23rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards Announced in New York

Three-time Pulitzer Prize Winning Playwright Edward Albee &
Award-Winning Crime Writer Val McDermid Honored at
23rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards

New York, NY -- Three-time Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Edward Albee and Gold Dagger Award-winning crime fiction writer Val McDermid were honored last night at the 23rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards, in a ceremony at the School of Visual Arts Theater in New York City. Taking place the same week of Book Expo America-the book publishing industry's biggest annual gathering of booksellers, publishers, and others in the industry-the Lambda ceremony brought together over 400 attendees, sponsors, and celebrities to celebrate excellence in LGBT literature.

The ceremony was hosted by comedienne Lea DeLaria who kept the evening light and hilarious with her brand of bawdy humor saying, "I don't know what the [expletive] I'm doing here. You're all smarter than me." Also in attendance were presenters such as Jim McGreevey, Stefanie Powers, and award-winning author, Emma Donoghue.

Awards were presented in twenty-four categories. Among the winners were Eileen Myles's Inferno (A Poet's Novel) which took the top honor in Lesbian Fiction and Adam Haslett's Union Atlantic in Gay Fiction. There were two ties as well, an unusual occurrence for the Awards, in the Lesbian Memoir category as well as in LGBT Studies.

Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally presented the Foundation's Pioneer Award to Edward Albee, saying of the legendary playwright, "He has avoided gay subject matter throughout his career that people wonder if he's gay. Well, I'm here to tell you he is ... I picked him up at a party in 1960." In accepting his honor, Albee remarked "I'm not a gay writer. I'm a writer who happens to be gay."

The other Pioneer Award was given to acclaimed Scottish crime writer Val McDermid who joked that there were no lesbians in the small town she grew up in believing they were "mythical, like mermaids." McDermid went on to thank the writers who came before, such as her award presenter Katherine V. Forrest, saying, "I understand the importance of doors being opened. Other people opened doors for me."

LLF Executive Director, Tony Valenzuela, in his remarks from the stage appealed to the audience to support the literary arts. He said, "If civil rights are another way of saying quality of life, of what makes life meaningful and gives us joy, then writers, publishers, literature, arts, are a key component of civil rights and we have to say that over and over again."

Alex Sánchez, Mexican-American author of award-winning novels for teens and adults, and Susan Stinson, winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award in Fiction, received the Outstanding Mid-Career Novelists' Prizes, and the University of Wisconsin Press received a special Publisher's Service Award.

The Lambda Awards ceremony's glamour quotient reached new highs this year with a stellar roster of presenters from a diverse cross section from the worlds of film, television, theatre, politics, religion, sex, and of course literature. Besides McGreevey and Powers, gracing the stage to bestow awards were transgender photographer Amos Mac, feminist porn actress and director Tristan Taormino, former speech writer for Billy Graham Mel White, Mr. Gay USA Eddie Rabon, and beauty queen Claire Buffie, Miss New York.

Immediately following the awards ceremony, a VIP after-party took place at Chelsea's Cheim & Read, the legendary art gallery that has exhibited Robert Mapplethorpe, Don Barchardy, and Diane Arbus. The performance troop Unitard (Mike Alboof the Underminer, Nora Burns, of the Nellie Olesons, and David Ilku, of the Dueling Bankheads) provided their twisted and sardonic brand of entertainment.

Ceremony Sponsors:
Sponsors of the event include: RÖKK Vodka, Harper Perennial (all at Benefactor level); Kensington Publishing (Patron level); Northwest Press, Barefoot Wine (Mentor level); Cleis Press, Blind Eye Books, Arsenal Pulp Press, Seal Press, Bywater Books, The American Institute of Bisexuality, Rainbow Book Fair (all at Friend level); and FLUX Books (Gift Bag level).

23rd Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners
Lesbian Fiction

Inferno (A Poet's Novel), by Eileen Myles, OR Books

Gay Fiction

Union Atlantic, by Adam Haslett, Doubleday

Lesbian Debut Fiction

Sub Rosa, by Amber Dawn, Arsenal Pulp Press

Gay Debut Fiction

Bob the Book, by David Pratt, Chelsea Station Editions

Lesbian Memoir/Biography (TIE)

Hammer! Making Movies Out of Sex and Life, by Barbara Hammer, The Feminist Press
Wishbone: A Memoir in Fractures, by Julie Marie Wade, Colgate University Press

Gay Memoir/Biography

Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist and Sexual Renegade, by Justin Spring, Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Lesbian Mystery

Fever of the Bone, by Val McDermid, HarperCollins

Gay Mystery

Echoes, by David Lennon, Blue Spike Publishing

LGBT Anthology

Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation, edited by Kate Bornstein & S. Bear Bergman, Seal Press

LGBT Children's/Young Adult

Wildthorn, by Jane Eagland, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

LGBT Drama

Oedipus at Palm Springs, by The Five Lesbian Brothers: Maureen Angelos, Dominique Dibbell, Peg Healey, and Lisa Kron, Samuel French, Inc.

LGBT Nonfiction

King Kong Theory, by Virginia Despentes, The Feminist Press

LGBT SF/Fantasy/Horror

Diana Comet and Other Improbable Stories, by Sandra McDonald, Lethe Press

LGBT Studies (TIE)

Another Country: Queer Anti-Urbanism, by Scott Herring, New York University Press
Assuming a Body: Transgender and Rhetorics of Materiality, by Gayle Salaman, Columbia University Press

Bisexual Fiction

The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet, by Myrlin Hermes, Harper Perennial

Bisexual Nonfiction

Border Sexualities, Border Families in Schools, by Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli,Rowman & Littlefield

Transgender Fiction

Holding Still For as Long as Possible, by Zoe Whittall, House of Anansi Press

Transgender Nonfiction

Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in Jewish Community, edited by Noach Dzmura, North Atlantic Books

Lesbian Erotica

Sometimes She Lets Me: Best Butch/Femme Erotica, edited by Tristan Taormino, Cleis Press

Gay Erotica

Teleny and Camille, by Jon Macy, Northwest Press

Lesbian Poetry

The Nights Also, by Anna Swanson, Tightrope Books

Gay Poetry

Pleasure, by Brian Teare, Ahsahta Press

Lesbian Romance

River Walker, by Cate Culpepper, Bold Strokes Books

Gay Romance

Normal Miguel, by Erik Orrantia, Cheyenne Press


PHOTOS OF THE 23RD ANNUAL LAMBDA LITERARY AWARDS
found in link below: Photo credit: Donna Aceto

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lambdaliterary/

Start you summer reading by buying the Lammy winner!

http://www.lambdaliterary.org/2011-lambda-literary-award-winners/


23rd Annual Lambda Literary Awards Committee Members
Honorary Host Committee
Ann Bannon
Don Bachardy
Bill Clegg
Kate Clinton
Mart Crowley
Michael Cunningham
Stacey D'Erasmo
Jim McGreevey
David Mixner
Ann Patchett
Stefanie Powers
Andrew Tobias
Edmund White

New York Host Committee
David McConnell - Co-Chair
Don Weise - Co-Chair
S. Chris Shirley - Co-Chair
Jamie Brickhouse
J. Brooks
Benoit Denizet-Lewis
Dick Donahue
Jessica Falvo
David Gale
Charles Rice-Gonzalez
Nicholas Nicholson
Heather Aimee O'Neill
Julia Pastore
Lori Perkins
Patrick Ryan
Rakesh Satyal
Liz Scheier
Bob Smith
Jerl Surratt
Linda Villarosa
Paul Whitlatch

About the Lambda Literary Foundation: The Foundation nurtures, celebrates, and preserves LGBT literature through programs that honor excellence, promote visibility and encourage development of emerging writers. LLF's programs include the Lambda Literary Awards, the Writers' Retreat for Emerging LGBT Voices, and our web magazine at www.lambdaliterary.org.