots So Afraid of Faggots? Flaming Challenges to Masculinity, Objectification, and the Desire to Conform, Edited by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, AK Press
LGBT Children’s/Young Adult
1. Adaptation, Malinda Lo, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
2. The Adventure of Tulip, Birthday Wish Fairy, S. Bear Bergman and Suzy Malik, Flamingo Rampant
3. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, Benjamin Alire Saenz, Simon & Schuster/ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers [WINNER]
4. Ask the Passengers, A.S. King, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
5. Beautiful Music for Ugly Children, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Flux Books
6. Every Day, David Levithan, Knopf Books for Young Readers
7. Kiss the Morning Star, Elissa Janine Hoole, Amazon Children’s Publishing
8. The Miseducation of Cameron Post, emily m. danforth, Balzer + Bray
9. Personal Effects, E.M. Kokie, Candlewick Press
10. Silhouette of a Sparrow, Molly Beth Griffin, Milkweed Editions
LGBT Debut Fiction
1. Desire: Tales of New Orleans, William Sterling Walker, Chelsea Station Editions
2. The Dream of Doctor Bantam, Jeanne Thornton, OR Books
3. The Evening Hour, Carter Sickels, Bloomsbury
4. Incidental Music, Lydia Perovic, Inanna Publications
5. Love, In Theory: Ten Stories, E.J. Levy, University of Georgia Press/Flannery O’Connor Award for Short Fiction
6. Makara: a novel, Kristen Ringman, Handtype Press, LLC
7. Monstress, Lysley Tenorio, HarperCollins Publishers / Ecco
8. People Who Disappear, Alex Leslie, Freehand Books (an imprint of Broadview Press)
9. The Summer We Got Free, Mia McKenzie, BGD Press [WINNER]
10. Three Cubic Feet, Lania Knight, Main Street Rag
LGBT Drama
1. Edith Can Shoot Things And Hit Them, A. Rey Pamatmat, Samuel French, Inc.
2. Falling In Time, C. E. Gatchalian, J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing/Scirocco Drama
3. The Myopia and Other Plays by David Greenspan, Marc Robinson, University of Michigan Press [WINNER]
4. A Strange and Separate People, Jon Marans, Chelsea Station Editions
5. Thunder Above, Deeps Below, A. Rey Pamatmat, Samuel French, Inc.
LGBT Nonfiction
1. Communists and Perverts under the Palms: The Johns Committee in Florida, 1956-1965, Stacy Braukman, University Press of Florida
2. Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America, Christopher Bram, Hachette Book Group/Twelve
3. Far From The Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity, Andrew Solomon, Scribner
4. Flagrant Conduct: The Story of Lawrence v. Texas, Dale Carpenter, W. W. Norton & Company [WINNER]
5. I Must Resist: Bayard Rustin’s Life in Letters, Michael Long, Editor, City Lights
6. Israel/Palestine and the Queer International, Sarah Schulman, Duke University Press
7. Out Spoken: A Vito Russo Reader Reel One and Reel Two, Jeffrey Schwarz, Mark Thompson and Bo Young, White Crane Books
8. Real Man Stories, T Coooper, McSweeney’s
LGBT Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror
1. Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative Fiction, Brit Mandelo, Lethe Press
2. Chocolatiers of the High Winds: A Gay Steampunk Romance, H.B. Kurtzwilde, Clasp Editions; An Imprint of Circlet Press
3. Green Thumb, Tom Cardamone, Lethe Press [WINNER]
4. Heiresses of Russ 2012: the Year’s Best Lesbian Speculative Fiction, Connie Wilkins and Steve Berman, Lethe Press
5. In the Now, Kelly Sinclair, Blue Feather Books
6. Night Shadows: Queer Horror, Greg Herren and J.M. Redmann, eds., Bold Strokes Books
7. The Survivors, Sean Eads, Lethe Press
LGBT Studies
1. Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure, Sara Warner, University of Michigan Press
2. Depression: A Public Feeling, Ann Cvetkovich, Duke University Press
3. Gay Press, Gay Power: The Growth of LGBT Community Newspapers in America, Tracy Baim, Prairie Avenue Productions and Windy City Times
4. How To Be Gay, David M. Halperin, Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
5. The Invention of Heterosexual Culture, Louis-Georges Tin, The MIT Press
6. On Making Sense: Queer Race Narratives of Intelligibility, Ernesto Javier Martínez, Stanford University Press
7. Out of Africa: LGBT Organizing in Namibia and South Africa, Ashley Currier, University of Minnesota Press
8. Performing Queer Latinidad: Dance, Sexuality, Politics, Ramón H. Rivera-Servera, University of Michigan Press [WINNER]
9. Pray the Gay Away The Extraordinary Lives of Bible Belt Gays, Bernadette C. Barton, NYU Press
10. South Africa and the Dream of Love to Come: Queer Sexuality and the Struggle for Freedom, Brenna M. Munro, University of Minnesota Press
Dr. James Duggins Mid-Career Novelist Prize
Nicola Griffith
Trebor Healey
Dr. Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Awards
Sassafras Lowrey
Carter Sickels
2013 Lammy Awards Host Committee
Don Weise, Co-Chair; S. Chris Shirley, Co-Chair
Gabriel Amor, Anne Austin, John Bateman, Brad Boles, Jamie Brickhouse, Paul Dierkes, Dick Donahue, David Gale, Tal Goretsky, Wayne Hoffman, Karl Jones, Dean Klingler, Melanie La Rosa,
Mario Lopez-Cordero, Dan Manjovi, David McConnell, Bill Miller, Jay Moore, Nick Nicholson,
Angelo Nikolopoulos, Julia Pastore, Lori Perkins, Jay Plum, Charles Rice-Gonzalez, Patrick Ryan,
Eddie Sarfaty, Liz Scheier, Bob Smith, Jerl Surratt, Jason Wells, Martin Wilson
Lambda Literary Foundation Board of Trustees
Judith Markowitz, President · Ellery Washington, Vice-President
J. Michael Samuel, Treasurer · Sue A. Greer, Secretary
