The 2nd Lambda Literary Awards were held in 1990 to honour works of LGBT literature published in 1989.
| Category | Winner | |
|---|---|---|
| Editor's Choice | Gertrude Stein (Rebecca Mark, ed.), Lifting Belly | |
| Publisher's Service | Carol Seajay, Feminist Bookstore News |
| AIDS Literature | Reports from the Holocaust: The Story of an AIDS Activist | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| In Memory of Angel Clare | Finalist | ||
| Epitaphs for the Living | Finalist | ||
| Personal Dispatches | Finalist | ||
| AIDS and Its Metaphors | Finalist | ||
| Gay Anthology | Hidden from History | Winner | |
| and Andy Rose | Twice Blessed | Finalist | |
| Collected Plays of Charles Ludlam | Finalist | ||
| Finale: Stories of Mystery | Finalist | ||
| Personal Dispatches | Finalist | ||
| Gay Debut Fiction | Winner | ||
| Eighty-Sixed | Finalist | ||
| About Courage | Finalist | ||
| Finalist | |||
| Finalist | |||
| Gay Fiction | Eighty-Sixed | Winner | |
| In Memory of Angel Clare | Finalist | ||
| Closer | Finalist | ||
| Shy | Finalist | ||
| Sure of You | Finalist | ||
| Gay Mystery | Simple Suburban Murder | Winner | |
| Faultlines: Stories of Suspense | Finalist | ||
| Somewhere in the Night | Finalist | ||
| Finale | Finalist | ||
| Caravaggio Shawl | Finalist | ||
| Gay Non-Fiction | In Search of Gay America: Women and Men in a Time of Change | Winner | |
| Being Homosexual | Finalist | ||
| Accepting Ourselves | Finalist | ||
| Memoirs of a Bastard Angel | Finalist | ||
| James Baldwin: Artist on Fire | Finalist | ||
| Gay science fiction, fantasy or horror | Somewhere in the Night | Winner | |
| Key West 2720 AD | Finalist | ||
| Magic’s Pawn | Finalist | ||
| Gentle Warriors | Finalist | ||
| Walking Water/After All This | Finalist | ||
| Humor | Gay Comics | Winner | |
| Cut-Outs and Cut-Ups | Finalist | ||
| Run That Sucker at Six! | Finalist | ||
| Lesbian Love Advisor | Finalist | ||
| Kvetch | Finalist | ||
| Lesbian Anthology | Intricate Passions | Winner | |
| Hidden from History | Winner | ||
| and S. O’Sullivan | Out the Other Side | Winner | |
| Lesbian Love Stories | Finalist | ||
| Lesbian Bedtime Stories | Finalist | ||
| Lesbian Debut Fiction | Winner | ||
| Finalist | |||
| and Carla Tomaso | Voyages Out | Finalist | |
| Rose Penski | Finalist | ||
| Eye of a Hurricane | Finalist | ||
| Lesbian Fiction | Winner | ||
| Trespassing and Other Stories | Finalist | ||
| After the Fire | Finalist | ||
| Education of Harriet Hatfield | Finalist | ||
| Finalist | |||
| Lesbian Mystery | Winner | ||
| Finalist | |||
| Hallowed Murder | Finalist | ||
| Fatal Reunion | Finalist | ||
| Dog Collar Murders | Finalist | ||
| Lesbian Non-Fiction | Really Reading Gertrude Stein | Winner | |
| and Andy Rose | Twice Blessed | Finalist | |
| There’s Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You | Finalist | ||
| Desert Years | Finalist | ||
| Lesbian Love Advisor | Finalist | ||
| Lesbian science fiction, fantasy or horror | What Did Miss Darrington See? | Winner | |
| Clicking Stones | Finalist | ||
| Sue Slate: Private Eye | Finalist | ||
| Memories and Visions | Finalist | ||
| In the Blood | Finalist | ||
| Poetry | Poets for Life | WInner | |
| Humid Pitch: Narrative Poetry | Finalist | ||
| Reader | Finalist | ||
| Naming the Waves | Finalist | ||
| Time’s Power: Poems 1985-1988 | Finalist | ||
| Small Press | My Life As a Mole | Winner | |
| River of Promise | Finalist | ||
| Matlovich: The Good Soldier | Finalist | ||
| Letting in the Night | Finalist | ||
| Men of Color | Finalist | ||
| Young adult/children's | Losing Uncle Tim | Winner | |
| and Daniel Cohen | When Someone You Know Is Gay | Finalist | |
| Jack | Finalist | ||
| and Diana Souza | Heather Has Two Mommies | Finalist | |
| Unlived Affections | Finalist |