The Lambda Literary Foundation has selected 119 finalists for the prestigious 24^th Annual Lambda Literary Award, which identifies and celebrates the best of lesbian and gay books in the year of their publication. Finalist readings are being held in San Francisco, Seattle, Minneapolis, New York, Toronto, and Los Angeles.

On Friday, May 11, Lambda Literary Award Finalists will be reading from their selected works in NYC at  Bluestockings Books, 7:00 pm.

Confirmed authors for this event are: Anton Dudley, Paul Legault, Barbara Browning, Michael Schiavi, Bil Wright, Barry Brennessel, Glen Retief, Sacchi Green, Sally Bellerose, Dawn Lundy Martin, Jonathan Tolins, Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio, Rafe Posey, Steven Haas, Colm Toibin, Michael Hames-Garcia, and Jafari S. Allen.

The awards, now in their twenty-fourth year, celebrate achievement in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) writing for books published in 2011. Winners will be announced at a Monday evening, June 4th ceremony in New York at the CUNY Graduate Center (365 Fifth Avenue) with an after-party at Slate (54 West 21st Street).

Books from major mainstream publishers and from academic presses, from both long-established and new LGBT publishers, as well as from emerging publish-on-demand technologies, make up the 119 finalists, culled from a submission pool of approximately 600 titles represented from about 250 publishers.

More than 90 booksellers, book reviewers, librarians, authors, previous Lammy winners and finalists, and other book professionals volunteered many hours of reading time, critical thinking, and shared discussion to select the finalists in 24 categories. To view the full list of finalists, click here.

The Lambda Literary Foundation nurtures, celebrates, and preserves LGBT literature through programs that honor excellence, promote visibility and encourage development of emerging writers. For more about Lambda Literary, check out their website.

Related Posts:

• The Taint Of Equality, Or I Want Your Sex – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Entrevista: Dan Horrigan (MY AiDS)