2012 Stonewall Book Awards announced

DALLAS – The 2012 Stonewall Book Awards were announced today by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT) of the American Library Association (ALA), during the ALA Midwinter Meeting in Dallas.

The Stonewall Book Awards are given annually to English-language works of exceptional merit relating to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender experience and include the Stonewall Book Awards – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award, the Stonewall Book Awards – Barbara Gittings Literature award and the Stonewall Book Awards – Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award. The awards will be presented to the winning authors or editors at the American Library Association Annual Conference in Anaheim in June. 

“The awards and honor books reflects an amazing breadth and depth in writing and publishing materials for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender readers, allies, families, and friends,” said Stonewall Book Awards Committee Chair Lewis Day.  “The creativity, curiosity, and courage of these works is profound, and we feel privileged to be in the midst of these writers and their characters and creations.”   

The Stonewall Book Awards – Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award, part of the ALA Youth Media Awards, was presented to “Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy,” written by Bil Wright and published by Simon & Schuster BFYR (an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division).

Four Stonewall Book Awards - Children’s and Young Adult Award Honor Books were named:

“Pink,” written by Lili Wilkinson, and published by HarperTeen (an imprint of HarperCollins);

“With or without you,” written by Brian Farrey, and published by Simon Pulse (an imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division);

“a + e 4ever,” drawn and written by Ilike Merey, and published by Lethe Press; and

“Money boy,” written by Paul Yee, and published by Groundwood Books (an imprint of House of Anansi Press).

The Stonewall Book Awards – Barbara Gittings Literature Award was given to “Sweet Like Sugar,” written by Wayne Hoffman and published by Kensington.

Three Stonewall Book Awards – Barbara Gittings Literature Award Honor Books were named:

“The Temperamentals: a new play,” written by Jon Marans and published by Chelsea Station Editions;

“Remembrance of Things I Forgot: A Novel,” written by Bob Smith and published by the University of Wisconsin Press; and

“Annabel: A Novel,” written by Kathleen Winter and published by Black Cat/Grove Press.

The Stonewall Book Awards – Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award was given to both “Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture” (written by Jonathan D. Katz and David C. Ward and published by Smithsonian Books) and “A Queer History of the United States (Revisioning American History)” written by Michael Bronski and published by Beacon Press. This is the first tie in this category since 1995.

Three Stonewall Book Awards – Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award Honor Books were named:

“Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender,” by Nick Krieger and published by Beacon Press;

“Persistence: All Ways Butch and Femme,” edited by Ivan E. Coyote and Zena Sharman and published by Arsenal Pulp Press; and

“Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories," by Wanda M. Corn and Tirza True Latimer and published by the University of California Press.

A special Stonewall Book Awards – Barbara Gittings Literature and Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award Honor Book was also named:

“The Picture of Dorian Gray: An Annotated, Uncensored Edition,” by Oscar Wilde (author), and Nicholas Frankel (editor) and published by the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. This honor was in recognition of its place as a unique text bridging the Literature and Non-Fiction categories.

The members of the 2012 Stonewall Book Awards Committee are: Chair Lewis Day, Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; Robert Bittner, University of British Columbia, Vancouver; W. Stephen Breedlove, La Salle University, Philadelphia; Amanda Clay, Lakeview Elementary School, Norman, Okla.; Dave Combe, Ventura (Calif.) County Library; Sarah Dahlen, California State University-Monterey Bay, Seaside, Calif.; Joanna Fu, Harvard College Library, Cambridge, Mass.; Tess Goldwasser, St. Mary's County Library, Lexington Park, Md.; Roland Hansen, Columbia College Library, Chicago; Rebecca D. Hunt, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Ill.; Lisa Johnston, Sweet Briar (Va.) College; Laurie Spurling, Denver (Colo.) Public Library; Stephen Stratton, California State University-Channel Islands, Camarillo, Calif.; and Rose Nagle-Yndigoyen, City of New York, Brooklyn, N.Y.

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association is committed to serving the information needs of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender professional library community and the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender information and access needs of individuals at large. GLBTRT is committed to encouraging and supporting the free and necessary access to all information, as reflected by the missions of the American Library Association and democratic institutions.

For more information about the Stonewall Book Awards, please visit www.ala.org/stonewall.