The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Memoir/Biography is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation, to a memoir, biography, autobiography, or works of creative nonfiction by or about gay men. Works published posthumously and/or written with co-authors are eligible, but anthologies are not.
Between 1994 and 2000, the award was given for gay biography/autobiography. From 2002–2006, there was no gay biography/autobiography category (and also no lesbian biography/autobiography category) but rather separate categories for biography and for autobiography/memoir. In 2007, the gay memoir/biography category was created (as was the lesbian memoir/biography category).
Recipients +List of Lambda Literary Award for Gay Memoir/Biography RecipientsYearAuthorTitleResult1994GenetWinnerCity Poet:The Life and Times of Frank O'HaraFinalistTravels With LizbethBefore Night FallsComing Unbuttoned1995My Own CountryWinnerKnowing When to StopFinalistConfessions of a Jewish WagneriteLast Watch of the NightMy Life as a Pornographer1996Tom: The Unknown Tennessee WilliamsWinner with Peggy GillespieLast Night on EarthFinalistPalimpsestOur ParisPrayers for Bobby1997Geography of the HeartWinnerLush LifeFinalistSpells of a Voodoo DollTruth SerumHeaven’s Coast1998The Poetry of HealingWinnerWalt Whitman: a Gay LifeFinalistA House on the Ocean, A House on the BayTrack ConditionsGay Body: a Journey Through Shadow to Self1999WisecrackerWinnerIn The FleshFinalistAuden and Isherwood: The Berlin YearsThe Best Little Boy in the World Grows UpGentleman Junkie: The Life and Legacy of William S. Burroughs2000The Velveteen FatherWinnerAn Underground Life: Memoirs of a Gay Jew in Nazi BerlinFinalistFirebird: A MemoirGore VidalLeft Out: The Politics of Exclusion2001BosieWinnerMarcel ProustFinalistBrave JourneysThe MentorLies2007The Bill From My FatherWinnerUntold StoriesFinalistMy Father’s Keeper: The Story of a Gay Son and His Aging ParentsHistory of SwimmingTweaked: A Crystal Meth Memoir2008Mississippi SissyWinner and Hilda RazWhat Becomes YouFinalistThe History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin’s TheoryDog YearsThe Worlds of Lincoln KirsteinForgiving Troy2009Edward Carpenter: A Life of Liberty and LoveWinnerBringing Him HomeFinalistKing of ShadowsAssisted Loving: True Tales of Double Dating with My DadSwish2010Ardent Spirits: Leaving Home, Coming BackWinnerThe Pure Lover: A Memoir of GriefFinalistOnce You Go BackCity Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960’s and 70’sDeflowered: My Life in Pansy Division2011Secret HistorianWinnerShe Ain’t Heavy, She’s My MotherFinalistBeyond Normal: The Birth of Gay PrideGrant Wood: A LifeThe Secret Lives of Somerset Maugham2012The Jack Bank: A Memoir of a South African ChildhoodWinnerFor the Ferryman: A Personal HistoryFinalistCelluloid Activist: The Life and Times of Vito RussoIf You Knew Then What I Know NowHalsted Plays Himself2013Fire in the Belly: The Life and Times of David WojnarowiczWinnerMy Husband and My Wives: A Gay Man’s OdysseyFinalistIntolerable with Jeffrey Angles (trans.)Twelve Views from the DistanceMidstream: An Unfinished Memoir (editor)The Collected Writings of Joe Brainard2014 (editor)A Heaven of WordsWinnerFairyland: A Memoir of My FatherFinalistFarther and Wilder: The Lost Weekends and Literary Dreams of Charles JacksonDreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne BurnsReturning to ReimsAmerican HipsterHenry Darger, Throwaway Boy: The Tragic Life of an Outsider ArtistThe AIDS Generation: Stories of Survival and ResilienceDarling: A Spiritual AutobiographyIn Bed With Gore Vidal2015Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the FleshWinner (tie)The Prince of Los Cocuyos with Sara Meli Ansari (trans.)Letter to JimmyFinalistCharles Walters: The Director Who Made Hollywood DanceInside a Pearl: My Years in ParisWagstaff: Before and After MapplethorpeClosets, Combat and Coming OutBody Counts: A Memoir of Politics, Sex, AIDS, and Survival2016James Merrill: Life and ArtWinner and Marc ColbourneExiled for Love: The Journey of an Iranian Queer ActivistFinalistMy Avant-Garde Education: A MemoirSmash CutUntil My Heart StopsChasing Lost Time: The Life of C. K. Scott Moncrieff: Soldier, Spy, and TranslatorA House in St. John’s WoodMy Body Is Yours2017When We RiseWinnerLust & WonderFinalistProxiesCursed Legacy: The Tragic Life of Klaus MannBoy Erased: A MemoirCapsid: A Love SongOne Man Show: The Life and Art of Bernard PerlinBooks For Living2018Lives of Great MenWinnerKeeping On Keeping OnFinalistThe World Broke in TwoThere Will Be No Miracles HereCreep: A Life, a Theory, an ApologyHouse Built on AshesIn the Province of the GodsA Sinner in Mecca: A Gay Muslim’s Hajj of DefianceNight Class2019No Ashes in the FireWinnerHow to Write an Autobiographical NovelFinalistOn the Other Side of Freedom: The Case for HopeThe Unpunished Vice: A Life of ReadingThe New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke and Tony MaiettaThe Marble Faun of Grey GardensHarvey Milk: His Lives and Death2020How We Fight for Our LivesWinnerDISASTERAMA! Adventures in the Queer Underground 1977-1997FinalistThe Light Years with Max Fox (trans.)The Amphitheater of the DeadI.M.Jimmy NeurosisIn the Shadow of the BridgeAn Indefinite Sentence2021A Dutiful BoyWinnerA History of My Brief BodyFinalistOfficer Clemmons: A MemoirThe Man Who Ate Too Much: The Life of James BeardHere For It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America2022Punch Me Up to the Gods: A MemoirWinnerAntiman: A Hybrid MemoirFinalistHola PapiNever Silent: ACT UP and My Life in Activism with JD Pluecker (trans.)Writing with Caca / Escribir con Caca2023High-Risk HomosexualWinnerAll Down Darkness Wide: A MemoirFinalistBoy with the Bullhorn: A Memoir and History of ACT UP New YorkI’m Not Broken2024 TweakerworldWinner Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy Finalist Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It Mother, Nature Reaching Ninety2025RADIANT: The Life and Line of Keith HaringWinnerBe Not Afraid of My Body: A Lyrical MemoirFinalistManboobs: A Memoir of Musicals, Visas, Hope, and CakeThom GunnWhen the Band Played On2026TAKE MY NAME BUT SAY IT SLOW: ESSAYSWinnerAlligator TearsFinalistDeep House: The Gayest Love Story Ever ToldOn the Boardwalk
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