2 Canadians win Lambda Literary Awards for best LGBTQ+ writing

Two Canadian writers, Danny Ramadanand Jeff Howere among the winners of the 2023 Lambda Literary Awards. The prizes, which recognize the best in queer writing across 25 categories including poetry, fiction, romance and more, were given out at a ceremony in New York.

Ramadan won the gay fiction category for his novel The Foghorn Echoeswhile Ho won the LGBTQ+ drama category forIphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land).

The Lambda Literary Awards have celebrated LGBTQ storytelling for more than three decades.

More than 1,300 titles were submitted by 30 publishers for this year's awards. The finalists and winners were chosen by a panel of more than 65professionals from the literary, book and publishing industries. Each category is judged by a team of three panellists.

Ramadan says the hardest year of his life was his first year as a refugee in Canada and adjusting to a new way of life. His novelThe Foghorn Echoesechoesthat sense of dislocation.Set in war-torn Syria in 2003, The Foghorn Echoes interweaves the stories of who two boys. They have feelings forone another and, when they act on them,their lives are changed forever. Ten years later, as they struggle to find peace and belonging, the past continues to reverberate for both men.

• Danny Ramadan's second novel The Foghorn Echoes traces the fallout from forbidden queer love in war-torn Syria

Ramadan is a Syrian Canadian author, public speaker and advocate for LGBTQ+ refugees. His debut novel,The Clothesline Swing, was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award and was longlisted forCanada Reads2018.He has an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbiaand currently lives in Vancouver with his husband.

LISTEN | Danny Ramadan discusses The Foghorn Echoes:

The Next Chapter19:11Danny Ramadan on The Foghorn Echoes

Danny Ramadan talks to Shelagh Rogers about his novel, The Foghorn Echoes.

Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land)&Antigone: won the award for LGBTQ+ drama.

Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land)&Antigone: are two Ancient Greek adaptations led by people of colour that reimagine the stories for modern times.

Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land)highlights the repetition of hate and colonialism that occur in ancient myths through a mischievous lens. Since Iphigenia was rescued from the sacrificial altar, she has served as a high priestess to the goddess Artemis on Tauros, where she in turn is to sacrifice any foreigners who try to enter. When she discovers that an exiled prisoner is her brother, they together plot their escape, but are soon confronted by a force beyond their control.

Antigone: takes place against the backdrop of the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement and Tiananmen Square Massacre protests. When citizens challenge the state, the ruling family is divided on who interests to prioritize: their own or the citizens. When brothers Neikes and Teo kill each other during the protests, their sister Antigone collects Neikes's body against the wishes of her father, setting off a chain of events that forces the family to reckon with their decisions.

Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land)andAntigone: was also a finalist forthe 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for drama.

Ho Ka Keiis a Toronto-based theatre artist, originally from Hong Kong.

• Playwright traces 4 generations of his family history in musical one-man play

Two of the other winners were published by Canadian presses:The Third Person by American writerEmma Grove won the transgender nonfiction category and was published by Montreal comics publisher Drawn & Quarterly while bisexual nonfiction winnerAppropriate Behavior (Queer Film Classics Book 4) byAmericanMaria San Filippowas published by McGill-Queen's University Press.

Ten Canadians were nominated for the 2023 awards, includingJen Ferguson for her YA novelThe Summer of Bitter and Sweet,Maggie Hornefor her middle-grade novelHazel Hill Is Gonna Win This Oneand Natalie Wee for her poetry collectionBeast at Every Threshold.

The complete list of 2023 winners is below.

• Lesbian fiction:Gods of Want byK-Ming Chang
• Lesbian poetry:As She Appears byShelley Wong
• Lesbian memoir/biography:Lost & Found: A Memoir byKathryn Schulz
• Lesbian romance:TheRules of Forever byNan Campbell
• Gay fiction:The Foghorn Echoes byDanny Ramadan
• Gay poetry:Some Integrity byPadraig Regan
• Gay memoir/biography:High-Risk Homosexual: A Memoir byEdgar Gomez
• Gay romance:I'm So (Not) Over You byKosoko Jackson
• LGBTQ+ nonfiction:The Black Period: On Personhood, Race, and Origin
  Hafizah Augustus Geter
• LGBTQ+ young adult:The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School bySonora Reyes
• LGBTQ+ anthology:OutWrite: The Speeches That Shaped LGBTQ Literary Culture, edited byJulie R. Enszer and Elena Gross
• LGBTQ+ middle grade:Nikhil Out Loud byMaulik Pancholy
• LGBTQ+ children's books:Mighty Red Riding Hood byWallace West
• LGBTQ+ comics:Mamo bySas Milledge
• LGBTQ+ drama:Iphigenia and the Furies (On Taurian Land) & Antigone: byHo Ka Kei (Jeff Ho)
• LGBTQ+ romance & erotica:Kiss Her Once for Me byAlison Cochrun
• LGBTQ+ mystery:Dirt Creek: A Novel byHayley Scrivenor
• LGBTQ+ speculative fiction:The Wicked and the Willing byLianyu Tan
• LGBTQ+ studies:Keeping It Unreal: Black Queer Fantasy and Superhero Comics byDarieck Scott
• Bisexual fiction:Reluctant Immortals byGwendolyn Kiste
• Bisexual nonfiction:Appropriate Behavior byMaria San Filippo
• Bisexual poetry:Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes byNicky Beer
• Transgender fiction:The Call-Out byCat Fitzpatrick
• Transgender nonfiction:The Third Person byEmma Grove
• Transgender poetry:MissSettl byKamden Ishmael Hilliard