John Waters and Queer Literary Luminaries Honored at Lammys

On Monday, comic Kate Clinton hosted the 27th Annual Lambda Literary Awards at The Great Hall at Cooper Union, in New York.

The ceremony, which honors the year's most ingenious and illustrious queer authors and LGBT literary figures, brought together some of the best talent today.

Gloria Steinem introduced Rubyfruit Jungle author, Rita Mae Brown, who received the Pioneer Award. Steinem described laughter as "an orgasm of the mind" and praised Brown for her understanding joy and laughter. Brown called Steinem as "our North Star. If you can find her, you'll never be lost."

Filmmaker and author John Waters took the stage after being introduced by gossip queen-in-chief, Liz Smith. Waters, whom Smith called "nowadays Andy Warhol," won the Lambda's Trustee Award for Excellence in Literature. Waters dedicated the honor to the original owners of the Provincetown Bookstore where he worked for a summer as a young man and where he received his true education.

Newcomer Abdi Nazemian won the Debut LGBT Fiction award for his excellent The Walk-In Closet, which explores the life of a "beard" married to a wealthy gay Iranian.

Alexis De Veaux won the award for lesbian fiction for Yabo, Ana Castillo took home the prize for bisexual fiction for Give It to Me, and Casey Plett nabbed the trophy for transgender fiction with A Safe Girl To Love.

Janet Mock, Justin Vivian Bond, and Alan Cumming also took the dais to honor the LGBT community's biggest writers.