Crime fiction has long offered space for outsider protagonists, and many notable queer writers have used the genre to explore survival, identity, and resistance. Likewise, nonfiction about the criminalization of homosexuality and the policing of gender roles has illuminated queer persecution and resilience.
The Joseph Hansen Award honors an exceptional work of crime fiction or nonfiction. Named for novelist Joseph Hansen (1923–2004), whose groundbreaking Dave Brandstetter mystery series—beginning with Fadeout (1970)—introduced a gay protagonist who defied stereotypes portraying queer characters as criminals or victims. Hansen’s work received wide acclaim: the Los Angeles Times praised him as “the most exciting and effective writer of the classic California private eye novel working today,” and he earned the Private Eye Writers of America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Beyond the Brandstetter series, he authored novels such as A Smile in His Lifetime and Living Upstairs, winning multiple Lambda Literary Awards.
The winner receives $1,000, underwritten by Michael Nava. Eligible books must have been published in the preceding year.
The finalists and winners are determined by a panel of judges appointed by the Publishing Triangle’s awards committee. In the list below, finalists are presented in alphabetical order by book.
2025
Behind You, by Catherine Hernandez (HarperCollins)
Blessed Water, by Margot Douaihy (Zando/Gillian Flynn Books)
Hart Island, by Gary Zebrun (University of Wisconsin Press)
Rough Pages, by Lev AC Rosen (Forge Books)
2024
BeatNikki’s Cafe, by Renee James (Amble Press/Bywater Books)
The Lost Americans, by Christopher Bollen (HarperCollins)
Remain Silent, by Robyn Gigl (Kensington Publishing Corporation)
Transitory, by J.M. Redmann (Bold Strokes Books)
2023
1989: An Allie Burns Novel, by Val McDermid (Grove Atlantic)
Survivor’s Guilt, by Robyn Gigl (Kensington)
Vera Kelly Lost and Found, by Rosalie Knecht (Tin House)
The Verifiers, by Jane Pek (Knopf Doubleday Publishing)