Lambda Literary Awards 2016: Complete list of winners

The 2016 Lambda Literary Awards celebrated a diverse range of LGBTQ+ voices across fiction, memoir, and visual storytelling, showcasing the vibrant literary landscape within queer publishing. The Lambda Literary Awards, often referred to as the Lammys, stand as the largest international book awards program dedicated to LGBTQ+ literature, and this year’s selections reflected both emerging talents and established literary figures tackling everything from historical biography to contemporary fiction. Notable winners included Chinelo Okparanta’s Under the Udala Trees in Lesbian Fiction and Hasan Namir’s God in Pink in Gay Fiction, while Langdon Hammer’s scholarly James Merrill: Life and Art honored one of American literature’s most significant poets in the Gay Memoir/Biography category.

What made the 2016 Lambda Literary Awards particularly striking was the richness of recognition across multiple identity categories, with transgender literature receiving substantial representation through works that ranged from Roz Kaveney’s Tiny Pieces of Skull, or a Lesson in Manners to Willy Wilkinson’s culturally focused examination in Born on the Edge of Race and Gender. Emily Bingham’s Irrepressible: The Jazz Age Life of Henrietta Bingham brought a historical lens to bisexual representation, while the graphic narrative award honored The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ & Amal, demonstrating how the Lambdas continue to embrace diverse storytelling formats beyond traditional prose. These winners collectively represent the Lambda Literary Awards’ commitment to amplifying narratives that might otherwise be overlooked by mainstream publishing institutions.

Below, you’ll find the complete list of 2016 Lambda Literary Awards winners across all categories: