Last night at the 38th Annual Publishing Triangle Awards, books in ten categories were recognized for their excellence. Scroll down to see which titles were selected by our judges as the very best in LGBTQ+ literature published in 2025.
You can purchase copies of the award winners and finalists via our Bookshop link.
The Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBTQ+ Fiction
Administered in conjunction with the Ferro-Grumley Foundation
Winner:
Drought
by Scott Alexander Hess (Rebel Satori Press)
Finalists:
A/S/L by Jeanne Thornton (Soho Press)
Are You Happy?: Stories by Lori Ostlund (Astra House)
I Am You by Victoria Redel (SJP Lit)
The South by Tash Aw (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
The Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction
Winner:
Lonely Crowds: A Novel
by Stephanie Wambugu (Little, Brown and Company)
Finalists:
Everything Is Fine Here by Iryn Tushabe (House of Anansi Press)
Good Girl by Aria Aber (Hogarth)
To the Moon and Back by Eliana Ramage (Simon & Schuster/Avid Reader Press)
Woodworking by Emily St. James (Zando – Crooked Media Reads)
The Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction
Winner:
Beyond the Lesbian Vampire: Reclaiming the Violent Lesbian in Contemporary Queer Horror
by Sam Tabet (University of Wales Press)
Finalists:
All the Parts We Exile by Roza Nozari (Knopf Canada)
Milena and Margarete: A Love Story in Ravensbrück by Gwen Strauss (St. Martin’s Press)
No Offense: A Memoir in Essays by Jackie Domenus (ELJ Editions)
Worthy of the Event: An Essay by Vivian Blaxell (LittlePuss Press)
The Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction
Winner:
Baldwin: A Love Story
by Nicholas Boggs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Finalists:
American Scare by Robert W. Fieseler (Dutton)
Don Bachardy: An Artist’s Life by Michael Schreiber (Citadel Press)
The Einstein of Sex by Daniel Brook (W. W. Norton & Company)
The Intermediaries by Brandy Schillace (W. W. Norton & Company)
The Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry
Winner:
The Boy Kingdom / El reino de los varones: Poems / Poemas
by Achy Obejas (Beacon Press)
Finalists:
Essential Poems by Pat Parker, edited by SaraEllen Strongman (Sinister Wisdom)
Let the Moon Wobble by Ally Ang (Alice James Books)
Lonely Women Make Good Lovers by Keetje Kuipers (BOA Editions)
SOFAR by Elizabeth Bradfield (Persea Books)
The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry
Winner:
I Do Know Some Things
by Richard Siken (Copper Canyon Press)
Finalists:
Brotherful by Bryan Borland (Sibling Rivalry Press)
Building the Perfect Animal by C. Dale Young (Four Way Books)
Seabeast by Rajiv Mohabir (Four Way Books)
Willow Hammer by Patrick Donnelly (Four Way Books)
The Leslie Feinberg Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature
Winner:
Local Woman
by Jzl Jmz (Nightboat Books)
Finalists:
Gendertrash from Hell edited by Mirha Soleil-Ross (LittlePuss Press)
Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson by Tourmaline (Tiny Reparations Books)
they/she/he by deziree a. brown (Host Publications)
Uncanny Valley Girls by Zefyr Lisowski (Harper Perennial)
The Joseph Hansen Award for LGBTQ+ Crime Writing
Winner:
Mirage City
by Lev AC Rosen (Minotaur Books)
Finalists:
Crime Ink: Iconic edited by John Copenhaver and Salem West (Bywater Books)
A Murderous Business by Cathy Pegau (Minotaur Books)
The Smallest Day by JM Redmann (Bold Strokes Books)
The Tiger and the Cosmonaut by Eddy Boudel Tan (Viking Canada)
The Jacqueline Woodson Award for LGBTQ+ Young Adult and Children’s Literature
Winner:
We Can Never Leave
by H. E. Edgmon (Wednesday Books)
Finalists:
Generation Queer by Kimm Topping (Lee & Low Books)
Planeta by Ana Oncina (TOKYOPOP)
Star Fruit by Kamryn Kingsberry (KB Press)
Titan of the Stars by E. K. Johnston (Tundra Books)
The Amber Hollibaugh Award for LGBTQ+ Social Justice Writing
Winner:
What is Queer Food?: How We Served a Revolution
by John Birdsall (W. W. Norton & Company)
Finalists:
Jesusland by Joelle Kidd (ECW Press)
Radical Unlearning by Lewis Raven Wallace (Beacon Press)
The Rainbow Ain’t Never Been Enuf by Kaila Adia Story (Beacon Press)
Semi Well-Adjusted Despite Literally Everything by Alyson Stoner (St. Martin’s Press)
Special Recognition
A Publishing Triangle Community Legacy Recognition Award was presented to Greg Newton and Donnie Jochum, owners of Manhattan’s last remaining queer bookstore, Bureau of General Services – Queer Division, for more than a decade of service to the community.
Previously Announced Awards
Bill Whitehead Lifetime Achievement Award
Chrystos
Publishing Triangle Torchbearer Award
The Other Side of Silence (TOSOS)
Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award
Mariah Rigg
Michele Karlsberg Leadership Award
Amy Scholder
A video of the ceremony and photographs will be added to our social media channels soon.