Our 2025 Lambda Literary Award Finalists
For more than 30 years, the Lambda Literary Awards, affectionately known as the Lammys, have consistently recognized the major impact LGBTQ authors have made on the world. This year, several Penguin Random House titles were selected for the shortlist! View the full list here.
Since its inception in 1989, the Lambda Awards have named more than 3,500 books either a finalist or a winner to celebrate the most outstanding works in LGBTQ literature.
Eighty judges helped review and select the finalists out of this year’s 1,339 submitted titles. This cycle’s cohort includes literary critics, academics, librarians, students, poets, independent and traditionally published authors, and other avid readers representing a variety of LGBTQ+ lived experiences.
Shortlisted titles published by Penguin Random House imprints:
Bisexual Fiction
ANYONE’S GHOST by August Thompson (Penguin Press)
WE WERE THE UNIVERSE by Kimberly King Parsons (Alfred A. Knopf)
Bisexual Nonfiction
FIRST LOVE: Essays on Friendship by Lilly Dancyger (The Dial Press)
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR by Morgan Parker (One World)
YOU’RE EMBARRASSING YOURSELF by Desiree Akhavan (Random House)
Gay Fiction
CINEMA LOVE by Jiaming Tang (Dutton)
OUR EVENINGS by Alan Hollinghurst (Random House)
Gay Romance
WE COULD BE HEROES by Philip Ellis (G.P. Putnam’s Sons | Penguin Random House)
Lesbian Fiction
HOUSEMATES by Emma Copley Eisenberg (Hogarth)
OYE by Melissa Mogollon (Hogarth)
LGBTQ+ Mystery
THE NIGHT OF BABA YAGA by Akira Otani (Soho Crime)
LGBTQ+ POETRY
YOUR DAZZLING DEATH by Cass Donish (Alfred A. Knopf)
LGBTQ+ Young Adult
OLD WOUNDS by Logan-Ashley Kisner (Delacorte Press)
Transgender Nonfiction
PRETTY by KB Brookins (Alfred A. Knopf)
Congratulations to our shortlisted authors and their teams!