The Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle to honor achievement by an emerging LGBTQ writer. The prize is presented to a writer who has shown exceptional talent and the promise of continued literary success and significance in the future. [1]
From 2013 to 2016, the award was presented by Lambda Literary Foundation as a Lambda Literary Award, until taken over by Publishing Triangle. First presented by Publishing Triangle in 2017, the award was named in memory of American author and psychotherapist Betty Berzon, who won the fight to have the American Psychiatric Association declassify homosexuality as a mental illness, [2] and contributed to LGBTQ advocacy throughout her lifetime. [3] The award is sponsored by Berzon's widow, Teresa DeCrescenzo. [4] [5]
Year | Recipient | Ref. |
---|---|---|
2013 | Sassafras Lowrey | [7] |
Carter Sickels | ||
2014 | Imogen Binnie | [8] |
Charles Rice-Gonzalez | ||
2015 | Anne Balay | [9] |
Daisy Hernández | ||
2017 | Chinelo Okparanta | [10] |
2018 | Sarah Perry | [11] |
2019 | Julian Randall | [12] |
2020 | Oliver Baez Bendorf | [13] [14] |
2021 | Robert Fieseler | [15] |
2022 | John Paul Brammer | [16] |
2023 | Crisosto Apache | [17] |
2024 | Hilary Zaid | [18] [19] |
The Lambda Literary Foundation is an American LGBTQ literary organization whose mission is to nurture and advocate for LGBTQ writers, elevating the impact of their words to create community, preserve their legacies, and affirm the value of LGBTQ stories and lives.
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is a Canadian-American poet, writer, educator and social activist. Their writing and performance art focuses on documenting the stories of queer and trans people of color, abuse survivors, mixed-race people and diasporic South Asians and Sri Lankans. A central concern of their work is the interconnection of systems of colonialism, abuse and violence. They are also a writer and organizer within the disability justice movement.
Betty Berzon was an American author and psychotherapist known for her work with the gay and lesbian communities.
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The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a work of fiction on gay male themes. As the award is presented based on themes in the work, not the sexuality or gender of the writer, women and heterosexual men may also be nominated for or win the award.
The Leslie Feinberg Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature is an annual literary award, presented by Publishing Triangle to honour works of literature on transgender themes. The award may be presented for work in any genre of literature; to be eligible, a work of poetry or fiction must be written by a transgender or gender variant author, while a work of non-fiction may be written or cowritten by a cisgender writer as long as it addresses transgender themes.
Oliver Baez Bendorf is an American poet.
The Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry is an annual literary award, presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation to a gay-themed book of poetry by a male writer.
The Joyce Carol Oates Literary Prize is an annual award presented by the New Literary Project to recognize mid-career writers of fiction. "Mid-career writer" is defined by the project as "an author who has published at least two notable books of fiction, and who has yet to receive capstone recognition such as a Pulitzer or a MacArthur." The prize, which carries a monetary award of $50,000, was established in 2017 and is administered by the New Literary Project, a collaboration of the Lafayette Library and Learning Center Foundation of Lafayette, California and the Department of English of the University of California, Berkeley.
Sassafras Patterdale is an American author and dog trainer. In 2013, the Lambda Literary Foundation awarded them the Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award.
The Judith A. Markowitz Award for Exceptional New LGBTQ Writers, formerly known as the Dr. Betty Berzon Emerging Writer Award and established in 2013, is an annual literary award presented by the Lambda Literary Foundation. The award is granted to "LGBTQ-identified writers whose work demonstrates their strong potential for promising careers." The writers must "have published at least one but no more than two books of fiction, nonfiction or poetry." Two annual winners each receive a $2,500 cash prize.
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The Jacqueline Woodson Award for LGBTQ+ Children’s/YA Literature, established in 2024, is an annual literary award presented by the Publishing Triangle honors "works of literature geared towards children and young adults that explore themes related to LGBTQ+ experiences, identities, and issues". Selected books explore LGBTQ+ topics in "an age-appropriate and sensitive manner". The award honors American writer Jacqueline Woodson. Winners receive a $1,000 prize.
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