This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.
This week, the Lambda Literary Award finalists were announced. From the organization's "Mission" page because they are 100% about more than the awards they give out:
For over 30 years, Lambda Literary has championed LGBTQ books and authors. No other organization in the world serves LGBTQ writers and readers more comprehensively than Lambda Literary. We believe that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer literature is fundamental to the preservation of our culture, and that LGBTQ lives are affirmed when our stories are written, published, and read.
I have been paying attention to the LAMBDA Literary Foundation since I started working at a public library (Summer 2000). For many years it was the only way I could find vetted titles that reflected the LGBTQ experience. Back then, very few LGBTQ framed titles were reviewed and most were only published by small presses. In fact, I used Lambda Literary and a few trusted publisher catalogs to make sure my collection had LGBTQ representation.
Thankfully things have changed and books that center the LGBTQ experience are not only being reviewed, but they are considered for general literary awards as well.
Click here for the current finalists which include these standout titles:
- Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield which made the Andrew Carnegie Medal For Excellence in Fiction Long List and was one of my Top 10 Horror titles of the year.
- Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley which made the Booker Prize Longlist and was a Goodreads Choice nominee.
- Reluctant Immortals by Gwendolyn Kiste which its up for the Bram Stoker Award for Novel.
- Third Person by Emma Grove which made the Andrew Carnegie Medal For Excellence in Nonfiction Longlist. I loved this graphic novel and fought hard for it to make the ACM.
- Lost and Found: A Memoir Kathryn Schulz by which made the Andrew Carnegie Medal For Excellence in Nonfiction Long List and was a Goodreads Choice nominee.
And those are just the ones I have read myself in the last year.
However, with this widespread acceptance has come fierce backlash as well (and don't think for a moment that those two things aren't related; they most certainly are). I don't need to tell you about how, in this country, right now, the rights of LGBTQ people are being systematically erased and their lives endangered just for existing. But, we must fight on. And LAMBDA Literary has been at the forefront of that fight for years. Trust them to help you. Add as many of these nominated titles in the 25 categories as you can. They are all excellent and perfectly suited for a general public library collection. At the very least, find money to add one title from every category.
You can also click here for access to 35 years of finalists and winners with an easy to use database of drop down menus which allow you to mix and match all of the categories.
Need a list of vetted transgender nonfiction? Click here. You want only LGBTQ debuts? Click here. You want Lesbian SF/F? Click here. You get the point.
Support these authors by adding their books to your collections. Support your patrons by having these titles on the shelf for for them to access, discover, and enjoy. Again, I read and enjoyed the titles linked above and I am the most cis, hetero, white lady you may ever meet. Don't tell me that you don't "have those people" in your community because you do, but also, that doesn't matter. I am proof that non LGBTQ identifying people will enjoy these books and include them in lists of their favorite reads of the entire year.
Don't deny readers the best books. Feel confident that your choices are supported by the oldest and most trusted LGBTQ focused literary society in the country. Don't self censor by not adding these critically acclaimed, mainstream titles to your collections.
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