91´«Ã½

SEATTLE - Two of the 2019 Stonewall Book Awards were announced Sunday, Jan. 27th by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT) of the 91´«Ã½ (91´«Ã½), during the 91´«Ã½ Midwinter Meeting and Exhibits, held Jan. 25-29 in Seattle, Washington.

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 (announced at the Youth Media Awards press conference on Monday, Jan. 28th), 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 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. in June.

“Go the Way Your Blood Beats: On Truth, Bisexuality and Desire” by Michael Amherst and published by Repeater is the Stonewall Book Award – Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Award winner for 2019. Part essay, part memoir, and part love letter, Go the Way Your Blood Beats challenges readers to question neat categorization of sexuality. Using bisexuality as a framework, the author explores the complex histories and psychologies of human desire with breathing prose, brutal honesty, and startling introspection.

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

• “Black. Queer. Southern. Women.: An Oral History” by E. Patrick Johnson, published by The University of North Carolina Press.
• “Raising Rosie: Our Story of Parenting an Intersex Child” by Eric and Stephani Lohman, published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
• “Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation” by Robert W. Fieseler, published by Liveright.
• “The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America” by Isaac Butler and Dan Kois, published by Bloomsbury USA.

"The Great Believers" by Rebecca Makkai and published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House, was named the winner of the Stonewall Book Awards - Barbara Gittings Literature Award for 2019. The work is an engrossing and emotional saga that follows the lives of friends, family, and lovers set against the backdrop of the 1980s AIDS epidemic in Chicago and the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks.

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

• "Forward" by Lisa Maas, published by Arsenal Pulp Press.
• "Luisa: Now and Then" by Carole Maurel, adapted by Mariko Tamaki, published by Life Drawn, an imprint of Humanoids
• "Speak No Evil" by Uzodinma Iweala, published by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins.
• "White Houses" by Amy Bloom, published by Random House, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

The members of the 2019 Stonewall Book Awards Israel Fishman Non-Fiction Book Award Committee are: Chair Laura Cameron, Eric Charles Hanshaw, Kevin Kelley, Erin E. Henrie Lane, Shayna Szabo, Evan T. Struble.

The members of the 2019 Stonewall Book Awards - Barbara Gittings Literature Award Adult Committee are: Chair Dontaná McPherson-Joseph, Valerie Acklin, Jim Collins, Kristie Escobar and Gabriela Toth.

For more information about the Stonewall Book Awards, please visit .

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table of the 91´«Ã½ is the oldest professional association for GLBT people in the United States. It is committed to serving the information needs of the GLBT professional library community and information and access needs of individuals at large. It is home to GLBT Book Month (tm), a nationwide celebration every June and the Stonewall Book Award, the oldest award honoring GLBT books. GLBTRT is committed to encouraging and supporting the free and necessary access to all information, as reflected by the missions of the 91´«Ã½ and democratic institutions.

The 91´«Ã½ is the oldest and largest library association in the world with more than 57,000 members. Its mission is to provide leadership for the development, promotion and improvement of library and information services and the profession of librarianship in order to enhance learning and ensure access to information for all.