The Amber Hollibaugh Award for LGBTQ+ Social Justice Writing recognizes a nonfiction book that addresses the issues such as economic injustice, with a special focus on queer kids and adult sex workers. Writers who explore these or similar topics, especially when written from personal experience, will merit consideration for the award, which carries a prize of $1,000. The winner of this award will be selected from among the submissions by a panel of judges.
Amber Hollibaugh won the Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction in 2001 for her book, My Dangerous Desires: A Queer Girl Dreaming Her Way Home.
In the list below, finalists are presented in alphabetical order by book.
2025
Come By Here: A Memoir in Essays from Georgia’s Geechee Coast, by Neesha Powell-Ingabire (Hub City Press)
How to Fuck Like a Girl: Essays, by Vera Blossom (Dopamine Books)
How to Tell When We Will Die: On Pain, Disability and Doom, by Johanna Hedva (Zando-Hillman Grad Books)
Magical Realism: Essays On Music, Memory, Fantasy and Borders, by Vanessa Angelica Villarreal (Tiny Reparations Books)