Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Debut Fiction

The Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a debut work of fiction on LGBT themes. Formerly presented in two separate categories for gay male and lesbian debut fiction, beginning the 25th Lambda Literary Awards in 2013 a single award, inclusive of both male and female writers, was presented. The award was, however, discontinued after the 28th Lambda Literary Awards in 2016.

The award was presented based on themes in the work, not the sexuality or gender of the writer; heterosexual writers were eligible for the award, and writers could be nominated in the "cross-gender" category based on the work.

Winners and nominees

Lambda Literary Award for Debut Fiction winners and finalists

Year	Category	Author	Title	Result	Ref.
1989	Gay Debut Fiction	Alan Hollinghurst	The Swimming-Pool Library	Winner	[1]
		Joe Keenan	Blue Heaven	Finalist	[1]
		Stan Levanthal	Mountain Climbing In Sheridan Square
		C.F. Borgman	River Road
		Russell A. Brown	Sherlock Holmes and the Mysterious Friend of O. Wilde
	Lesbian Debut Fiction	Madelyn Arnold	Bird-Eyes	Winner	[1]
		Joyce Bright	Sunday’s Child	Finalist	[1]
		Judy Grahn	Mundane’s World
		Denise Ohio	The Finer Grain
		Katherine Sturtevant	A Mistress Moderately Fair
1990	Gay Debut Fiction	John Weir	The Irreversible Decline of Eddie Socket	Winner	[2]
		Randall Kenan	A Visitation of Spirits	Finalist	[2]
		Mickey C. Fleming	About Courage
		David B. Feinberg	Eighty-Sixed
		M.S. Hunter	The Buccaneer
		Roz Perry	Rose Penski
	Lesbian Debut Fiction	Patricia R. Schwartz	The Names of the Moons of Mars	Winner	[2]
		Nisa Donnelly	The Bar Stories: A Novel After All	Finalist	[2]
		Paula Martinac and Carla Tomaso	Voyages Out
		Roz Perry	Rose Penski
		Ruthann Robson	Eye of a Hurricane
1991	Gay Debut Fiction	Lev Raphael	Dancing On Tisha B’av	Winner	[3]
		Bo Huston	Horse and Other Stories	Finalist	[3]
		Matthew Stadler	Landscape: Memory
		Allen Barnett	The Body and Its Dangers
		Patrick Moore	This Every Night
	Lesbian Debut Fiction	Cherry Muhanji	Her	Winner	[3]
		Patricia R. Schwartz	The Names of the Moons of Mars
		Nisa Donnelly	Bar Stories: A Novel After All	Finalist	[3]
		Ruthann Robson	Eye of a Hurricane
		Vickie Sears	Simple Songs
		Renee Hansen	Take Me to the Underground
		Karen Marie Christa Minns	Virago
		Paula Martinac and Carla Tomaso	Voyages Out
		Julie Blackwomon and Nona Caspers	Voyages Out 2
1992-2006	No award presented
2005	Gay Debut Fiction	Blair Mastbaum	Clay’s Way	Winner	[4]
		Damian McNicholl	A Son Called Gabriel	Finalist	[4]
		Aaron Krach	Half-Life
		Mar Acito	How I Paid for College: A Novel of Sex, Theft, Friendship, and Musical Theater
		Brian Leung	World Famous Love Acts
	Lesbian Debut Fiction	Judith Frank	Crybaby Butch	Winner	[4]
		Mary Vermillion	Death by Discount	Finalist	[4]
		Kristie Helms	Dish It Up, Baby!
		Laurinda D. Brown	Fire & Brimstone
		Bridget Bufford	Minus One: A Twelve-Step Journey
2006	Gay Debut Fiction	Vestal McIntyre	You Are Not the One	Winner	[5]
		Sulyman X	Bilal’s Bread	Finalist	[5]
		Richard McCann	Mother of Sorrows
		Mack Friedman	Setting the Lawn on Fire
		Barry McCrea	The First Verse
	Lesbian Debut Fiction	Ali Leibegott	The Beautifully Worthless	Winner	[5]
		Fiona Zedde	Bliss	Finalist	[5]
		Katia Noyes	Crashing America
		Ronica Black	In Too Deep
		Michelle Embree	Manstealing for Fat Girls
2007	Gay Debut Fiction	Robert Westfield	Suspension	Winner	[6]
		Timothy Williams	5 Minutes & 42 Seconds	Finalist	[6]
		Martin Hyatt	A Scarecrow’s Bible
		Patrick Ryan	Send Me
		Alex MacLennan	The Zookeeper
	Lesbian Debut Fiction	Ellis Avery	The Teahouse Fire	Winner	[6]
		Kirsten Dinnall Hoyte	Black Marks	Finalist	[6]
		Ana-Maurine Lara	Erzulie’s Skirt
		Peggy Munson	Origami Striptease
		Leslie Larson	Slipstream
2008	Gay Debut Fiction	Christopher Kelly	A Push and a Shove	Winner	[7][8]
		James St. James	Freak Show	Finalist	[7]
		Kemble Scott	SoMa
		James Canon	Tales from the Town of Widows
		Michael Quadland	That Was Then
	Lesbian Debut Fiction	Aoibheann Sweeney	Among Other Things, I’ve Taken Up Smoking	Winner	[7][8]
		Lu Vickers	Breathing Underwater	Finalist	[7]
		Myriam Gurba	Dahlia Season
		Holly Farris	Lockjaw
		Corrina Wycoff	O Street
2009	Gay Debut Fiction	Shawn Stewart Ruff	Finlater	Winner	[9]
		Evan Fallenberg	Light Fell	Finalist	[9]
		Daniel Allen Cox	Shuck
		Drew Ferguson	The Screwed-Up Life of Charlie The Second
		Mike Hoolboom	The Steve Machine
	Lesbian Debut Fiction	Magdalena Zurawski	The Bruise	Winner	[9]
		Meri Weiss	Closer to Fine	Finalist	[9]
		Chavisa Woods	Love Does Not Make Me Gentle or Kind
		Linda Villarosa	Passing for Black
		Jill Malone	Red Audrey & the Roping
2010	Gay Debut Fiction	Rakesh Satyal	Blue Boy	Winner	[10]
		James Hannaham	God Says No	Finalist	[10]
		Lance Reynald	Pop Salvation
		G. Winston James	Shaming the Devil: Collected Short Stories
		James Magruder	Sugarless
	Lesbian Debut Fiction	Rhiannon Argo	The Creamsickle	Winner	[10]
		Maida Tilchen	Land Beyond Maps	Finalist	[10]
		Barb Johnson	More of This World or Maybe Another
		Lori Ostlund	The Bigness of the World
		Z Egloff	Verge
2011	Gay Debut Fiction	David Pratt	Bob the Book	Winner	[11][12]
		Rob Stephenson	Passes Through	Finalist	[13]
		Tom Mendicino	Probation
		Tom Schabarum	The Palisades
		Chris Corkum	XOXO Hayden
	Lesbian Debut Fiction	Amber Dawn	Sub Rosa	Winner	[11][12]
		Katharine Beutner	Alcestis	Finalist	[13]
		Georgeann Packard	Fall Asleep Forgetting
		Lois Walden	One More Stop
		Michael Sledge	The More I Owe You
2012	Gay Debut Fiction	Rahul Mehta	Quarantine: Stories	Winner	[14]
		Justin Chin	98 Wounds	Finalist
		Michael Graves	Dirty One
		Katherine Scott Nelson	Have You Seen Me
		Garth Greenwell	Mitko
	Lesbian Debut Fiction	Laurie Weeks	Zipper Mouth	Winner	[14]
		Sarah Toshiko Hasu	Megume and the Trees	Finalist
		Lara Fergus	My Sister Chaos
		Christine Stark	Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation
		Sally Bellerose	The Girls Club
2013	Debut Fiction	Mia McKenzie	The Summer We Got Free	Winner	[15]
		William Sterling Walker	Desire: Tales of New Orleans	Finalist	[15]
		Lydia Perovic	Incidental Music
		E.J. Levy	Love, In Theory: Ten Stories
		Kristen Ringman	Makara: A novel
		Lysley Tenorio	Monstress
		Alex Leslie	People Who Disappear
		Jeanne Thornton	The Dream of Doctor Bantam
		Carter Sickels	The Evening Hour
		Lania Knight	Three Cubic Feet
2014	Debut Fiction	Nik Nicholson	Descendants of Hagar	Winner	[16][17]
		Abigail Tarttelin	Golden Boy	Finalist	[16]
		Derek Palacio	How to Shake the Other Man
		Jane Hoppen	In Between
		Charles L. Ross	Inside
		Andrea Routley	Jane and the Whales
		Laura Krughoff	My Brother’s Name: A Novel
		Ronald Palmer	Prick Queasy
		Amy Grace Loyd	The Affairs of Others: A Novel
		Guy Mark Foster	The Rest of Us: Stories
2015	Debut Fiction	Abdi Nazemian	The Walk-In Closet	Winner	[18][19][20][21]
		Elizabeth Earley	A Map of Everything	Finalist	[19]
		Vinton Rafe McCabe	Death in Venice, California
		Megan Milks	Kill Marguerite and Other Stories
		Dia Felix	Nochita
		Dan Lopez	Part the Hawser, Limn the Sea
		Bob Sennett	The Music Teacher
		Alden Jones	Unaccompanied Minors
2016	Debut Fiction	Victor Yates	A Love Like Blood	Winner	[22][23]
		Mark S. Luckie	Do U.	Finalist	[24]
		Paul Brownsey	His Steadfast Love and Other Stories
		Ioannis Pappos	Hotel Living
		Meliza Bañales	Life is Wonderful, People are Terrific
		James Driggers	Lovesick
		Libby Ware	Lum: A Novel
		Austin Bunn	The Brink