The finalists for the 27th annual Lambda Literary Awards, which recognize excellence in LGBT literature published the year prior, have been announced.

Raziel Reid

Seventeen* Canadian authors were shortlisted in 12 of 27 categories. A record number of 818 titles were submitted for this year’s award. The winners will be announced at a ceremony June 1 at New York City’s Great Hall at Cooper Union.

The Canadian finalists, selected by a group of more than 100 volunteers spanning various literary professions, are as follows:

• Under Bright Lights: Gay Manila and the Global Scene, Bobby Benedicto, University of Minnesota Press (LGBT Studies)
• Charity & Sylvia: A Same-Sex Marriage in Early America, Rachel Hope Cleves, Oxford University Press (LGBT Studies)
• Child of a Hidden Sea, A. M. Dellamonica, Tor Books (LGBT Science-fiction/Horror)
• The Transgender Archives: Foundations for the Future, Aaron H. Devor, University of Victoria Libraries (LGBT Non-fiction)
• For Today I Am a Boy, Kim Fu, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Transgender Fiction)
• A Family by Any Other Name: Exploring Queer Relationships , Bruce Gillespie, Touchwood Editions (LGBT Anthology)
• Band Vs. Band Comix Volume 1, Kathleen Jacques, Paper Heart Comix (LGBT Graphic Novel)
• 100 Crushes, Elisha Lim, Koyama Press (LGBT Graphic Novel)
• Cease: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Desire, Lynette Loeppky, Oolichan Books (Lesbian Memoir/Biography)
• Adult Onset, Ann-Marie Macdonald, Knopf Canada (Lesbian General Fiction)
• UnCatholic Conduct, Stevie Mikayne, Bold Strokes Books (Lesbian Mystery)
• Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab, Shani Mootoo, Doubleday Canada (Transgender Fiction)
• A Safe Girl To Love, Casey Plett, Topside Press (Transgender Fiction)
• MxT, Sina Queyras, Coach House Books (Lesbian Poetry)
• When Everything Feels Like the Movies, Raziel Reid, Arsenal Pulp Press (LGBT Children’s/YA)
• She of the Mountains, Vivek Shraya; Raymond Biesinger, illus., Arsenal Pulp Press (Bi-sexual Fiction)
• Janey’s Arcadia, Rachel Zolf, Coach House Books (Lesbian Poetry)

*Correction March 9: An earlier version of this story neglected to mention Ottawa author Stevie Mikayne on the roster of finalists.