14th Annual Lambda Literary Awards Announced

Posted on May 24, 2002

The 14th Annual Lambda Literary Awards (also known as "Lammys") were presented recently at a gala ceremony in New York's Tribeca area. Awards were presented in 20 categories. Honors in Lesbian and Gay Fiction went to Cuban-American Achy Obejas' Days of Awe and to best-selling author Allan Gurganus' The Practical Heart. Past recipients of Lammy Awards include Dorothy Allison, Edmund White, Jewelle Gomez, Matthew Stadler, Michael Thomas Ford, and Gerry Gomez Pearlberg.

In addition to the 20 juried categories, awards were presented to Alexander Chee for his searing novel of pedophilia and its consequences, Edinburgh, to the Astraea Lesbian Writers fund for its ongoing support of lesbian writers, and to the University of Wisconsin Press for its 'Living Out' series of gay memoirs and biographies.

"This year's awards provide continuing testimony to the diversity and development of a LGBT literary and cultural legacy," said Lambda Book Report Editor Jim Marks, who helped administer this year's voting.

The non-profit Lambda Literary Foundation is the a national organization dedicated to the recognition and promotion of gay and lesbian literature. The Foundation publishes the Lambda Book Report, a monthly GLBT book review magazine and The James White Review, a gay men's literary quarterly. Additionally, it organizes the annual Lambda Literary Awards and an annual writers' conference, the Lambda Literary Festival. The Lambda Literary Foundation is headquartered in Washington, DC.

14th Annual Lambda Literary Award Recipients

Lesbian Fiction:
Days of Awe by Achy Obejas (Ballantine)

Gay Men's Fiction:
The Practical Heart by Allan Gurganus (Knopf)

Lesbian Poetry:
Fox by Adrienne Rich (Norton)

Gay Men's Poetry:
The Source by Mark Doty (HarperCollins)

Lesbian Mystery:
Merchant of Venus by Ellen Hart (St. Martin's Press)

Gay Men's Mystery:
Rag and Bone by Michael Nava (Putnam)

LGBT Biography:
The Scarlet Professor by Barry Werth (Doubleday)

Memoir / Autobiography:
Noonday Demon by Andrew Solomon (Scribner)

Anthologies/Fiction:
Diva Book of Short Stories edited by Helen Sandler (Millivres Books)

Anthologies/Nonfiction:
The Greatest Taboo edited by Delroy Constantine-Simms (Alyson Books)

Humor:
Fraud by David Rakoff (Doubleday)

SF/Fantasy/Horror:
Point of Dreams by Lisa A. Barnett & Melissa Scott (Tor Books)

Spirituality: -- Tie --
Queer Commentary and the Hebrew Bible edited by Ken Stone (The Pilgrim Press)
and
Escaping God's Closet by Bernard Duncan Mayes (University Press of Virginia)

Photography/Visual Arts:
Dear Friends by David Deitcher (Harry N. Abrams)

Children/Young Adult:
Finding H.F. by Julia Watts (Alyson Books)

LGBT Small Press:
Conversaciones! by Mariana Romo-Carmona (Cleis Press)

Erotica:
See Dick Deconstruct by Ian Philips (AttaGirl Press)

Bisexuality / Transgender:
Omnigender by Virginia Ramey Mollenkott (The Pilgrim Press)

Romance:
Pages for You by Sylvia Brownrigg (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

LGBT Studies:
Courting Justice: Gay Men and Lesbians v. the Supreme Court by Joyce Murdoch & Deb Price (Basic Books)

Publisher Service Award
University of Wisconsin Press
Living Out Series

Lambda Literary Foundation Pioneer Award
The Astraea Lesbian Action Foundation

Editor's Choice:
Edinburgh by Alexander Chee (Welcome Rain)