Lambda Literary Announces 2015 Winners

Monday night, LGBT literature's stars, as diverse Janet Mock (above right), Alison Bechdel, and Michelangelo Signorile (above left), turned up in their finest at New York's Cooper Union to celebrate this year's best and brighest in fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novels at the Lambda Literary Awards.

Hosted by lesbian comedian Kate Clinton and featuring performances from both singer-songwriter Toshi Reagon and Lauren Patton of Broadway's Fun Home: The Musical, the 27th edition of the much-loved awards ceremony proved to be as exciting and uplifting event as ever, notable for the grace with which winners and nonwinners alike celebrate everyone's accomplishments.

Memorable moments included, according to the Lambda Literary Foundation, a steady stream of witty repartee from legendary filmmaker John Waters as he accepted the Trustee Award for Excellence in Literature and a rousing speech from Transgender Fiction winner Casey Plett, who triumphantly announced, "The transgender community is taking over!" -- a sentiment shared by many who appreciate the fairly recent inclusion of specific Transgender categories for the Lammy judges to consider.

Check out the full list of winners after the photos below, as presented on Lambda Literary's website, for pointers for your next great LGBT summer read.

Below, images from the event, courtesy of Lambda Literary:

Justin Vivian Bond and Alan Cumming

Charles Blow

Liz Smith

John Waters

Gloria Steinem

Rita Mae Brown

Danez Smith

Toshi Reagon

DR. BETTY BERZON EMERGING WRITER AWARD

Anne Balay and Daisy Hernandez

PIONEER AWARD

Rita Mae Brown

TRUSTEE AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN LITERATURE

John Waters

LESBIAN FICTION

Yabo by Alexis De Veaux, RedBone Press

GAY FICTION

I Loved You More by Tom Spanbauer, Hawthorne Books

BISEXUAL FICTION

Give It to Me by Ana Castillo, The Feminist Press

TRANSGENDER FICTION

A Safe Girl To Love by Casey Plett, Topside Press

LGBT DEBUT FICTION

The Walk-In Closet by Abdi Nazemian, Curtis Brown Unlimited

LGBT NONFICTION

Hold Tight Gently: Michael Callen, Essex Hemphill, and the Battlefield of AIDS by Martin Duberman, The New Press

BISEXUAL NONFICTION

Fire Shut Up In My Bones by Charles M. Blow, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

TRANSGENDER NONFICTION

Man Alive: A True Story of Violence, Forgiveness and Becoming a Man by Thomas Page McBee, City Lights/Sister Spit

LESBIAN POETRY

Mysterious Acts by My People by Valerie Wetlaufer, Sibling Rivalry Press

GAY POETRY

[insert] boy by Danez Smith, YesYes Books

LESBIAN MYSTERY

The Old Deep and Dark by Ellen Hart, Minotaur Books

GAY MYSTERY

Blackmail, My Love: A Murder Mystery by Katie Gilmartin, Cleis Press

LESBIAN MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY

Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around: Forty Years of Movement Building with Barbara Smith by Alethia Jones and Virginia Eubanks, with Barbara Smith, SUNY Press

GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY - 2 Winners

Gay memoir: The Prince of Los Cocuyos by Richard Blanco, HarperCollins/Ecco

Gay biography:Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh by John Lahr, W. W. Norton & Company

LESBIAN ROMANCE

The Farmer's Daughter by Robbi McCoy, Bella Books

GAY ROMANCE

Salvation: A Novel of the Civil War by Jeff Mann, Bear Bones Books

LESBIAN EROTICA

Lesbian Sex Bible by Diana Cage, Quiver Books

GAY EROTICA

The King by Tiffany Reisz, MIRA Books

LGBT ANTHOLOGY

Understanding and Teaching U.S. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender History by Leila J. Rupp & Susan K. Freeman, University of Wisconsin Press

LGBT CHILDREN'S/YOUNG ADULT

Five, Six, Seven, Nate! by Tim Federle, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

LGBT DRAMA

Bootycandy by Robert O'Hara, Samuel French

LGBT GRAPHIC NOVELS

Second Avenue Caper by Joyce Brabner; Art by Mark Zingarelli, Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux

LGBT SF/F/HORROR

Bitter Waters by Chaz Brenchley, Lethe Press

LGBT STUDIES

The Delectable Negro: Human Consumption and Homoeroticism Within U.S. Slave Culture by Vincent Woodard, Edited by Justin A. Joyce and Dwight McBride, New York University Press