The Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Literature is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation, that awards books with bisexual content. The award can be separated into three categories: bisexual fiction, bisexual nonfiction, and bisexual poetry. Awards are granted based on literary merit and bisexual content, and therefore, the writer may be bi-, homo-, hetero-, or asexual.

Criteria

Bisexual fiction The award for bisexual fiction recognizes "[n]ovels, novellas, short story collections, and anthologies with prominent bi/pan ... characters and/or content of strong significance to the bi/pan ... communities." The list "[m]ay include historical novels, comics, cross-genre works of fiction, humor, and other styles of fiction."

Bisexual nonfiction The award for bisexual nonfiction recognizes "[n]onfiction works with content of strong significance to members of the bi/[pan] communities," including "a wide range of subjects for the general or academic reader."

Bisexual poetry The award for bisexual poetry recognizes individual volumes of poems and poem collections with bisexual content. Chapbooks are ineligible for the prize, as well as "[u]pdated editions of previously published works ... unless at least 50% of the poetry (not the supplemental text) is new." If there are not enough eligible titles in any given year to support a dedicated bisexual poetry category, then bisexual poetry titles are considered in the fiction category.

History Before a Lambda Literary Award category was created for works of bisexual literature, books on bisexual topics were judged in categories designated for literature about other identities. In 1992, Bi Any Other Name: Bisexual People Speak Out, was placed in the Lambda category of Lesbian Anthology. In 2005, bisexual writer June Jordan's poetry book Directed by Desire: Collected Poems competed in the Lesbian Poetry category and won.

Bisexual activists spent years campaigning for the Lambda Literary Foundation to add a category awarding works of bisexual literature. For one year in 2002, the organization changed their recently established award for transgender literature into a combined "Transgender or Bisexual" category. When activists Sheela Lambert, Wendy Curry, and Amy Andre asked the foundation to create a category for bisexual literature, Lambda Literary said they would not due to a lack of books. In response, the activists searched for overlooked books to share with the foundation.

In 2006, the foundation added a dedicated category for bisexual literature. With time, the number of categories awarding works of bisexual literature changed. When it shrank back to one category in 2012, Lambert felt the bisexual literary community was being neglected. She established the annual, multi-category Bisexual Book Awards in response.

Recipients +Award winners and finalistsYearCategoryAuthorWorkResult2002Bisexual/Transgender Literature Omnigender: A Trans-religious ApproachWinnerSynthetic Bi Products Finalist and Carol Queen (editors) Best Bisexual Erotica, Volume 2 Crossing Over: Liberating the Transgendered Christian Dragged!! To His Senses 2007Bisexual Literature and Nicole KristalThe Bisexual's Guide to the UniverseWinner and Pete Chvany (editors)Bi MenFinalistAffirmative Psychotherapy with Bisexual Women & Bisexual MenEros (editor)Bi GuysThree Sides to Every Story2008Bisexual LiteratureSplit ScreenWinnerThe TouristsFinalist (editor)Becoming VisibleLook Both WaysStray2009Bisexual LiteratureOpenWinnerSexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love & DesireFinalistKinsey Zero Through Sixty: Bisexual Perspectives on KinseyRimbaudThe Bishop's Daughter2010Bisexual FictionHoly CommunionWinnerLove You TwoFinalistThe JaneidArushaTornBisexual NonfictionLeaving India: My Family's Journey From Five Villages to Five ContinentsWinnerMapFinalistCheever: A LifeVincente Minnelli: Hollywood's Dark DreamerByron in Love: A Short Daring Life2011Bisexual FictionThe Lunatic, the Lover, and the PoetWinnerKrakow MeltFinalistFall Asleep ForgettingIf You Follow MePride/Prejudice: A Novel of Mr. Darcy, Elizabeth Bennet, and Their Forbidden LoversBisexual NonfictionBorder Sexualities, Border Families in SchoolsWinner and Laura Andre (editors)Dear John, I Love Jane: Women Write about Leaving Men for WomenFinalistSal MineoMad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of BridesheadJust Kids2012Bisexual FictionThe Correspondence ArtistWinnerThe Two KrishnasFinalistHave You Seen MeBoyfriends With GirlfriendsTriptychBisexual NonfictionThe Horizontal PoetWinner Daniel Heath Justice, Deborah Miranda, and Lisa Tatonetti (editors)Sovereign Erotics: A Collection of Two-Spirit LiteratureFinalist and Serena Anderlini-D'Onofrio (editors)Bisexuality and Queer Theory: Intersections, Connections and ChallengesBig Sex Little Death: A MemoirSurviving Steven: A True Story2013Bisexual LiteratureMy Awesome Place: The Autobiography of Cheryl BWinnerIn One PersonWinnerGirlfag: A Life Told In Sex and MusicalsFinalistHistory of a Pleasure SeekerAxel Hooley's Death Watch List2014Bisexual FictionMy EducationWinnerIn His Secret LifeFinalistHild: A NovelThe Two Hotel Francforts: A NovelCoronaBisexual NonfictionThe B Word: Bisexuality in Contemporary Film and TelevisionWinnerThe Soundtrack of My LifeFinalistBi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution2015Bisexual FictionGive It to MeWinner (editor)Best Bi Short Stories: Bisexual FictionFinalistExtraordinary Adventures of Mullah NasruddinFinder of Lost ObjectsShe of the MountainsBisexual NonfictionFire Shut Up In My BonesWinnerNot My Father's SonFinalist and H. Sharif Williams (editors)Recognize: The Voices of Bisexual Men2016Bisexual LiteratureIrrepressible: The Jazz Age Life of Henrietta BinghamWinner (tie)The Life and Death of Sophie StarkMy RiastradFinalistEat My Heart OutThe Gap of Time2017Bisexual FictionMouth to MouthWinnerBeautiful GravityFinalistMarrow IslandWhen WatchedBisexual NonfictionBlack Dove: Mamá, Mi'jo, and MeWinner and Sara LubowitzWomen in Relationships With Bisexual Men: Bi Men By WomenFinalistI Have Devoted My Life to the ClitorisThe Body's Alphabet2018Bisexual FictionThe GiftWinnerNext Year, for SureFinalistThe Penalty for HoldingPaul Takes the Form of a Mortal GirlHomecoming QueensBisexual NonfictionHungerWinnerTruth Be Bold: Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDSFinalistWhat the Mouth Wants2019Bisexual Fiction, with Tina Kover (trans.)DisorientalWinnerBhopal Dance: A NovelFinalist The Origin of Doubt: Fifty Short FictionsThe Best Bad Things: A NovelBehind These Doors: Radical Proposals Book 1The Wild BirdsPalmetto RoseJiltedBisexual NonfictionOut of Step: A MemoirWinnerNo Archive Will Restore YouFinalistMany Love: A Memoir of Polyamory and Finding Love(s)Bisexual PoetryWe Play a GameWinnerIf They Come for UsFinalistCenzontleMy Woman Card Is anti-Native & Other Two-Spirit TruthsMad Quick Hand of the Seashore: Love Poems2020Bisexual FictionExquisite MariposaWinner, with Sophie Hughes (trans.)The RemainderFinalistJudeThe Man Who Saw EverythingJust PervsBig FamiliaThe Not WivesDeposing NathanBisexual NonfictionSocialist RealismWinnerIMPERVIOUS: Confessions of a Semi-Retired DeviantFinalistA World Without Martha: A Memoir of Sisters, Disability, and DifferenceBisexual PoetryPet SoundsWinnerMoira of Edges, Moira the TartFinalistRevenge of the Asian WomanBuild Yourself a BoatHoodWitchA Sand BookROMANS/SNOWMAREwater/tongue2021Bisexual FictionYou Exist Too MuchWinnerSilence Is My Mother TongueFinalistTake a Hint, Dani BrownCatherine HouseHow Much of These Hills is GoldBisexual NonfictionWow, No Thank You.: EssaysWinnerThe Wanting Was a Wilderness: Cheryl Strayed's Wild and the Art of MemoirFinalistThe Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in AppalachiaThis Is Major: Notes of Diana Ross, Dark Girls, and Being DopeTerroir: Love, Out of PlaceBisexual PoetrySalt Body ShimmerWinnersickFinalistWild PeachBirthrightOne God at a Time2022Bisexual FictionWe Want What We WantWinnerBlue-Skinned GodsFinalistMilk FedMonster in the MiddleWe Play OurselvesBisexual NonfictionBorealisWinnerDark Tourist: EssaysFinalistGreedy: Notes from a Bisexual Who Wants Too MuchThe Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation's Neglect of a Deadly DiseaseThe Way She Feels: My Life on the Borderline in Pictures and PiecesBisexual PoetryAurielle MarieGumbo Ya YaWinnerImagine Us, The SwarmFinalistMaster SufferingThe Best PreyThe Sunflower Cast a Spell To Save Us From The Void2023Bisexual FictionReluctant ImmortalsWinnerStories No One Hopes Are About ThemFinalistMeet Us by the Roaring SeaRoses, In the Mouth of a LionMother Ocean Father NationBisexual NonfictionAppropriate BehaviorWinnerCarrying It ForwardFinalistNever SimpleOpenThe Crane WifeBisexual PoetryReal Phonies and Genuine FakesWinnerDerelictionFinalistindecent hours50 Things Kate Bush Taught Me About the MultiverseMeat Lovers2024Bisexual Fiction Natural BeautyWinner All-Night Pharmacy: A NovelFinalist Endpapers Last Night at the Hollywood Canteen Old EnoughBisexual Non-fiction Creep: Accusations and ConfessionsWinner Bisexual Men Exist: A Handbook for Bisexual, Pansexual and M-Spec Men Finalist Boyslut: A Memoir and Manifesto Crying Wolf Nimrods: a fake-punk self-hurt anti-memoirBisexual Poetry Desire MuseumWinner A Film in Which I Play Everyone Finalist Ephemera Good Grief, the Ground Impersonal Rainbow & The Bisexual Purge2025Bisexual FictionHow To Fall in Love in a Time of Unnameable DisasterWinnerAnyone's GhostFinalistGreta & ValdinWe Were the UniverseBisexual Non-fictionYou're Embarrassing YourselfWinnerDjuna: The Extraordinary Life of Djuna BarnesFinalistFirst Love: Essays on FriendshipSimmering: A Kitchen MemoirYou Get What You Pay ForBisexual PoetryInterrogation RecordsWinnerGood DressFinalistReturn of the Chinese Femme2026Bisexual FictionSympathy for Wild GirlsWinnerAnd I'll Take Out Your EyesFinalistBeyond All Reasonable Doubt, Jesus Is Alive!: StoriesHouse of BethBisexual Non-fictionReading the WavesWinnerLook Ma, No HandsFinalistunMothered, unTonguedBisexual PoetryWinner, edited by Sara WagnerMoon as Salted LemonFinalistHoverantibodyBlue Opening

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