What was it about the gay books of 2008 that the judges of the top lgbt literary awards can't reach any consensus about them in 2009? None of last night's Lambda winners overlapped with any of the winners of the Publishing Triangle Awards; in adult fiction there weren't even any repeats among nominees; and in two of the major categories, the Lambda judges couldn't unite behind a single winner and had to resort to ties. Complete list below.
The high points of last night's overlong ceremony were seeing Judy Grahn accept the lesbian poetry prize, hearing honorees Andrew Holleran, Edmund White, and Felice Picano reminisce about the early days of the Violet Quills, and watching Christopher Rice outshine Dustin Lance Black in hair, haberdashery, and his visionary speech about the demise of gay bookstores, the rise of glitch-prone online behemoths, the endurance of gay books, the responsibilities of gay bookbuyers, and the power of gay authors.
As for upsets, you may have stumbled in your office pool when William Eskridge's Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America 1861-2003 lost to Jane Rule's Loving the Difficult, and Evan Fallenberg's Light Fell lost to Shawn Stewart Ruff's Finlater.
Among the best presenters were Kate Clinton (who said she bought a toaster and was given a free bank), Keith Boykin (who claimed to have been mistaken for RuPaul yesterday afternoon), Jacqueline Woodson, Alice Quinn, Sarah Chinn, Dennis Cooper, Katherine V. Forrest, Michelangelo Signorile, and Edmund White. As a literary nerd who doesn't own a tv, I had difficulty reconciling host Scott Nevins' generic riffs on American Idol, Adam Lambert, Paula Abdul's hair pieces, Hugh Jackman, the Oscars, Angela Bassett, and Fantasia with the year's most prestigious lgbt literary awards. Is it really so hard to find a gay comic / writer who could talk about books? Next year ask Kate Clinton, or David Rakoff, or David Sederis, or Mike Albo, or Bob Smith, or Eddie Sarfaty, whose Mental
BISEXUAL
- Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love & Desire,
Lisa M. Diamond, Harvard University Press - The Bishop's Daughter, Honor Moore, W.W. Norton
- Kinsey Zero Through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on Kinsey, Ron Jackson Suresha, Taylor & Francis Journals
- Rimbaud, Edmund White, Atlas & Company
TRANSGENDER
- 10,000 Dresses, Marcus Ewert & Rex Ray, Seven Stories Press
- Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word), Thea Hillman, Manic D Press
- Two Truths and a Lie, Scott Schofield, Homofactus Press
- Boy with Flowers, Ely Shipley, Barrow Street Press
- Transgender History, Susan Stryker, Seal Press
LGBT ANTHOLOGIES
- A Casulty of War: Gay Short Fiction, Peter Burton, Arcadia Books
- Live Through This, edited by Sabrina Chapadjiev, Seven Stories Press
- Love, West Hollywood, edited by Chris Freeman and James J. Berg, Alyson
- Our Caribbean, edited by Thomas Glave, Duke University Press
- Big Trips: More Good Gay Travel Writing, edited by Raphael Kadushin, University of Wisconsin Press
LGBT CHILDRENS/YOUNG ADULT
- Hit the Road, Manny: A Manny Files Novel, Christian Burch, Simon and Schuster
- Out of the Pocket, Bill Konigsberg, Dutton
- How They Met & Other Stories, David Levithan, Knopf Children's Books
- Mousetraps, Pat Schmatz, Carolrhoda Books
- What They Always Tell Us, Martin Wilson, Random House Children's Books
- Love & Lies: Marisol's Story, Ellen Wittlinger, Simon and Schuster
LGBT DRAMA
- Phi Alpha Gamma, Dan Bernitt, Sawyer House
- Radical Acts: Collected Political Plays, Martin Duberman, The New Press
- The Second Coming of Joan of Arc, Carolyn Gage, Outskirts Press
- Two Truths and a Lie, Scott Schofield, Homofactus Press
- Vile Affections, Vanda, Original Works Publishing
LGBT NONFICTION
- Me as Her Again, Nancy Agabian, Aunt Lute Books
- If I Could Write This in Fire, Michelle Cliff, Univ of Minnesota Press
- Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America 1861-2003, William N. Eskridge Jr, Penguin Group
- Beyond (Straight & Gay) Marriage, Nancy Polikoff, Beacon Press
- Loving the Difficult, Jane Rule, Hedgerow Press
- Drifting Toward Love, Kai Wright, Beacon Press
LGBT SCI-FI/FANTASY/HORROR
- The Archer's Heart, Astrid Amara, Blind Eye Books
- The Magician and the Fool, Barth Anderson, Bantam Del Rey
- Wilde Stories 2008, Steve Berman, Lethe Press
- Sea, Swallow Me and Other Stories, Craig Gidney, Lethe Press
- Turnskin, Nicole Kimberling, Blind Eye Books
LGBT STUDIES
- Tomboys: A Literary & Cultural History, Michelle Ann Abate, Temple University Press
- The Dividends of Dissent: How Conflict and Culture Work in Lesbian and Gay Marches on Washington, Amin Ghaziani, The University of Chicago Press
- Criminal Intimacy: Prison and the Uneven History of Modern American Sexuality, Regina Kunzel, Univ Chicago Press
- Political Manhood: Red Bloods, Mollycoddles, & & the Politics of Progressive Reform, Kevin P. Murphy, Columbia University Press
- Screening Sex, Linda Williams, Duke University Press
LESBIAN DEBUT FICTION
- Red Audrey & the Roping, Jill Malone, Bywater Books
- Passing for Black, Linda Villarosa, Kensington
- Closer to Fine, Meri Weiss, Kensington
- Love Does Not Make Me Gentle or Kind, Chavisa Woods, Fly by Night Press
- The Bruise, Magdalena Zurawski, Fiction Collective Two/ Univ Alabama Press
LESBIAN EROTICA
- Lipstick on Her Collar, Sacchi Green and Rakelle Valencia, Pretty Things Press
- Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures, Lynne Jamneck, Lethe Press
- In Deep Waters 2: Cruising the Strip, Radclyffe and Karen Kallmaker, Bold Strokes Books
LESBIAN FICTION (TIE)
- The Slow Fix, Ivan E. Coyole, Arsenal Pulp Press
- The Sealed Letter, Emma Donoghue, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- Map of Ireland, Stephanie Grant, Scribner
- All the Pretty Girls, Chandra Mayor, Conundrum Press
- Breaking Spirit Bridge, Ruth Perkinson, Spinsters Ink
LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
- Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy, Susan Griffin,
Shambhala Publications - Intersex (For Lack of a Better Word), Thea Hillman, Manic D Press
- Sex Variant Woman, Joanne Passet, Da Capo
- Sex Talks to Girls, Maureen Seaton, Univ of Wisconsin Press
- Case of a Lifetime, Abbe Smith, Palgrave Macmillan
LESBIAN MYSTERY
- Blind Faith, Diane and Jacob Anderson-Minshall, Bold Strokes Books
- Whacked, Josie Gordon, Bella Books
- Sweet Poison, Ellen Hart, St. Martin's Press
- Losers Weepers, Jessica Thomas, Bella Books
- Calling the Dead, Ali Vali, Bold Strokes Books
LESBIAN POETRY
- Interpretive Work, Elizabeth Bradfield, Arktoi / Red Hen Press
- Kissing Dead Girls, Daphne Gottlieb, Soft Skull Press
- love belongs to those who do the feeling, Judy Grahn, Red Hen Press
- Same Life, Maureen N. McLane, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Two Minutes of Light, Nancy K. Pearson, Perugia Press
LESBIAN ROMANCE
- Finding Home, Georgia Beers, Bold Strokes Books
- A Pirate's Heart, Catherine Friend, Bold Strokes Books
- The Kiss That Counted, Karin Kallmaker, Bella Books
- Hotel Liaison, JLee Meyer, Bold Strokes Books
- The Lonely Hearts Club, Radclyffe, Bold Strokes Books
GAY DEBUT FICTION
- Shuck, Daniel Allen Cox, Arsenal Pulp Press
- Light Fell, Evan Fallenberg, Soho Press
- The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie The Second, Drew Ferguson, Kensington
- The Steve Machine, Mike Hoolboom, Coach House Books
- Finlater, Shawn Ruff, Quote Editions
GAY EROTICA
- Best Gay Erotica 2009, Richard Labonte & James Lear, Cleis Press
- The Secret Tunnel, James Lear, Cleis Press
- Hard Working Men, William Maltese, Victor J. Banis, Jardonn Smith, & J.P. Bowie, MLR Press
GAY FICTION
- Stray Dog Winter, David Francis, Macadam/Cage Publishing
- The Torturer's Wife, Thomas Glave, City Light Publishers
- We Disappear, Scott Heim, Harper Perennial
- The Conversion, Joseph Olshan, St. Martin’s Press
- The Boomerang Kid, Jay Quinn, Alyson
GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY
- Bringing Him Home, Aaron Cooper, Late August Press
- Swish, Joel Derfner, Broadway Books
- Assisted Loving, Bob Morris, Harper
- Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and Love, Sheila Rowbotham, Verso Books
- King of Shadows, Aaron Shurin, City Lights Publishers
GAY MYSTERY
- The Fisher Boy, Stephen Anable, Poisoned Pen Press
- Sundowner Ubuntu, Anthony Bidulka, Insomniac Press
- Mahu Fire, Neil Plakcy, Alyson Books
- First You Fall: A Kevin Connor Mystery
- Spider Season, John Morgan Wilson, St. Martin's Press
GAY POETRY (TIE)
- Want, Rick Barot, Sarabande Press
- Please, Jericho Brown, New Issues
- Fire to Fire: New and Selected Poems, Mark Doty, Haper
- Now You're the Enemy, James Allen Hall, Univ of Alabama
- My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer, Jack Spicer, edited by Peter Gizzi & Kevin Killian, Wesleyan University Press
GAY ROMANCE
- Mexican Heat, Laura Baumbach & Josh Lanyon, MLR Press
- Got 'Til It's Gone, Larry Duplechan, Arsenal Pulp Press
- The Protector, N.L. Gassert, Seventh Window Publications
Thanks for the great coverage!
Posted by: Glenn | May 31, 2009 at 07:05 PM