32nd Lambda Literary Awards

The 32nd Lambda Literary Awards were announced on June 1, 2020, to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2019. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, there was no gala ceremony; instead, the winners were announced exclusively through social media and the press.

The nominees were announced in March 2020.

Special awards

Category	Winner
Visionary Award
Judith A. Markowitz Emerging Writer Award
Trustee Award

Nominees and winners

Category	Winner	Nominated
Bisexual Fiction	Fiona Alison Duncan, Exquisite Mariposa	Garrett Leigh, Jude Deborah Levy, The Man Who Saw Everything Tomaz Moniz, Big Familia Carley Moore, The Not Wives Zack Smedley, Deposing Nathan Jess Taylor, Just Pervs Alia Trabucco Zerán, The Remainder (Sophie Hughes, tr.)
Bisexual Non-Fiction	Trisha Low, Socialist Realism	Victoria Freeman, A World Without Martha: A Memoir of Sisters, Disability, and Difference Janet W. Hardy, IMPERVIOUS: Confessions of a Semi-Retired Deviant
Bisexual Poetry	Stephanie Young, Pet Sounds	Dorothy Chan, Revenge of the Asian Woman mai c. doan, water/tongue Moina Pam Dick, Moira of Edges, Moira the Tart Camonghne Felix, Build Yourself a Boat Faylita Hicks, HoodWitch Ariana Reines, A Sand Book Cam Scott, Romans/Snowmare
Gay Fiction	Bryan Washington, Lot	Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, Animalia (Frank Wynne, tr.) Lindsey Drager, The Archive of Alternate Endings Will Eaves, Murmur Jaime Manrique, Like This Afternoon Forever João Gilberto Noll, Lord (Edgar Garbelotto, tr.) Ocean Vuong, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous De'Shawn Charles Winslow, In West Mills
Gay Memoir/Biography	Saeed Jones, How We Fight for Our Lives	Joseph Caldwell, In the Shadow of the Bridge Siddharth Dube, An Indefinite Sentence: A Personal History of Outlawed Love and Sex Guy Hocquenghem, The Amphitheater of the Dead (Max Fox, tr.) Isaac Mizrahi, I.M. Alvin Orloff, DISASTERAMA! Adventures in the Queer Underground 1977-1997 James Oseland, Jimmy Neurosis Chris Rush, The Light Years
Gay Mystery	Michael Nava, Carved in Bone	Michael Craft, ChoirMaster: A Mister Puss Mystery Chris Gill, The Nowhere Greg Herren, Royal Street Reveillon Liam McIlvanney, The Quaker David S. Pederson, Death Takes a Bow Timothy Jay Smith, The Fourth Courier Marshall Thornton, Rewind
Gay Poetry	Cyrée Jarelle Johnson, Slingshot	Billy-Ray Belcourt, NDN Coping Mechanisms: Notes from the Field Jericho Brown, The Tradition Douglas Crane, The Revisionist & The Astropastorals Lawrence Lacambra Ypil, The Experiment of the Tropics Gabriel Ojeda-Sagué, Losing Miami Jake Skeets, Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers Brian Teare, Doomstead Days
Gay Romance	James Lovejoy, Joseph Chapman: My Molly Life	Bryan T. Clark, Escaping Camp Roosevelt Chris Delyani, Best Man Jay Hogan, Digging Deep Garrett Leigh, Kiss Me Again Rick R. Reed, Blue Umbrella Sky R. A. Thorn, My Baby Chased Away the Blues Marshall Thornton, Code Name: Liberty
Lesbian Fiction	Nicole Dennis-Benn, Patsy	Kristen Arnett, Mostly Dead Things Beth Brant, A Generous Spirit: Selected Work by Beth Brant (Janice Gould, ed.) Carolina de Robertas, Cantoras Madeline Ffitch, Stay and Fight Shannon Pufahl, On Swift Horses Mathangi Subramanian, A People's History of Heaven Jacqueline Woodson, Red at the Bone
Lesbian Memoir/Biography	Samra Habib, We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir	Elissa Altman, Motherland: A Memoir of Love, Loathing, and Longing Jaquira Díaz, Ordinary Girls Julia Koets, The Rib Joint: A Memoir in Essays Saidiya Hartman, Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Social Upheaval T. Kira Madden, Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls Benjamin Moser, Sontag: Her Life and Work Edie Windsor and Joshua Lyon, A Wild and Precious Life
Lesbian Mystery	Ann McMan, Galileo	Amelia Ellis, The Mirror of Muraro Ellen Hart, Twisted at the Root: A Jane Lawless Mystery Catherine Maiorisi, The Blood Runs Cold Claire O'Dell, The Hound of Justice
Lesbian Poetry	t'ai freedom ford, & more black	Etel Adnan, Time Rocío Carlos, (the other house) Franny Choi, Soft Science Shira Erlichman, Odes to Lithium Gala Mukomolova, Without Protection Lee Ann Roripaugh, tsunami vs. the fukushima 50 Sharanpal Ruprai, Pressure Cooker Love Bomb
Lesbian Romance	Emily Noon, Aurora's Angel	Alyssa Cole, Once Ghosted, Twice Shy Donna K. Ford, Tennessee Whiskey Virginia Hale, The Secret Chord Jae, The Roommate Arrangement, Jae, Ylva Publishing M. Ullrich, Pretending in Paradise M. Ullrich, Top of Her Game Erin Zak, Create a Life to Love
LGBTQ Anthology	Aishah Shahidah Simmons, Love WITH Accountability: Digging up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse Noam Sienna, A Rainbow Thread: An Anthology of Queer Jewish Texts from the First Century to 1969	Fatimah Asghar and Safia Elhillo, The BreakBeat Poets Volume 3: Halal if You Hear Me Amber Dawn and Justin Ducharme, Hustling Verse: An Anthology of Sex Workers’ Poetry Luiza Flynn-Goodlett, Foglifter Volume 4 Issue 2 The Other Foundation, The Heart of the Matter: The Gerald Kraak Anthology Jeff Mann and Julia Watts, LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia Micah Rajunov and Scott Duane, Nonbinary: Memoirs of Gender and Identity
LGBTQ Children's/Young Adult	Lisa Jenn Bigelow, Hazel's Theory of Evolution Alexandra Villasante, The Grief Keeper	Jaye Robin Brown, The Meaning of Birds Akwaeke Emezi, Pet Nicole Melleby, Hurricane Season Saundra Mitchell, All the Things We Do in the Dark Rory Power, Wilder Girls Robin Stevenson, Pride Colors
LGBTQ Drama	Michael R. Jackson, A Strange Loop	Liza Birkenmeier, Dr. Ride’s American Beach House Jordan Harrison, The Amateurs
LGBTQ Erotica	L. A. Warman, Whore Foods	Rosalind Chase, Lot's Wife Thomas Kearnes, Texas Crude Vikram Kolmannskog, Lord of the Senses Gary Garth McCann, The Shape of the Earth
LGBTQ Graphic Novel	Kelsey Wroten, Cannonball	Jaime Hernandez, Is This How You See Me? Vivek Shraya, Death Threat Mariko Tamaki, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me Tillie Walden, Are You Listening?
LGBTQ Non-Fiction	Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House	W. Ian Bourland, Bloodflowers: Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Photography, and the 1980s Cyrus Grace Dunham, A Year Without a Name E. Patrick Johnson, Honeypot: Black Southern Women Who Love Women Brett Krutzsch, Dying to Be Normal: Gay Martyrs and the Transformation of American Sexual Politics Hugh Ryan, When Brooklyn Was Queer Karen Tongson, Why Karen Carpenter Matters Selby Wynn Schwartz, The Bodies of Others: Drag Dances and Their Afterlives
LGBTQ Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror	Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes, The Deep	Matthew Bright, Stories to Sing in the Dark Julie C. Day, The Rampant Craig Laurance Gidney, A Spectral Hue Marlon James, Black Leopard, Red Wolf Jac Jemc, False Bingo Nina MacLaughlin, Wake, Siren Samantha Shannon, The Priory of the Orange Tree
LGBTQ Studies	Emily L. Thuma, All Our Trials: Prisons, Policing, and the Feminist Fight to End Violence	R. L. Cagle, Scorpio Rising: A Queer Film Classic Jian Neo Chen, Trans Exploits: Trans of Color Cultures and Technologies in Movement Elizabeth Freeman, Beside You in Time: Sense Methods and Queer Sociabilities in the American Nineteenth Century Robb Hernández, Archiving an Epidemic: Art, AIDS, and the Queer Chicanx Avant-Garde Kara Keeling, Queer Times, Black Futures Dana Seitler, Reading Sideways: The Queer Politics of Art in Modern American Fiction Roberto Strongman, Queering Black Atlantic Religions: Transcorporeality in Candomblé, Santería and Vodou
Transgender Fiction	Hazel Jane Plante, Little Blue Encyclopedia (for Vivian)	M. Z. McDonnell, Poet, Prophet, Fox: The Tale of Sinnach the Seer Bones McKay, Honey Walls Rachel Pollack, The Beatrix Gates Bogi Takács, The Trans Space Octopus Congregation
Transgender Non-Fiction	Ellis Martin and Zach Ozma, We Both Laughed in Pleasure: The Selected Diaries of Lou Sullivan	Samantha Leigh Allen, Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States T. Fleischmann, Time Is the Thing a Body Moves Through S. J. Langer, Theorizing Transgender Identity for Clinical Practice: A New Model for Understanding Gender Andrea Long Chu, Females
Transgender Poetry	Xandria Phillips, Hull	Andrea Abi-Karam, Extratransmission Samuel Ace, Our Weather Our Sea Cameron Awkward-Rich, Dispatch Yanyi, The Year of Blue Water