Launched in 1989, the Lambda Literary Awards is the most comprehensive awards program for LGBT books and writers in the country and the signature program of the Lambda Literary Foundation, the country’s leading LGBT non-profit dedicated to writers and readers. Twenty years ago, bookseller Deacon Maccubbin of Lambda Rising bookstore in Washington DC came up with the idea of celebrating lesbian and gay books, and the Lambda Literary Awards were born. Each year, awards are presented in over twenty categories, ranging from the standard fiction, nonfiction, and poetry to memoir/biography, children’s/young adult, mystery, LGBT Studies, romance, and more.

The awards categories have evolved over the years to reflect the type of books being written by the LGBT community. During the late eighties, a category for books written about AIDS was developed in order to recognize the number of books being written about the epidemic and the significance to our lives, culture and literature. Honorees included: Borrowed Time: An AIDS Memoir by Paul Monette (1988), and Reports from the Holocaust by Larry Kramer (1989).

A category was developed to recognize and honor transgender books in 1996. That year, Loren Cameron's intensely personal photo documentary of female-to-male transsexuals, Body Alchemy, was the winner. The book included intimate autobiographical text and a series of before-and-after photographs documenting the transformation of a number of FTMs in Cameron's transsexual community, as well as his own striking self-portraits.

A category for bisexual books was added in 2006. The Bisexual's Guide to the Universe: Quips, Tips, and Lists for Those Who Go Both Ways, co-authored by Nicole Kristal and Mike Szymanski, was the first winner in the bisexual book category.

Below is the list of the 17 current nominees for the Lambda Literary Foundation Best Bisexual Book award. There will be five finalists, to be announced no later than March 1, 2008. The winner will be announced at the 20th Annual Lambda Awards Gala which takes place in May 2008 in Los Angeles at the Pacific Design Center.