LGBTQ

The 2024 Lambda Literary Awards Shortlists Are Here

Read your way into some of the best LGBTQ+ literature with this year's Lambda Literary Award shortlists in 26 categories.

Community Mar 28, 2024

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The finalists across 26 categories for the 36th annual Lambda Literary Awards are here. The Lambdas–colloquially known as the Lammys–celebrate the best of queer literature. This year, 130 different titles are being named as finalists across the categories, which include everything from LGBTQ+ comic books to gay memoir, lesbian fiction to LGBTQ+ children’s books and more. Winners of the award will be announced at Sony Hall in New York City on June 11, 2024.

Check out the finalists in 12 of the 26 categories below. You can access the full lists at the Lambda Literary website.

LGBTQ+ Comics

A Guest in The House by Emily Caroll
Belle of the Ball by Mari Costa
Blackward by Lawrence Lindell
Roaming by Jillian Tamaki, Mariko Tamaki
The Chromatic Fantasy by H.A.

LGBTQ+ Nonfiction

Black on Black: On Our Resilience and Brilliance in America by Daniel Black
Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City by Elyssa Maxx Goodman
Hi Honey, I’m Homo by Matt Baume
Otherwise by Julie Marie Wade
Out: A Parent’s Guide to Supporting Your LGBTQIA+ Kid Through Coming Out and Beyond — John Sovec, LMFT

LGBTQ+ Children’s Books

The Apartment House on Poppy Hill by Nina LaCour; illustrator Sonia Albert
Door by Door by Meeg Pincus and Meridth Mckean Gimbel
Gender Identity for Kids by Andy Passchier
Grandad’s Pride by Harry Woodgate
The Wishing Flower by A. J. Irving and Kip Alizadeh

LGBTQ+ Middle Grade Books

Dear Mothman by Robin Gow
Ellie Engle Saves Herself by Leah Johnson
Just Lizzie by Karen Wilfrid
Matteo by Michael Leali
The Beautiful Something Else by Ash Van Otterloo

LGBTQ+ YA Books

Cold Girls by Maxine Rae
Only This Beautiful Moment by Abdi Nazemian
Pritty by Keith F. Miller, Jr.
That Self-Same Metal (The Forge & Fracture Saga, Book 1) by Brittany N. Williams
The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa

LGBTQ+ Speculative Fiction

Bang Bang Bodhisattva by Aubrey Wood
I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself: A Novel by Marisa Crane
The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon
The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera
The Thick and the Lean by Chana Porter

LGBTQ+ Mystery

A Calculated Risk by Cari Hunter
Don’t Forget the Girl by Rebecca McKanna
The Good Ones by Polly Stewart
Transitory by J. M. Redmann
Where the Dead Sleep by Joshua Moehling

LGBTQ+ Romance and Erotica

A Tight Squeeze: Smutty Trans and Queer Stories by laura q
Chef’s Choice by TJ Alexander
Fly with Me: A Novel by Andie Burke
Iris Kelly Doesn’t Date by Ashley Herring Blake
The Fiancee Farce by Alexandria Bellefleur

Lesbian Fiction

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin
Biography of X by Catherine Lacey
Organ Meats by K-Ming Chang
Our Hideous Progeny by C E McGill
Pomegranate by Helen Elaine Lee

Gay Fiction

American Scholar by Patrick E. Horrigan
Blackouts by Justin Torres
Brother & Sister Enter the Forest: A Novel by Richard Mirabella
Family Meal by Bryan Washington
I Will Greet the Sun Again by Khashayar J. Khabushani

Bisexual Fiction

All-Night Pharmacy: A Novel by Ruth Madievsky
Endpapers by Jennifer Savran Kelly
Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen by Sarah James
Natural Beauty by Ling Ling Huang
Old Enough by Haley Jakobson

Transgender Fiction

Bellies by Nicola Dinan
Girlfriends by Emily Zhou
The Rage Letters by Valérie Bah; translator Kama La Mackerel
Trash by Sylvia Aguilar Zéleny
Wild Geese by Soula Emmanuel

Interested in attending the Lammys? You can–this year’s new event space can hold 450 guests. Details about attending and forthcoming announcements about presenters and speakers are at the Lambda Literary website.

Find more news and stories of interest from the book world in Breaking in Books.