Our awards program is made possible by generous donors and by our members--and we thank them. For information on how to make a donation to the Publishing Triangle's awards program, click here. For information on membership and links to the membership form, click here.

The Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement
Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction
Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction
The Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry
The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry
The Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction
The Publishing Triangle Leadership Award
The Ferro-Grumley Awards
The Robert Chesley Award for Lesbian and Gay Playwriting



The Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement

The Publishing Triangle began honoring a gay or lesbian writer for his or her body of work a few months after it was founded in 1989.

The Bill Whitehead Award honors a legendary editor; Bill Whitehead was the editor-in-chief at E. P. Dutton in the early 1980s and ended his career at Macmillan. He worked with such gay and lesbian writers as Edmund White, Robert Ferro, and Doris Grumbach, and with Anne Rice (writing as A. N. Roquelaure) and Lana Turner, among others. He died of AIDS in 1987.

The Bill Whitehead Award is given to a woman in even-numbered years and a man in odd years. Members of the Publishing Triangle nominate both the judges and candidates for the award. The winner receives $3,000.

The winners thus far have been:


2011 — Alan Hollinghurst
2010 — Blanche Wiesen Cook
2009 — Martin Duberman
2008 — Katherine Forrest
2007 — Andrew Holleran
2006 — Karla Jay
2005 — Edward Field
2004 — Lillian Faderman
2003 — Christopher Bram
2002 — Jane Rule
2001 — Michael Nava
2000 — Doris Grumbach
1999 — John Rechy
1998 — M. E. Kerr
1997 — Armistead Maupin
1996 — Joan Nestle
1995 — Jonathan Ned Katz
1994 — Judy Grahn
1993 — Samuel R. Delany
1992 — Audre Lorde
1991 — James Purdy
1990 — Adrienne Rich
1989 — Edmund White



Nonfiction Awards

The Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction and The Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction

The Publishing Triangle began giving awards for nonfiction in 1997. Each award is for books published in the preceding year in the United States or Canada (i.e., the 2008 awards below honored books published in 2007).

The Judy Grahn Award honors the American writer, cultural theorist and activist (b. 1940) best known for The Common Woman (1969) and Another Mother Tongue (rev. ed., 1984). It recognizes the best nonfiction book of the year affecting lesbian lives-the book may be by a lesbian, for example, about a lesbian or lesbian culture, or both.

The Randy Shilts Award honors the journalist whose groundbreaking work on the AIDS epidemic for the San Francisco Chronicle made him a hero to many in the community. Shilts (1951-1994) was the author of The Mayor of Castro Street, And the Band Played On, and Conduct Unbecoming.

Publishers and others may nominate candidates for these awards using a submission form posted on our website each autumn, for an entry fee of $35.00. Individual members of the Publishing Triangle may nominate one book for free; corporate members may nominate an unlimited amount of books for free. The finalists and the winners are determined by a panel of judges appointed by the Publishing Triangle's awards committee. The winners each receive $1,000.

Past winners are:

Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction

2011 — Barbara Hammer, Hammer!
2010 — Rebecca Brown, American Romances
2009 — Andrea Weiss, In the Shadow of the Magic Mountain
2008 — Janet Malcolm, Two Lives: Gertrude and Alice
2007 — Alison Bechdel, Fun Home
2006 — Tania Katan, My One-Night Stand with Cancer
2005 — Alison Smith, Name All the Animals
2004 — Lillian Faderman, Naked in the Promised Land
2003 — Terry Wolverton, Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman's Building
2002 — Laura L. Doan, Fashioning Sapphism
2001 — Amber Hollibaugh, My Dangerous Desires
2000 — Hilary Lapsley, Margaret Mead and Ruth Benedict: The Kinship of Women
1999 — Judith Halberstam, Female Masculinity
1998 — Margot Peters, May Sarton: A Biography
1997 — Bernadette Brooten, Love Between Women


Randy Shilts Award for Gay Nonfiction

2011 — Justin Spring, Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward
2010 — James Davidson, The Greeks and Greek Love
2009 — Kai Wright, Drifting Toward Love
2008 — Michael Rowe, Other Men's Sons
2007 — Kenji Yoshino, Covering
2006 — Martin Moran, The Tricky Part
2005 — David K. Johnson, The Lavender Scare: The Cold War Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government
2004 — John D'Emilio, Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin
2003 — Neil Miller, Sex Crime Panic
2002 — [tie] Ricardo J. Brown, The Evening Crowd at Kirmser's; and Robert Reid-Pharr, Black Gay Man
2001 — Mark Matousek, Lost Father
2000 — Eric Brandt, Dangerous Liaisons: Blacks, Gays and the Struggle for Equality
1999 — John Loughery, The Other Side of Silence
1998 — David Sedaris, Naked
1997 — Anthony Heilbut, Thomas Mann

Poetry Awards

The Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry and The Thom Gunn for Gay Poetry

The Publishing Triangle instituted its poetry awards 2001. Each award is for books published in the preceding year in the United States or Canada (i.e., the 2009 awards honored books published in 2008).

The Audre Lorde Award honors the American poet, essayist, librarian, and teacher. Lorde (1934-1992) was nominated for the National Book Award for From a Land Where Other People Live and was the poet laureate of New York State in 1991. She received the Publishing Triangle's Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement shortly before her death. Among her other sixteen books are Zami (1982) and A Burst of Light (1989).

The Thom Gunn Award honors Thom Gunn (1929-2004), who was the author of The Man with Night Sweats (1992) and many other acclaimed volumes. Gunn, who was born in Kent, England, lived in San Francisco from 1960 until his death. (In its first four years, including the year Mr. Gunn himself won, this award was known as the Triangle Award for Gay Poetry.)

Publishers and others may nominate candidates for these awards using a submission form posted on our website each autumn, for an entry fee of $35.00. Individual members of the Publishing Triangle may nominate one book for free. The finalists and the winners are determined by a panel of judges appointed by the Publishing Triangle's awards committee. The winners each receive $500.

Past winners are:

The Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry

2011 — Jen Currin, The Inquisition Yours
2010 — Stacie Cassarino, Zero at the Bone
2009 — Elizabeth Bradfield, Interpretative Work
2008 — Joan Larkin, My Body
2007 — Jennifer Rose, Hometown for an Hour
2006 — Jane Miller, A Palace of Pearls
2005 — Maureen Seaton, Venus Examines Her Breast
2004 — Daphne Gottlieb, Final Girl
2003 — Melanie Braverman, Red
2002 — Gerry Gomez Pearlberg, Mr. Bluebird
2001 — Marilyn Hacker, Squares and Courtyards


The Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry

2011 — Michael Walsh, The Dirt Riddles
2010 — Ronaldo V. Wilson, Poems of the Black Object
2009 — Ely Shipley, Boy with Flower
2008 — [tie] Steve Fellner, Blind Date with Cavafy; and Daniel Hall, Under Sleep
2007 — Justin Chin, Gutted
2006 — Richard Siken, Crush
2005 — Carl Phillips, The Rest of Love
2004 — Brian Teare, The Room Where I Was Born
2003 — Greg Hewett, Red Suburb
2002 — Mark Doty, Source
2001 — Thom Gunn, Boss Cupid

The Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction

Inaugurated in May 2006, this award recognizes outstanding first novels or story collections by LGBT authors. It is unique among the Triangle Literary Awards, in that women and men compete in the same category. The award is open to first-book authors of any age whose work contains queer themes. Writers can have published works of nonfiction, and their short fiction can have previously appeared in a published anthology. The book nominated must be the author's first work of book-length fiction.

This award honors the distinguished Edmund White, who won the very first Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1990. White is the author, among many other works, of A Boy's Own Story, States of Desire, A Married Man, Fanny, and Arts and Letters. The winner receives $1,000.

Past winners are:


2011 — Katharine Beutner, Alcestis
2010 — Lori Ostlund, The Bigness of the World
2009 — Evan Fallenberg, Light Fell
2008 — Myriam Gurba, Dahlia Season
2007 — Martin Hyatt, A Scarecrow's Bible
2006 — Mack Friedman, Setting the Lawn on Fire


The Publishing Triangle Leadership Award

The Publishing Triangle is proud to honor the best and brightest writers working today. Other people, as well as institutions, contribute to the health, vibrancy, and prestige of LBGT literature. In that light, the Publishing Triangle's Leadership Award puts the spotlight on the contribution of editors, literary agents, and others who have worked tirelessly to see that great books reach avid readers.


Past winners are:


2011 — Gay and Lesbian Review
2010 — Michele Karlsberg
2009 — Carole DeSanti
2008 — Carol Seajay and Richard Labonte
2007 — Nancy Bereano
2006 — Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop
2005 — Lesbian Herstory Archives
2004 — Barbara Gittings
2003 — Jed Mattes
2002 — Michael Denneny

The Ferro–Grumley Awards

The Ferro–Grumley Awards were first awarded in 1990. They are made possible by the estates of novelists and lovers Robert Ferro (The Family of Max Desir) and Michael Grumley (Life Studies) and are funded and administered by the Ferro–Grumley Foundation, headed by Stephen Greco.

The Publishing Triangle is proud to have been associated with the Ferro–Grumley Awards since 1994.

The purpose of these awards is to honor culture-driving fiction from LGBT points of view. Through 2008, two awards have been given each year, in the categories of "women" and "men," to the authors of the most significant novels and collections and short stories. Going forward, the structure of the awards are being modified to honor one book per year, irrespective of gender.

Each award listed is for a book published in the preceding year in the United States or Canada (i.e., the 2008 awards honored books published in 2007). Ferro-Grumley Literary Awards, Inc., and the Publishing Triangle have collaborated in soliciting submissions for awards and in hosting an awards ceremony since 1994. Publishers and others may nominate candidates for the award using a submission form posted on the Publishing Triangle website each autumn, for an entry fee of $35.00. Individual members of the Publishing Triangle may nominate one book for free. The finalists and the winners are determined by a panel of judges appointed by the Ferro-Grumley Foundation. Winners receive $500.

Past winners are:

The Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT Fiction

2011 — Michael Sledge, The More I Owe You
2010 — Sebastian Stuart, The Hour Between
2009 — Alison Bechdel, The Complete Dykes to Watch Out For

The Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction

2008 — Ali Liebegott, The IHOP Papers
2007 — Lisa Carey, Every Visible Thing
2006 — Patricia Grossman, Brian in Three Seasons
2005 — Stacey D'Erasmo, A Seahorse Year
2004 — Nina Revoyr, Southland
2003 — Carol Anshaw, Lucky in the Corner
2002 — Emma Donoghue, Slammerkin
2001 — Sarah Waters, Affinity
2000 — Judy Doenges, What She Left Me
1999 — Patricia Powell, The Pagoda
1998 — Elana Dykewoman, Beyond the Pale
1997 — Persimmon Blackbridge, Sunnybrook
1996 — Sarah Schulman, Rat Bohemia
1995 — Heather Lewis, House Rules
1994 — Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body
1993 — Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina
1992 — Blanche McCrary Boyd, The Revolution of Little Girls
1991 — Cherry Muhanji, Her
1990 — Ruthann Robson, Eye of the Hurricane

The Ferro-Grumley Award for Gay Fiction

2008 — Peter Cameron, Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You
2007 — Christopher Bram, Exiles in America
2006 — Barry McCrea, The First Verse
2005 — Adam Berlin, Belmondo Style
2004 — Trebor Healey, Through It Came Bright Colors
2003 — Jamie O'Neill, At Swim Two Boys
2002 — David Ebershoff, The Rose City
2001 — Edmund White, The Married Man
2000 — Paul Russell, The Coming Storm
1999 — Michael Cunningham, The Hours
1998 — Colm Toibin, The Story of the Night
1997 — Andrew Holleran, The Beauty of Men
1996 — Felice Picano, Like People in History
1995 — Mark Merlis, American Studies
1994 — John Berendt, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil [nonfiction]
1993 — Randall Kenan, Let the Dead Bury Their Dead
1992 — Melvin Dixon, Vanishing Rooms
1991 — Allen Barnett, The Body and Its Dangers
1990 — Dennis Cooper, Closer



The Robert Chesley Award for Lesbian and Gay Playwriting

The Robert Chesley Award for Lesbian and Gay Playwriting honors the memory of playwright Robert Chesley. For many years, these awards were presented at our awards ceremony.


The Chesley Foundation has taken its awards program in another direction, one that does not involve a public presentation. For more information about the foundation, and its awards, please contact Victor Bumbalo.

Past winners are:


2007 — Eric Bentley, Chris Weikel
2006 — Kathleen Warnock, Megan Terry
2005 — Michael Kearns, Jorge Ignacio Cortiñas
2004 — Rebecca Ranson, Jane Shepard
2003 — H.M. Koutoukas, Rev. Alvin Carmines Jr.
2002 — Christopher Shinn, Shelia Callaghan
2001 — Maria Irene Fornes
2000 — Jeff Weiss
1999 — Madeleine Olnek
1998 — Chay Yew
1997 — Paula Vogel
1996 — Robert Patrick, Susan Miller
1995 — Victor Lodato
1994 — Lisa Kron, Doric Wilson