The 1st Lambda Literary Awards were held in 1989 to honour works of LGBT literature published in 1988.
| Category | Winner | |
|---|---|---|
| Editor's Choice | and Julie Andrzejewski, Why Can’t Sharon Kowalski Come Home? | |
| Publisher Service | Sasha Alyson, Alyson Books |
| AIDS Literature | Winner | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mortal Embrace: Living with AIDS | Finalist | ||
| Ground Zero | Finalist | ||
| and Patricia Ruppelt | AIDS: The Women | Finalist | |
| , Matt Herron, and Deborah Zemke | Finalist | ||
| Gay Debut Fiction | Winner | ||
| River Road | Finalist | ||
| Sherlock Holmes and the Mysterious Friend of Oscar Wilde | Finalist | ||
| Blue Heaven | Finalist | ||
| Mountain Climbing in Sheridan Square | Finalist | ||
| Gay Fiction | Winner | ||
| Valley of the Shadow | Finalist | ||
| Second Son | Finalist | ||
| Finalist | |||
| Finalist | |||
| Gay Mystery/Science Fiction | Golden Boy | Winner | |
| Who’s Next | Finalist | ||
| Unicorn Mountain | Finalist | ||
| Obedience | Finalist | ||
| Death Takes the Stage | Finalist | ||
| Gay Non-Fiction | Winner | ||
| Permanent Partners | Finalist | ||
| and Diane Raymond | Looking At Gay and Lesbian Life | Finalist | |
| Finalist | |||
| Living the Spirit | Finalist | ||
| Gay Small Press | with Edward A. Lacey (trans.) | Winner | |
| Golden Boy | Winner | ||
| Gay Men & Women Who Enriched the World | Finalist | ||
| Shadows of Love: American Gay Fiction | Finalist | ||
| Unnatural Quotations | Finalist | ||
| Lesbian Debut Fiction | Bird-Eyes | Winner | |
| Sunday’s Child | Finalist | ||
| Mundane’s World | Finalist | ||
| Finalist | |||
| Finalist | |||
| Lesbian Fiction | Winner | ||
| Bingo | Finalist | ||
| Finalist | |||
| Finalist | |||
| After Delores | Finalist | ||
| Lesbian Mystery/Science Fiction | Skiptrace | Winner | |
| Finalist | |||
| Mundane’s World | Finalist | ||
| Heavy Gilt | Finalist | ||
| Lessons in Murder | Finalist | ||
| Lesbian Non-Fiction | Lesbian Ethics: Toward New Value | Winner | |
| Permanent Partners | Finalist | ||
| Finalist | |||
| Finalist | |||
| and Julie Andrzejewski | Why Can’t Sharon Kowalski Come Home? | Finalist | |
| Lesbian Small Press | Winner | ||
| More Dykes to Watch Out For | Finalist | ||
| Macho Sluts | Finalist | ||
| and Julie Andrzejewski | Why Can’t Sharon Kowalski Come Home? | Finalist | |
| and G. Schiller | Before Stonewall | Finalist | |
| Poetry | and Joan Larkin (eds.) | Gay & Lesbian Poetry in our Time | Winner |
| Sappho: Poems and Fragments | Finalist | ||
| Finalist | |||
| Love Alone: Eighteen Elegies for Rog | Finalist | ||
| Finalist |