The Stonewall Book Award is a group of three literary awards that honor books with excellent stories about LGBTQIA+ people. These awards focus on English-language books, mostly those published in the United States. As of 2026, the categories are the Barbara Gittings Literature Award, the Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award, and the Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children's and Young Adult Literature Award. The Rainbow Round Table (RRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) sponsors the awards.
The Stonewall Book Award started in 1971 as the Gay Book Award. At that time, the Rainbow Round Table was a group called the Task Force on Gay Liberation. The program became an official ALA award in 1986. Barbara Gittings and Israel Fishman were early members of the Task Force on Gay Liberation. Fishman was the group’s first coordinator, and Gittings created the first list of books with positive stories about LGBTQIA+ people. Mike Morgan and Larry Romans were partners who supported the awards for many years.
Since 1990, books that are shortlisted for each category of the Stonewall Book Award have been publicly named. These books were called "Honor Books" starting in 2001. As of 2026, groups of librarians judge books for the awards. They choose the winning book in each category and select which books will be named as Honor Books. Winners are announced in January and receive a plaque and $1,000 cash prize during the ALA Annual Conference in June or July. Winners are expected to attend the conference and give speeches.
The Stonewall Book Award is one of several LGBTQ literary awards. Other well-known awards include the Lambda Literary Awards, the Publishing Triangle Awards, and the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards.
Submissions
The ALA asks for book suggestions, each with a short statement explaining why the book is good. Anyone can recommend a book for consideration. However, if the publisher, the author's agent or representative, or someone who might directly benefit from the book being nominated, they must share this information using the online form.
Books that are eligible must be original works published in the United States or Canada in the past year. This includes books that are new editions with major changes and books translated into English from other languages.
History
The Gay Book Award was started in 1971 during the ALA annual meeting in Dallas by the newly formed Task Force on Gay Liberation (TFGL). The ceremony, which had only 9 attendees, honored Patience and Sarah, a historical novel written by Alma Routsong (who used the name Isabel Miller). Routsong had published the book herself in 1969. This award was a way for people to recognize GLBT-related books, and there were very few books to choose from each year. The ALA officially began giving the award in 1986, and by 1995, more than 800 books were considered for the award each year.
In 2002, the two awards were renamed to honor the location of the 1969 Stonewall riots and two members of the TFGL, Barbara Gittings and Israel Fishman.
Since 1986, the Gay Book Award and its later versions have been part of the American Library Association’s awards program, now called ALA Book, Print & Media Awards.