The American
Library Association on Sunday announced the winners of the
2006 Stonewall Book Awards. Each year the ALA bestows one
award for literature and one for nonfiction to
"English-language books of exceptional merit
relating to the [LGBT] experience."
The Barbara
Gittings Book Award in Literature went to Abha Dawesar,
author of Babyji(Anchor Books), a
coming-of-age tale about a free-spirited lesbian
teenager in New Delhi; and the Israel Fishman Book
Award for Nonfiction went to Joshua Gamson, author ofThe Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, the Music, the
'70s in San Francisco(Henry Holt and Co.), a
look at the life of disco singer Sylvester James.
The awards will be presented at the 2006 ALA
Annual Conference in New Orleans in June.
Other honorees in
the literature category include Acqua Caldaby Keith McDermott
(Carroll & Graf),The First Verseby Barry McCrea (Carroll
& Graf),Mother of Sorrowsby Richard McCann
(Pantheon), andThe Wild Creatures: Collected Stories of Sam D'Allesandro, edited by Kevin Killian
(Suspect Thoughts).
In the nonfiction
category, honorees include My One-night Stand With Cancerby Tania Katan (Alyson),Queer London: Perils and Pleasures in the Sexual
Metropolis, 1918-1957by Matt Houlbrook
(University of Chicago),The Secret Life of Oscar Wildeby Neil McKenna
(Basic Books), andThe Tragedy of Today's Gaysby Larry Kramer (Tarcher/Penguin).
Since 1971, when
Isabel Miller's Patience and Sarahreceived the first
award, a total of 48 books have been recognized,
according to an ALA statement. (Advocate.com)