Best LGBT books? Here’s what’s in the running for the Lambda Literary Awards this spring.
Lesbian Fiction: Adult Onset, Ann-Marie Macdonald, Tin House Books; Last Words of Montmartre, Qiu Miaojin, translated by Ari Larissa Heinrich, New York Review Books; Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932, Francine Prose, Harper Collins/Harper; Miracle Girls, MB Caschetta, Engine Books; New York 1, Tel Aviv 0, Shelly Oria, FSG Originals/Farrar, Straus and Giroux; The Palace Blues, Brandy T. Wilson, Spinsters Ink; The Paying Guests, Sarah Waters, Riverhead Books, Penguin Random House; Yabo, Alexis De Veaux, RedBone Press
Gay Fiction: All I Love and Know, Judith Frank, HarperCollins/William Morrow; Barracuda, Christos Tsiolkas, Hogarth; Bitter Eden: A Novel, Tatamkhulu Afrika, Macmillan/Picador USA; The City of Palaces, Michael Nava, U. of Wisconsin Press; I Loved You More, Tom Spanbauer, Hawthorne Books; Little Reef and Other Stories, Michael Carroll, Terrace Books, an imprint of the U. of Wisconsin Press; Next to Nothing: Stories, Keith Banner, Lethe Press; Souljah, John R. Gordon, Angelica Entertainments Ltd/Team Angelica Publishing
Bisexual Fiction: Best Bi Short Stories: Bisexual Fiction, Sheela Lambert editor, Gressive Press, an imprint of Circlet Press; Extraordinary Adventures of Mullah Nasruddin, Ron J. Suresha, Lethe Press; Finder of Lost Objects, Susie Hara, Ithuriel’s Spear; Give It to Me, Ana Castillo, The Feminist Press; She of the Mountains, Vivek Shraya, Arsenal Pulp Press
Transgender Fiction: Everything Must Go, La JohnJoseph, ITNA PRESS; For Today I Am a Boy, Kim Fu, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Moving Forward Sideways like a Crab, Shani Mootoo, Doubleday Canada; Revolutionary: A Novel, Alex Myers, Simon and Schuster; A Safe Girl To Love, Casey Plett, Topside Press
LGBT Debut Fiction: Death in Venice, California, Vinton Rafe McCabe, The Permanent Press; Kill Marguerite and Other Stories, Megan Milks, Emergency Press; A Map of Everything, Elizabeth Earley, Jaded Ibis Press; The Music Teacher, Bob Sennett, Lethe Press; Nochita, Dia Felix, City Lights/Sister Spit; Part the Hawser, Limn the Sea, Dan Lopez, Chelsea Station Editions; Unaccompanied Minors, Alden Jones, New American Press; The Walk-In Closet, Abdi Nazemian, Curtis Brown Unlimited
LGBT Nonfiction: An American Queer: The Amazon Trail, Lee Lynch, Bold Strokes Books; Hold Tight Gently: Michael Callen, Essex Hemphill, and the Battlefield of AIDS, Martin Duberman, The New Press; The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction to Asexuality, Julie Sondra Decker, Skyhorse Publishing/Carrel Books; Nevirapine and the Quest to End Pediatric AIDS, Rebecca J. Anderson, McFarland; Robert Gober: The Heart Is Not a Metaphor, Hilton Als, Ann Temkin, Claudia Carson, Robert Gober, Paulina Pobocha, Christian Scheidemann, The Museum of Modern Art; Sexplosion: From Andy Warhol to A Clockwork Orange, How a Generation of Pop Rebels Broke All the Taboos, Robert Hofler, It Books/HarperCollins; The Transgender Archives: Foundations for the Future, Aaron H. Devor, U. of Victoria Libraries; The Up Stairs Lounge Arson: Thirty-Two Deaths in a New Orleans Gay Bar, June 24, 1973 , Clayton Delery-Edwards, McFarland
Bisexual Nonfiction: Fire Shut Up in My Bones, Charles M. Blow, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Not My Father’s Son, Alan Cumming, HarperCollins Publishers/Dey Street Books; Recognize: The Voices of Bisexual Men, Editors: Robyn Ochs & H. Sharif Williams, Bisexual Resource Center
Transgender Nonfiction: Man Alive: A True Story of Violence, Forgiveness and Becoming a Man, Thomas Page McBee, City Lights/Sister Spit; Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love and So Much More, Janet Mock, Atria Books; Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community, Laura Erickson-Schroth, Oxford U. Press
Lesbian Poetry: Haiti Glass, Lenelle Moise, City Lights/Sister Spit; Janey’s Arcadia, Rachel Zolf, Coach House Books; Last Psalm at Sea Level, Meg Day, Barrow Street Press; Like a Begger, Ellen Bass, Copper Canyon Press; MxT, Sina Queyras, Coach House Books; Mysterious Acts by My People, Valerie Wetlaufer, Sibling Rivalry Press; Only Ride, Megan Volpert, Sibling Rivalry Press; Termination Dust, Susanna Mishler, Red Hen Press/Boreal
Gay Poetry: [insert] boy, Danez Smith, YesYes Books; Clean, David J. Daniels, Four Way Books; Don’t Go Back to Sleep, Timothy Liu, Saturnalia Books; ECODEVIANCE: (Soma)tics for the Future Wilderness, CAConrad, Wave Books; The New Testament, Jericho Brown, Copper Canyon Press; Prelude to Bruise, Saeed Jones, Coffee House Press; This Life Now, Michael Broder, A Midsummer Night’s Press; This Way to the Sugar, Hieu Minh Nguyen, Write Bloody Publishing
Lesbian Mystery: The Acquittal, Anne Laughlin, Bold Strokes Books; Done to Death , Charles Atkins, Severn House Publishers; The Old Deep and Dark-A Jane Lawless Mystery, Ellen Hart, Minotaur Books; Slash and Burn, Valerie Bronwen, Bold Strokes Books; UnCatholic Conduct, Stevie Mikayne, Bold Strokes Books
Gay Mystery: Blackmail, My Love: A Murder Mystery, Katie Gilmartin, Cleis Press; Boystown 6: From the Ashes, Marshall Thornton, MLR; Calvin’s Head, David Swatling, Bold Strokes Books; DeadFall, David Lennon, BlueSpike Publishing; Fair Game, Josh Lanyon, Carina Press; A Gathering Storm, Jameson Currier, Chelsea Station Editions; Moon Over Tangier, Janice Law, Open Road Media; The Next, Rafe Haze, Wilde City Press
Lesbian Memoir/Biography: Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years of Movement Building with Barbara Smith, Alethia Jones and Virginia Eubanks, with Barbara Smith, SUNY Press; Cease – a memoir of love, loss and desire, Lynette Loeppky, Oolichan Books; Eating Fire: My Life as a Lesbian Avenger, Kelly Cogswell, U. of Minnesota Press; The End of Eve, Ariel Gore, Hawthorne Books; Under This Beautiful Dome: A Senator, A Journalist, and the Politics of Gay Love in America, Terry Mutchler, Seal Press
Gay Memoir/Biography: Body Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS, and Survival, Sean Strub, Scribner; Charles Walters: The Director Who Made Hollywood Dance, Brent Phillips, U. Press of Kentucky; Closets, Combat and Coming Out: Coming of Age as a Gay Man in the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Army, Rob Smith, Blue Beacon Books by Regal Crest; Inside a Pearl: My Years in Paris, Edmund White, Bloomsbury; Letter to Jimmy, Alain Mabanckou, translated by Sara Meli Ansari, Counterpoint/Soft Skull Press; The Prince of Los Cocuyos, Richard Blanco, HarperCollins/Ecco; Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh, John Lahr, W.W. Norton & Co.; Wagstaff: Before and After Mapplethorpe, Philip Gefter, W.W. Norton & Co./Liveright
Lesbian Romance: Christmas Crush, Kate McLachlan, Regal Crest; The Farmer’s Daughter, Robbi McCoy, Bella Books; The Heat of Angels, Lisa Girolami, Bold Strokes Books; Jolt , Kris Bryant, Bold Strokes Books; Nightingale, Andrea Bramhall, Bold Strokes Books; Seneca Falls, Jesse J. Thoma, Bold Strokes Books; Tangled Roots, Marianne K. Martin, Bywater Books; That Certain Something, Clare Ashton, Breezy Tree Press
Gay Romance: The Companion, Lloyd A. Meeker, Dreamspinner Press; Everything’s Coming Up Roses: Four Tales of M/M Romance, Barry Lowe, Lydian Press; Foolish Hearts: New Gay Fiction, Timothy Lambert and R.D. Cochrane, Cleis Press; Like They Always Been Free, Georgina Li, Queer Young Cowboys; Message of Love, Jim Provenzano, Myrmidude Press/CreateSpace; The Passion of Sergius & Bacchus, A Novel of Truth, David Reddish, DoorQ Publishing; Pulling Leather, L.C. Chase, Riptide Publishing; Salvation: A Novel of the Civil War, Jeff Mann, Bear Bones Books
Lesbian Erotica: All You Can Eat. A Buffet of Lesbian Erotica and Romance, Andi Marquette and R.G. Emanuelle, Ylva Publishing; Forbidden Fruit: stories of unwise lesbian desire, Cheyenne Blue, Ladylit Publishing; Lesbian Sex Bible, Diana Cage, Quiver Books
Gay Erotica: Bears of Winter, Jerry Wheeler, Bear Bones Books; Incubus Tales, Hushicho, Circlet Press; The King, Tiffany Reisz, MIRA Books; Leather Spirit Stallion, Raven Kaldera, Circlet Press; The Thief Taker, William Holden, Bold Strokes Books
LGBT Anthology: Black Gay Genius: Answering Joseph Beam’s Call, Charles Stephens and Steven G. Fullwood, Vintage Entity Press; A Family by Any Other Name: Exploring Queer Relationships, Bruce Gillespie, TouchWood Editions; Outer Voices Inner Lives, Mark McNease and Stephen Dolainski (co-editors), MadeMark Publishing; The Queer South: LGBTQ Writers on the American South, Douglas Ray, Editor, Sibling Rivalry Press; Understanding and Teaching US Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History, Leila J. Rupp & Susan K. Freeman, U. of Wisconsin Press
LGBT Children’s/Young Adult: Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out, Susan Kuklin, Candlewick Press; Double Exposure, Bridget Birdsall, Sky Pony Press, an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing; Five, Six, Seven, Nate!, Tim Federle, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Forgive Me If I’ve Told You This Before, Karelia Stetz-Waters, Ooligan Press; Lies We Tell Ourselves, Robin Talley, Harlequin Teen; Pukawiss the Outcast, Jay Jordan Hawke, Dreamspinner Press/Harmony Ink Press; This is Not a Love Story, Suki Fleet, Dreamspinner Press/Harmony Ink Press; When Everything Feels like the Movies, Raziel Reid, Arsenal Pulp Press
LGBT Drama: The Beast of Times, Adelina Anthony, Korima Press; Bootycandy, Robert O’Hara, Samuel French; A Kid Like Jake, Daniel Pearle, Dramatists Play Service; The Whale, Samuel D. Hunter, Samuel French; Wolves, Steve Yockey, Samuel French
LGBT Graphic Novels: 100 Crushes, Elisha Lim, Koyama Press; Band Vs. Band Comix Volume 1, Kathleen Jacques, Paper Heart Comix; Pregnant Butch: Nine Long Months Spent in Drag, A.K. Summers, Soft Skull, an imprint of Counterpoint; Second Avenue Caper, Joyce Brabner; Art by Mark Zingarelli, Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Snackies, Nick Sumida, Youth in Decline
LGBT SF/F/Horror: Afterparty, Daryl Gregory, Tor Books; Bitter Waters, Chaz Brenchley, Lethe Press; Butcher’s Road, Lee Thomas, Lethe Press; Child of a Hidden Sea, A. M. Dellamonica, Tor Books; Full Fathom Five, Max Gladstone, Tor Books; FutureDyke, Lea Daley, Bella Books; Skin Deep Magic, Craig Laurance Gidney, Rebel Satori Press
LGBT Studies: After Love: Queer Intimacy and Erotic Economies in Post-Soviet Cuba, Noelle M. Stout, Duke U. Press; Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America, Rachel Hope Cleves, Oxford U. Press; Delectable Negro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism within US Slave Culture, Vincent Woodard, Ed. Justin A. Joyce and Dwight McBride, New York U. Press; Queen for a Day: Transformistas, Beauty Queens, and the Performance of Femininity in Venezuela, Marcia Ochoa, Duke U. Press; The Queerness of Native American Literature, Lisa Tatonetti, U. of Minnesota Press; Sexual Futures, Queer Gestures, and Other Latina Longings, Juana Maria Rodriguez, New York U. Press; The Sexuality of History: Modernity and the Sapphic, Susan S. Lanser, U. of Chicago Press; Under Bright Lights: Gay Manila and the Global Scene, Bobby Benedicto, U. of Minnesota Press
Winners will be announced on June 1 in New York City.