from the Lambda Literary Foundation announcement:
On Monday, June 12, Lambda Literary, the nation’s leading organization advancing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) literature, announced the winners of the 29th Annual Lambda Literary Awards (the “Lammys”) at a ceremony hosted by multi-genre artist Justin Vivian Bond at NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The ceremony brought together attendees, sponsors, and celebrities to celebrate excellence in LGBT literature and twenty-nine years of the groundbreaking literary awards.
“Authors putting words in order artfully and with thought is a revolutionary thing in the climate we are living in,” Bond opened the ceremony. “I want to congratulate everyone who’s nominated tonight. We’re here to celebrate you for the gift you have given us with your artistry.”
One of the Middle East’s most celebrated voices, Rabih Alameddine won in the Gay Fiction category for his novel The Angel of History (Grove Press). Set over the course of a night, Alameddine’s book follows a Yemeni-born poet as he revisits the events of his life, from his upbringing to his life as a gay Arab man in San Francisco at the height of the AIDS epidemic. In Lesbian Fiction, Nicole Dennis-Benn won for her debut Here Comes the Sun (Liveright), a novel with a cast of unforgettable Jamaican women who battle for independence while a maelstrom of change threatens their village.
A partial list of the winners:
Lesbian Fiction
- Here Comes the Sun, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Liveright Publishing Corporation
Gay Fiction
- The Angel of History, Rabih Alameddine, Atlantic Monthly Press
Bisexual Fiction
- Marrow Island, Alexis M. Smith, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Transgender Fiction
- Small Beauty, jia qing wilson-yang, Metonymy Press