The Lambda Literary Awards, also called the "Lammys," are given each year by Lambda Literary to honor the work of LGBTQ+ writers in influencing the world. These awards celebrate the best books written by LGBTQ+ authors.

The Lambda Literary Awards are the most complete set of awards in the United States that focus on LGBTQ+ literature. They recognize books written in English, sold in the United States, and that explore LGBTQ+ themes in specific subject areas. In addition to the main awards for books, Lambda Literary also gives several special awards.

The awards started in 1989 with fourteen prizes for books about gay and lesbian topics in different genres and styles. Over time, the Lammys have expanded to include books about bisexual and transgender experiences, as well as works covering other aspects of the LGBTQ+ community. The Lambda Literary Awards are one of many LGBTQ+ literary awards. Other important awards include those from Publishing Triangle, the Stonewall Book Awards, and the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards.

Award categories

The Lambda Literary Awards are given in many categories that cover different types of writing and identities. Over time, these categories may be combined or split. This decision is usually based on the foundation's assessment of whether a category receives more than 20 submissions for three years in a row. If a category gets fewer than ten books in a year, it might not be considered, and those books could be moved to another category. New categories may also be added to recognize works related to more identities within the LGBTQ+ community.

Winners of the Lambda Literary Awards, also called "Lammy Awards," are announced during a ceremony. They receive trophies but no cash prize. The Lambda Literary Foundation also gives out Special Prizes, which are announced near the ceremony and include cash rewards for winners.

Awards are sometimes combined with others if there are not enough submissions to keep a category active. Occasionally, awards are discontinued. Some categories are removed in certain years due to low submission numbers. The first Lambda Literary Awards had twelve categories, mostly focused on gay and lesbian literature. Many of these have since expanded to include broader topics or have ended. Two original awards, Editor's Choice and Publisher Service, are no longer given.

History

L. Page "Deacon" Macubbin began the Lambda Book Report in 1987 to honor books written by LGBTQ authors. He later created the Lambda Literary Awards in 1989 to give more recognition to these works. The first awards honored books published in 1988. At that time, there were twelve categories based on genre, subject, style, publisher, and identity, plus two other awards. Most of the early categories focused on gay and lesbian literature, with some categories specifically for works targeting certain identities.

The Lambda Awards only consider books published in English and available in the United States. This means most finalists have been from the U.S. or Canada. The awards also required books to be printed, which made it harder for self-published authors, especially those who are less supported or excluded from traditional publishing, to compete.

Some early categories, such as HIV/AIDS literature, were removed as the AIDS crisis became less central to the gay community. New categories for bisexual and transgender literature were added as the community became more inclusive. The first award for transgender literature was in 1997. A bisexual category was added in 2002 as part of the transgender category and returned as a separate category in 2006.

Until 2002, books could be nominated for awards for free. Nomination forms were shared through the Lambda Book Report, publisher lists, and gay and lesbian bookstores. Some readers said this process was too influenced by popular opinion or favored works liked by literary elites. Naiad Press was sometimes blamed for having an advantage over smaller publishers. In 2003, nominations required a $15 fee, several book copies, and only allowed submissions from publishers, authors, or people connected to a book.

The Lambda Awards define eligible books as those that deal with themes related to an award’s identity label, not necessarily written by authors with that identity. From 2009 to 2012, the awards changed this rule because critics said they were not honoring enough LGBTQ authors. However, this change caused more controversy, so the foundation reversed it. They ensured judges identify as LGBTQ and created three special prizes for authors with LGBTQ identities. These new prizes did not include bisexual or transgender people. By 2013, the judging panels and leadership had become more diverse in terms of gender, race, ability, age, job, and location.

By 2012, the number of submissions reached a record high of 600 works from 250 publishers. The program expanded to 22 awards in 2013 and 26 awards in 2026. While many categories still focus on gay and lesbian literature, the awards slowly added more categories that are not based on specific identities within the LGBTQ spectrum. For example, in 2018, some awards were open to all LGBTQ works, while others were listed under broader categories like LGBT or specific identities. As of 2018, there were no identity-based categories involving race, and the only intersectional category was Spirituality. A special prize, the Randall Kenan Prize for Black LGBTQ Fiction, was given annually from 2021 to 2025.

Since 2022, the Lambda Awards have allowed submissions without requiring paper copies of the work. However, the foundation says this change might make it harder for books to advance through the judging process. Some books submitted this way have still reached the finalist round.

Notable winners

Ellen Hart has won five awards in the Lesbian Mystery category. She has the most awards in this category among all authors. She is one of only three writers to have won the award more than once, along with Katherine V. Forrest and J. M. Redmann, who each won three times. Michael Nava has won five awards in the Gay Mystery category. He has the most awards in this category among all authors. He is one of only four writers to have won the award more than once, along with John Morgan Wilson, R. D. Zimmerman, and Marshall Thornton. Marshall Thornton is the only author in the Gay Mystery category to have won twice for two different series.

Alison Bechdel has won four awards in the Humor category. She has the most awards in this category among all authors. She is one of five writers to have won the award more than once, along with Joe Keenan, Michael Thomas Ford, David Sedaris, and David Rakoff. The Humor category has been discontinued.

Nicola Griffith and Melissa Scott each have four awards in the Scifi/Fantasy/Horror category. They are two of six writers to have won the SFFH award more than once, along with Stephen Pagel, Jim Grimsley, and Lee Thomas.

Sarah Waters has won three awards in the Lesbian Fiction category for Tipping the Velvet (2000), Fingersmith (2002), and The Night Watch (2007). She is one of only three writers to have won the Lesbian Fiction award more than once, along with Dorothy Allison and Achy Obejas.

Mark Doty and Adrienne Rich each have three awards in the Poetry category. They are two of seven poets to have won the award more than once, along with Joan Larkin, Michael Klein, Marilyn Hacker, Audre Lorde, and J. D. McClatchy.

Richard Labonté, Radclyffe, and Tristan Taormino each have two awards in the Erotica category. They each won once before the category was split into Gay and Lesbian subdivisions and each won their second award after the split.

Karin Kallmaker and Michael Thomas Ford each have two awards in the Romance category. They each won one award before the category was split into Gay and Lesbian subdivisions—Kallmaker for Maybe Next Time and Ford for Last Summer in 2004—and each won their second award after the split—Ford for Changing Tides in 2008 and Kallmaker for The Kiss That Counted in 2009.

Colm Tóibín is the only writer to have won two awards in the Gay Fiction category for The Master (2004) and The Empty Family (2011).

Paul Monette is the only writer to have won two awards in the Gay Non-Fiction category for Borrowed Time (1989) and Becoming a Man (1993).

Lillian Faderman is the only writer to have won awards in seven different categories. She received:
– The Editor's Choice Award for Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers in 1992
– The Fiction Anthology Award for Chloe Plus Olivia in 1995
– The Lesbian Studies Award for To Believe in Women in 2000
– The Autobiography/Memoir Award for Naked in the Promised Land in 2004
– The LGBT Arts & Culture award for Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics and Lipstick Lesbians in 2007
– The LGBT Non-Fiction award for Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics and Lipstick Lesbians in 2007
– The Pioneer Award in 2013

Several authors have won awards in three different categories:
– Katherine V. Forrest won the Scifi/Fantasy/Horror award for Daughters of an Emerald Dusk in 2005 and the Pioneer Award in 2013, in addition to her five Lesbian Mystery awards.
– Dorothy Allison received the Lesbian Small Press and Lesbian Fiction awards for Trash: Short Stories in 1989, the Lesbian Studies award for Skin in 1995, and a second Lesbian Fiction award in 1998 for Cavedweller.
– Edmund White received the Gay Fiction award for The Beautiful Room Is Empty in 1989, the Gay Biography/Autobiography award for Genet in 1993, and the Fiction Anthology award for Fresh Men: New Voices in Gay Fiction in 2005.
– Michael Thomas Ford won the Humor award twice for Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me and Other Trials of My Queer Life (1999) and That's Mr. Faggot to You (2000), the Romance award twice for Last Summer (2004) and Changing Tides (2008), the Gay Mystery award for What We Remember (2010), and the Jim Duggins Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prize in 2014.
– Eileen Myles won the Small Press award for The New Fuck You in 1996, the Lesbian Poetry award for School of Fish in 1998, and the Lesbian Fiction award for Inferno (A Poet's Novel) in 2010.
– Michael Bronski won the Non-Fiction Anthology award for Taking Liberties in 1997, the Fiction Anthology award for Pulp Friction in 2004, and the LGBT Non-Fiction award for A Queer History of the United States in 2012.

Several other writers have won awards in more than one category in different years and for different works:
– Alison Bechdel won the Lesbian Biography/Autobiography award for The Indelible Alison Bechdel in 1999, the Lesbian Memoir/Biography award for Fun Home: A Family Drama in 2006, and the Pioneer Award in 2

Adaptations

Numerous Lambda Award-winning works have been adapted for film and television:

• Allan Bérubé's 1990 book Coming Out Under Fire, which won the 1991 Gay Non-Fiction Award, was adapted into a 1994 documentary film.
• Tony Kushner's 1993 play Angels in America, which won both the 1994 and 1995 Drama Award, was adapted into a 2003 HBO miniseries, starring Al Pacino and Meryl Streep and directed by Mike Nichols.
• Abraham Verghese's 1994 book My Own Country, which won the 1995 Gay Biography Award, was adapted into a 1998 television movie.
• John Berendt's 1994 novel Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, which won the 1995 Gay Mystery Award, was adapted into a 1997 film, starring Kevin Spacey and John Cusack and directed by Clint Eastwood.
• Erica Fischer's 1995 book Aimée & Jaguar, which won the 1996 Lesbian Biography Award, was adapted into a 1999 film, starring Maria Schrader and Juliane Köhler and directed by Max Färberböck.
• Dorothy Allison's 1998 novel Cavedweller, which won the 1999 Lesbian Fiction Award, was adapted into a 2004 film, starring Kyra Sedgwick and Aidan Quinn and directed by Lisa Cholodenko.
• Sarah Waters's 1998 novel Tipping the Velvet, which won the 2000 Lesbian Fiction Award, was adapted into a three-part 2002 BBC miniseries, starring Rachael Stirling and Keeley Hawes and directed by Geoffrey Sax.
• John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's 1998 play Hedwig and the Angry Inch, which won the 2001 Drama Award, was adapted into a 2001 film, starring Mitchell and Trask and directed by Mitchell.
• Michelle Tea's 2000 novel Valencia, which won the 2001 [award name], was adapted into a 2011 arthouse film.
• David Ebershoff's 2000 book The Danish Girl, which won the 2001 Transgender Award, was adapted into a 2015 film, starring Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander and directed by Tom Hooper; Vikander later won several awards for her role, including the Best Supporting Actress Oscar at the 88th Academy Awards, the Best Actress Award at the 21st Empire Awards, the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 20th Satellite Awards, and the Supporting Actress Award at the 22nd Screen Actors Guild Awards.
• Sarah Waters's 2002 novel Fingersmith, which won the 2003 Lesbian Fiction Award, was adapted into a two-part 2005 miniseries, starring Sally Hawkins and Imelda Staunton and directed by Aisling Walsh.
• Alison Bechdel's 2006 memoir Fun Home, which won the 2007 Lesbian Memoir Award, was adapted into a 2013 musical play.
• André Aciman's Call Me by Your Name, which won the 2008 Gay Fiction Award, was adapted into a 2017 film starring Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer. The film received critical acclaim and over 200 award nominations. It was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Song at the 90th Academy Awards.

Awards by year

The Lambda Literary Awards are given each year to recognize books published the year before. Because of this, the first awards ceremony is sometimes called the 1989 awards (based on the year it was given) or the 1988 awards (based on the year the books were published). Submissions for regular awards are usually accepted from September to November for books published the same year. Finalists are announced in the spring, and winners are announced in the fall. For Special Prizes, submissions typically open in March of the award year for books published the year before. However, in 2026, submissions for Special Prizes were accepted from January to February instead.

Controversies

In 1992, even though the bisexual community asked for a better and more inclusive category, the important bisexual anthology Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out by Loraine Hutchins and Lani Kaʻahumanu had to compete and lost in the "Lesbian Anthology" category. In 2005, the posthumous collection of poems by bisexual Jamaican-American writer June Jordan, titled Directed by Desire: Collected Poems, competed (and won) in the "Lesbian Poetry" category.

With support from BiNet USA and other bisexual groups, including the American Institute of Bisexuality, BiPOL, and Bialogue, the bisexual community worked for many years to create a new category. This effort ended in 2006 with the addition of a "Bisexual" category. Sheela Lambert was one of the activists involved. When the Bisexual category was created and then reduced in size by 2012, Lambert started the Bisexual Book Awards to give more recognition to bisexual literature.

In 2004, the book The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism by controversial researcher J. Michael Bailey was named a finalist in the Transgender category of the 2003 Awards. Transgender people quickly protested the nomination and collected thousands of signatures against it in a few days. After reviewing the book, the judges decided it was transphobic and removed it from the list of finalists. Within a year, the executive director who had approved the book’s inclusion resigned. Later, executive director Charles Flowers said, "The Bailey incident showed problems in our nomination process, which I have completely fixed since becoming the foundation’s leader in January 2006."