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GayCityNews.com | MARCH 24 - APRIL 7, 2022
BY KATHLEEN WARNOCK
Over the course of 34 years,
the Lambda Literary
Awards have grown into a
ceremony that continues
to recognize the best LGBTQ+ work,
from bestsellers published by major
houses to essential work from independent
presses and self-published
volumes.
On March 15, Lambda Literary announced
the fi nalists for this year’s
Lammy Awards, with its judging panels
choosing from the highest-ever
number of submissions in award history.
“We are particularly inspired by
such amazing numbers in the LGBTQ
Young Adult and Children’s/Middle
Grade categories,” Lambda Award
Manager LaKesha Lewis said.
The Lammys will be awarded in 24
categories, from fi ction to poetry, nonfi
ction, erotica, mystery, drama, comics
and more.
“Here is a primer, a compendium of
what one group learned, struggled with,
and accomplished. Here is a book to start
a mighty shelf,” wrote Rebecca Makkai in
the New York Times Book Review of Sarah
Schulman’s “Let the Record Show,”
fi nalist for LGBTQ Nonfi ction.
A wide range of trans playwrights
whose work is currently being produced
and in development are included
in “The Methuen Drama Book of Trans
Plays”: Azure D. Osborne-Lee, Ty Defoe,
MJ Kaufman, Raphaël Amahl Khouri,
j. chavez, Sharifa Yasmin, and Mashuq
Mushtaq Deen. Leanna Keys, Lindsey
Mantoan, and Angela Farr Schiller are
the editors of the book, which is a fi -
nalist for LGBTQ Anthology.
Lambda Literary also hosts special
awards recognizing the outstanding
contributions made by individuals to
LGBTQ literature, culture, and community.
These cash prizes are made
possible by individual donors and will
be announced at the Lammys: Randall
Kenan Prize for Black LGBTQ Fiction;
Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/
Queer Nonfi ction; Judith A. Markowitz
Award for Exceptional New LGBTQ
Writers; Jim Duggins, PhD Outstanding
Mid-Career Novelist Prize; and The
J. Michael Samuel Prize for Emerging
Writers Over 50.
Finalists and winners will take part
in a virtual award ceremony on Saturday,
June 11, marking the second year
the Lammys have been produced online.
Last year’s ceremony drew an international
audience, and the winners
accepted their awards from all over.
Drag queen and visual artist Sasha
Velour is serving as the host. Registration
for the online event is available at
lambdaliterary.org/awards/get-tickets.
Tickets start at $52 for access from 2-10
p.m. on June 11, and include a gift bag
of digital swag from Lambda friends and
sponsors, as well as access to an afternoon
of readings and talks with fi nalists
before to the evening’s ceremony.
DREW STEVENS/COURTESY OF FARRAR, STRAUS
AND GIROUX
BOOKS
Lammy Nods Highlight Top LGBTQ Books
The Lambda Literary Awards ceremony will be held in June
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