Lambda Literary has announced that they will honor Alison Bechdel with the Foundation's Trustee Award for Excellence in Literature and Kate Bornstein with the Pioneer Award at the upcoming 26th Annual Lambda Literary Awards in June. Bechdel is the author of award-winning and bestselling graphic memoirs Are You My Mother: A Comic Drama and Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic in addition to the lauded comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. Bornstein is an author, playwright and performance artist who has written gender studies texts, memoirs, and plays such as My Gender Workbook, A Queer and Pleasant Danger, and The Opposite Sex Is Neither.

The Lambda Literary Awards ("The Lammys") celebrate excellence in LGBT literature. They give awards in 24 genre-specific categories, including "Transgender Fiction," "Bisexual Nonfiction," and "Lesbian Mystery." Nominees include Artifice by Alex Woolfson and Winona Nelson in "LGBT Graphic Novel," Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan in "LGBT Children's/ Young Adult," and sash & trim and other plays by Djola Branner in "LGBT Drama." (Full disclosure: Professor Branner is a spectacular professor and dean at my school, Hampshire College. Congratulations, Djola!) You can see a full list of this year's finalists here.

Winners will be announced at this year's Awards in New York at The Great Hall at Cooper Union on June 2nd. Humorist Kate Clinton will host for the third year running. Presenters include A.M. Homes, David Mixner, Urvashi Vaid, Masha Gessen, and many more. For more information on this year's awards, click here.