Gala to Honor 2003 Lammie Winners and Betty DeGeneres and Judy Shepard

The Lambda Literary Foundation will announce the winners of the 15th Annual Lambda Literary Awards, honoring "the best and the brightest" in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered publishing, at a gala banquet at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, on May 29. An authors' reception will begin at 6:00 p.m., with dinner at 7:30 p.m.

Awards will be presented in 20 categories, and the recipients of this year's Bridge Builder Award, Betty DeGeneres and Judy Shepard, will be recognized for their contributions to gay and lesbian literature as well as for their work on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered issues.

"We are delighted to recognize the work of Judy Shepard and the Matthew Shepard Foundation, and Betty DeGeneres, mother of Ellen DeGeneres, in erasing the barriers between gay and lesbian people and society at large, and for their tireless efforts to combat prejudice and hatred with truth and understanding," said Jim Marks, executive director of the Lambda Literary Foundation.

Gala ticket prices are $150 for dinner and the awards show. A $195 ticket includes entry to the authors' reception prior to the dinner; VIP tickets, which include the dinner, awards show, preferred seating, and name inclusion in the program, are $295. Tickets orders may be placed through the Lammie Web site at www.lambdalit.org/lammy.html.

Supporters of the Lambda Literary Awards include the American Booksellers Association, Haworth Press, Genre Magazine, Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation, Bookazine, TLA Video, Spinsters Ink, Gay11.com, Random House, Routledge, and American Airlines.

Below is a partial list of the finalists. For the complete list of finalists, visit the Awards page of the Lambda Literary Foundation Web site at www.lambdalit.org/Lammy/lammy_2002_finalists.html.

Gay Men's Fiction

Avoidance, Michael Lowenthal, Graywolf Press
At Swim Two Boys, Jamie O'Neill, Scribner
Boulevard, Jim Grimsley, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Letters to Montgomery Clift, Noël Alumit, MacAdam/Cage Publishing
The Martian Child, David Gerrold, Forge

Lesbian Fiction

Fingersmith, Sarah Waters, Riverhead Books
Lucky in the Corner, Carol Anshaw, Houghton Mifflin Company
Godspeed, Lynn Breedlove, St. Martin's Press
Stay, Nicola Griffith, Doubleday
This Place Called Absence, Lydia Kwa, Kensington Publishing

Gay Men's Poetry

The Christmas Poems, Krandall Kraus, AttaGirl Press
Hazmat, J.D. McClatchy, Alfred A. Knopf
Landscape with Human Figure, Rafael Campo, Duke University Press
Ten Tongues, Reginald Harris, Three Conditions Press
Theory of Devolution, David Groff, University of Illinois Press

Lesbian Poetry

Body Language, C.C. Carter, Kings Crossing Publishing
Mules of Love, Ellen Bass, BOA Editions, Ltd.
Passing, Eloise Klein Healy, Red Hen Press
Red, Melanie Braverman, Perugia Press
Unraveling at the Name, Jenny Factor, Copper Canyon Press