Photo credit: Ryan Leitner.
The Publishing Triangle is thrilled to announce that Robert Fieseler is the winner of the Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award. This prize, named in honor of the L.A.-based psychologist, author, and activist Betty Berzon (1928–2006), is presented to a promising LGBTQ writer who has published at least one book but not more than two.
Fieseler’s debut book Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation was published by Liveright in 2018. It won the Edgar Award and the Louisiana Literary Award, was shortlisted for the Saroyan International Prize for Writing, and was a finalist for the Publishing Triangle’s Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction.
Fieseler, a National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association “Journalist of the Year,” is currently working on his second queer history book, which received a Silvers Foundation work-in-progress grant. He graduated co-valedictorian from the Columbia Journalism School and lives with his husband in New Orleans.
The judges for the Berzon Prize said, “Robert Fieseler’s previous work has shown exceptional talent and great promise for the future. His work is uniquely aligned with the great work done by Betty Berzon, and we feel particularly honored to be uniting the two with this award.” Fieseler will receive a prize of $1500 with this award.