3rd Lambda Literary Awards
The 3rd Lambda Literary Awards were held in 1991 to honour works of LGBT literature published in 1990.
Special awards
| Category | Winner |
|---|---|
| Editor's Choice | Wayne Dynes, The Encyclopedia of Homosexuality |
| Publisher Service | Phil Willkie and Greg Baysans, The James White Review |
Nominees and winners
| Category | Author | Title | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIDS Literature | Elizabeth Osbourn | The Way We Live Now | Winner |
| ACT UP/New York Women | Women, AIDS & Activism | Finalist | |
| Michael Callen | Surviving AIDS | Finalist | |
| Douglas Crimp | AIDS Demo Graphics | Finalist | |
| Cindy Patton | Inventing AIDS | Finalist | |
| Gay Anthology | George Stambolian | Men on Men 3 | Winner |
| Franklin Abbott | Men & Intimacy | Finalist | |
| Robert Kus | Gay Men of Alcoholics Anonymous | Finalist | |
| Robert Kus | Keys to Caring | Finalist | |
| Richard L. Stone, Marsh Cassady, and Richard Stephen Smith | Triple Fiction | Finalist | |
| Gay Debut Fiction | Lev Raphael | Dancing on Tisha B’av | Winner |
| Allen Barnett | The Body and Its Dangers | Finalist | |
| Bo Huston | Horse and Other Stories | Finalist | |
| Patrick Moore | This Every Night | Finalist | |
| Matthew Stadler | Landscape: Memory | Finalist | |
| Gay Fiction | Allen Barnett | The Body and Its Dangers | Winner |
| Michael Cunningham | A Home at the End of the World | Finalist | |
| John Gilgun | Music I Never Dreamed Of | Finalist | |
| David Leavitt | A Place I’ve Never Been | Finalist | |
| Paul Monette | Afterlife | Finalist | |
| Gay Mystery | Michael Nava | Howtown | Winner |
| Joseph Hansen | Boy Who Was Buried This Morning | Finalist | |
| Stan Leventhal | Black Marble Pool | Finalist | |
| Grant Michaels | Body to Dye For | Finalist | |
| Mark Richard Zubro | Why Isn’t Becky Twitchell Dead? | Finalist | |
| Gay Non-Fiction | Allan Bérubé | Coming Out Under Fire | Winner |
| Mike Hippler | So Little Time | Finalist | |
| Mary Ann Humphrey | My Country, My Right to Serve | Finalist | |
| Dave Pallone | Behind the Mask | Finalist | |
| Stuart Timmons | Trouble With Harry Hay | Finalist | |
| Gay Poetry | Michael Lassell | Decade Dance | Winner |
| Francisco X. Alarcón | Body in Flames | Finalist | |
| Mark Ameen | Buried Body | Finalist | |
| James Broughton | Special Deliveries | Finalist | |
| Kenny Fries | Healing Notebooks | Finalist | |
| Gay science fiction, fantasy or horror | Toby Johnson | Secret Matter | Winner |
| Mercedes Lackey | Magic's Price | Winner | |
| Marsh Cassady | Alternate Casts | Finalist | |
| Storm Constantine | Enchantments of Flesh and Spirit | Finalist | |
| Scott Edelman | The Gift | Finalist | |
| Gay Small Press | Michael Willhoite | Daddy's Roommate | Winner |
| Robert Chesley | Hard Plays/Stiff Parts | Finalist | |
| Kate Dyer | Gays in Uniform | Finalist | |
| Jack Fritscher | Some Dance to Remember | Finalist | |
| Stuart Timmons | Trouble With Harry Hay | Finalist | |
| Humor | Alison Bechdel | New, Improved Dykes to Watch Out For | Winner |
| Susie Bright | Susie Sexpert’s Lesbian Sex World | Finalist | |
| Andrea Natalie | Stonewall Riots | Finalist | |
| Gail Sausser | More Lesbian Etiquette | Finalist | |
| Terry Woodrow | Meatmen Vol. 8 | Finalist | |
| Lesbian Anthology | Joan Nestle and Nona Caspers | Women on Women | Winner |
| Jeffner Allen | Lesbian Philosophies and Cultures | Finalist | |
| Karla Jay and Joanne Glasgow | Lesbian Texts and Contexts | Finalist | |
| Terry Woodrow | Lesbian Bedtime Stores 2 | Finalist | |
| Irene Zahava | Speaking Four Ourselves | Finalist | |
| Lesbian Debut Fiction | Cherry Muhanji | Her | Winner |
| Julie Blackwomon and Nona Caspers | Voyages Out 2 | Finalist | |
| Renee Hansen | Take Me to the Underground | Finalist | |
| Karen Marie Christa Minns | Virago | Finalist | |
| Vickie Sears | Simple Songs | Finalist | |
| Lesbian Fiction | Paula Martinac | Out of Time | Winner |
| Jane DeLynn | Don Juan in the Village | Finalist | |
| Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz | My Jewish Face | Finalist | |
| Anna Livia | Incidents Involving Mirth | Finalist | |
| Sarah Schulman | People in Trouble | Finalist | |
| Lesbian Mystery | Lauren Wright Douglas | Ninth Life | Winner |
| Barbara Wilson | Gaudi Afternoon | Winner | |
| Sarah Dreher | A Captive in Time | Finalist | |
| Camarin Grae | Slick | Finalist | |
| Claire McNab | Death Down Under | Finalist | |
| Lesbian Non-Fiction | Bonnie Zimmerman | The Safe Sea of Women | Winner |
| Susie Bright | Susie Sexpert’s Lesbian Sex World | Finalist | |
| Becky Butler | Ceremonies of the Heart | Finalist | |
| Marcia Freedman | Exile in the Promised Land | Finalist | |
| Kate Millett | Loony-Bin Trip | Finalist | |
| Lesbian Poetry | Marilyn Hacker | Going Back to the River | Winner |
| S. Diane Bogus | Chant of the Women of Magdalena | Finalist | |
| Irena Klepfisz | A Few Words in the Mother Tongue | Finalist | |
| Minnie Bruce Pratt | Crime Against Nature | Finalist | |
| Yvonne Zipter | Patience of Metal | Finalist | |
| Lesbian science fiction, fantasy or horror | Gael Baudino | Gossamer Axe | Winner |
| Pat Califia | Doc and Fluff | Finalist | |
| Lynda Lyons | Priorities | Finalist | |
| Karen Marie Christa Minns | Virago | Finalist | |
| Melissa Scott | Mighty Good Road | Finalist | |
| Lesbian Small Press | Louise Rafkin (ed.) | Different Mothers | Winner |
| Gloria E. Anzaldúa | Making Face/Making Soul | Finalist | |
| Bev Jo, Linda Strega, and Ruston | Dykes-Loving-Dykes | Finalist | |
| Susan E. Johnson | Staying Power: Long Term Lesbian Couples | Finalist | |
| Evelyn C. White | Black Women’s Health Book | Finalist |