Bryan Batt Named Lambda Literary Award Finalist

Finalists for the Lambda Literary Award were announced today by the Lambda Literary Foundation in Los Angeles. Books from major mainstream publishers and from academic presses, from both long-established and brand new LGBT publishers, and even from emerging publish-on-demand technologies, make up the 114 finalists for the "Lammys." The finalists were selected from a record number of nominations. Broadway's Bryan Batt was announced as one of the finalists.

In 2010 Bryan Batt published a memoir about his mother entitled She Ain't Heavy, She's My Mother. Batt is a native New Orleanian actor, designer, fund-raiser, and civic activist in both New Orleans and New York. He plays Salvatore Romano on AMC's Emmy, Golden Globe, and Peabody Award-winning drama "Mad Men" and was recently featured as Spencer Cannon on the final episodes of "Ugly Betty."

A Broadway veteran, Mr. Batt has also appeared on the Great White Way in productions of La Cage Aux Folles (Albin Standby), Beauty and the Beast (Lumiere) Suessical the Musical (The Cat in the Hat), Saturday Night Fever (Monty), The Scarlet Pimpernel, Sunset Boulevard, Joseph...Dreamcoat, Starlight Express and Cats. His off-Broadway credits include Jeffrey, Forbidden Broadway Cleans Up Its Act (LA Drama Logue Award) and I Love New York (1999 Drama Desk Nomination).

The awards, now in their twenty-third year, celebrate achievement in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) writing for books published in 2010. Winners will be announced at a May 26 ceremony in New York at the School of Visual Arts Theater (333 West 23rd Street).

Lambda set a record in 2009 for both the number of LGBT books nominated (462) and the number of publishers participating (about 200), reports Lambda Awards Administrator Richard Labonté. But that record has been surpassed this year, with more than 520 titles represented from about 230 publishers.

More than 90 booksellers, book reviewers, librarians, authors, previous Lammy winners and finalists, and other book professionals volunteered many hours of reading time, critical thinking, and invigorating shared discussion to select the finalists in 24 categories.

"Lambda Literary depends on the generous gifts of time and talent from its volunteer judges, year after year, to keep the Lammys vibrant. We couldn't do it without them," said Lambda Executive Director, Tony Valenzuela. "This day really belongs to our finalists, whose work has entered the elite company of Lammy nominated books that enrich our community's literature. Congratulations to these talented authors on their momentous achievement."