The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry is an annual

literary award A literary award or literary prize is an award presented in recognition of a particularly lauded literary piece or body of work. It is normally presented to an author. Organizations Most literary awards come with a corresponding award ceremony. Ma ...

, presented by the

Lambda Literary Foundation The Lambda Literary Foundation (also known as Lambda Literary) is an American LGBTQ literary organization whose mission is to nurture and advocate for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, preserve their legaci ...

to a

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

-themed book of

poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

by a male writer. At the first two Lambda Literary Awards in 1989 and 1990, a single award for

LGBT Poetry ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is an ...

, irrespective of gender, was presented. Beginning with the 3rd Lambda Literary Awards in 1991, the poetry award was split into two separate awards for Gay Poetry and

Lesbian Poetry A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, which have been presented continuously since then except at the

20th Lambda Literary Awards The 20th Lambda Literary Awards were held in 2008, to honour works of LGBT literature published in 2007. Special awards Nominees and winners External links 20th Lambda Literary Awards {{Lambda Literary Awards Lambda Literary Awards Lambda ...

in 2008, when a merged LGBTQ poetry award was again presented for that year only.

Honorees

References

External links

Lambda Literary Awards
{{Lambda Literary Awards American poetry awards Gay poetry LGBT poetry Lists of LGBT-related award winners and nominees English-language literary awards