Comedian Kate Clinton’s first target as host of Monday night’s 28th Lambda Literary Awards was Donald Trump. “It’s like binge-watching the Armageddon,” she said of the Republican candidate, before leading the audience through the night’s 26 categories, taking in everything from gay erotica to the first Lammy for transgender poetry.
New Yorker critic and White Girls author Hilton Als received the night’s Trustee Award for Excellence in Literature. Tavi Gevinson, the 20-year-old editor of Rookie who is currently appearing in The Crucible on Broadway, introduced Als, saying that they had exchanged thousands of emails about the art of writing. She recalled spending Thanksgiving together the year they met: When Als suggested that Gevinson should invite her then–love interest, she demurred, leading Als to observe, “I’ve been waiting my whole life for a girl not to invite her boyfriend.” Accepting the award, Als referred to himself as “an old lesbian who frequently scratches his balls.”
The Pioneer Award was presented to Eileen Myles by poet Natalie Diaz, a member of the Mojave and Pima Indian tribes, who smilingly noted the irony of being asked “to give a white woman the Pioneer Award.” She quickly added, “I’m just kidding, I love white women—it’s one of my colonial vices.” Myles, in on the joke, took the stage wearing a Davy Crockett-style coonskin cap.
The full list of winners of the 28th Annual Lambda Literary Awards:
Lesbian Fiction: Under the Udala Trees, by Chinelo Okparanta
Gay Fiction: God in Pink, by Hasan Namir
Bisexual Fiction: The Life and Death of Sophie Stark, by Anna North
Bisexual Nonfiction: Irrepressible: The Jazz Age Life of Henrietta Bingham, by Emily Bingham
Transgender Fiction: Tiny Pieces of Skull, or a Lesson in Manners, by Roz Kaveney
LGBT Debut Fiction: A Love Like Blood, by Victor Yates
LGBT Nonfiction: “No One Helped”: Kitty Genovese, New York City, and the Myth of Urban Apathy, by Marcia M. Gallo
Transgender Nonfiction: Born on the Edge of Race and Gender: A Voice for Cultural Competency, by Willy Wilkinson
Lesbian Poetry: Life in a Box Is a Pretty Life, by Dawn Lundy Martin
Gay Poetry (tie): Crevasse, by Nicholas Wong, and Reconnaissance, by Carl Phillips
Transgender Poetry: succubus in my pocket, by kari edwards
Lesbian Mystery (tie): Ordinary Mayhem, by Victoria Brownworth, and Tarnished Gold, by Ann Aptaker
Gay Mystery: Boystown 7: Bloodlines, by Marshall Thornton
Lesbian Memoir/Biography: Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear, by Kate Carroll de Gutes
Gay Memoir/Biography: James Merrill: Life and Art, by Langdon Hammer
Lesbian Romance: Making A Comeback, by Julie Blair
Gay Romance: When Skies Have Fallen, by Debbie McGowan
Lesbian Erotica: The Muse, by Meghan O’Brien
Gay Erotica: Érotiques Suprèmes, by Miodrag Kojadinovic
LGBT Anthology, Fiction: Beyond: The Queer Sci-Fi & Fantasy Comic Anthology, edited by Sfé R. Monster and Taneka Stotts
LGBT Anthology, Nonfiction: Glitter and Grit: Queer Performance from the Heels on Wheels Femme Galaxy, edited by Damien Luxe, Heather M. Ács, and Sabina Ibarrola
LGBT Children’s/Young Adult: George, by Alex Gino
LGBT Drama: Bright Half Life, by Tanya Barfield
LGBT Graphic Novels: The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ & Amal, by E.K. Weaver
LGBT SF/F/Horror: The Gracekeepers, by Kirsty Logan
LGBT Studies: A Taste for Brown Bodies: Gay Modernity and Cosmopolitan Desire, by Hiram Pérez
