The Bisexual Book Awards were an annual literary award program, presented by the Bi Writers Association to honour the year's best works of literature addressing themes of bisexuality. The awards were presented for the first time in 2013. Sheela Lambert founded and organized the awards until 2021.
The Awards have not occurred since 2021.
History Bisexual activists Sheela Lambert, Wendy Curry, and Amy Andre asked the long-running Lambda Literary Awards to include a category on bisexual literature but were rebuffed due to Lambda Literary's perception that there weren't enough bisexual books to support a category. The activists and others searched for bisexual books on the internet until they found enough to start the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Literature in 2006. Eventually the award grew to two, but in 2012 it again shrank to one category, and Lambert felt she had to add more options for authors of bisexual literature to be recognized. Previously, Mike Szymanski and other authors had asked Lambert to create an award for the bi+ community.
The first Bisexual Book Awards launched in 2013. The number of categories and books steadily grew in its first years, with 6 categories and 60 submissions in the second year, and 10 categories and 72 books in the third. Lambert organized the awards but recruited judges to help select winners.
Awards were presented in 11 categories, where any writer who addressed bisexual themes in their work could be submitted for consideration regardless of their own sexual orientation. Two special awards were also presented: the Bi Book Publisher Award to the publishing company that had submitted the most books to the awards program that year, and the Bi Writer Award for the best book by an out bisexual writer.
Book Riot criticized the 2018 Bisexual Book Awards for its unrepresentative slate of winners and ceremony invitees, who were overwhelmingly white.
Though winners for books published in 2021 were supposed to be announced on 28 January 2023, founder Sheela Lambert was hospitalized with COVID-19 and pneumonia two weeks prior and the awards were put on hold. In April 2024, the Bi Writers Association Facebook page announced that Lambert had died earlier in the year "due to complications from chronic illness"; while the post also expressed desire to award both the 2021 and 2022 awards, this has yet to occur.
Honorees Anthology +Award winners and finalists Year Author Title Publisher Result 2014 and H. Sharif Williams (eds.)Recognize: The Voices of Bisexual MenBisexual Resource CenterWinner (ed.)Big Book of Submission: 69 Kinky TalesCleis PressFinalist2016 (eds.)Enchanted SolesLess Than Three PressWinner and Tara Madison Avery (eds.)ALPHABET: The LGBTQAIU Creators from Prism ComicsStacked Deck PressFinalist
Biography and Memoir +Award winners and finalists Year Author Title Publisher Result 2013Terrace Books/The University of Wisconsin PressWinner (ed.)Anything That Loves: Comics Beyond Gay and StraightNorthwest PressFinalist with Penelope JamesBarriers to Love: Embracing a Bisexual IdentityBarriers PressFinalist2014Beacon PressWinnerNot My Father's SonDey Street Books / HarperCollins PublishersFinalistBad DykeLunatic InkFinalistFire Shut Up In My BonesHoughton Mifflin HarcourtFinalistSusan Sontag: A BiographyNorthwestern University PressFinalistFarrar, Straus and GirouxFinalist2015Call It Wonder: An Odyssey of Love, Sex, Spirit, and TravelCoyote Creek Books WinnerBodyHomeHopewell PublicationsFinalistIrrepressible: The Jazz Age Life of Henrietta BinghamFarrar, Straus and Giroux/MacmillanFinalist2016Farrar, Straus and Giroux / MacmillanWinnerVirginia WoolfLondon: Reaktion Books/ Chicago: Univ. of Chicago PressFinalist2017What the Mouth Wants: A Memoir of Food, Love and BelongingDagger Editions/Caitlin PressWinnerFirst Time EverFaber & FaberWinnerSeal Press/Hachette Book GroupFinalist2018Many LoveTouchstone / Simon & SchusterWinnerOn the Road and Off the Record with Leonard Bernstein: My Years with the Exasperating GeniusImagine Publishing/ CharlesbridgeFinalist2019In the Dream HouseGraywolf PressWinnerSortedTiller Press / Simon & SchusterFinalist2020Abrams PressWinnerFrida in AmericaSt. Martin's Press / MacmillanFinalistRust Belt FemmeBelt PublishingFinalist2021Love Is an Ex-CountryCatapultFinalistOut of the Woods: Nature, Sexuality, and Faith in the ForestGreystone BooksFinalistGreedy: Notes from a Bisexual Who Wants Too MuchAtria Books/Simon & SchusterFinalist
Erotica + Award winners and finalists Year Author Title Publisher Result 2012Mount Royal, There's Nothing Harder than LoveTightrope BooksWinnerRavenous RomanceFinalistTimes Square Queer: Tales of Bad Boys in the Big AppleRenaissance eBooksFinalist2013B&B PublishingWinnerHouse of Sable LocksCirclet PressFinalistLethe PressFinalistMemoirs of a Gigolo Omnibus, Vol. 1-4Riverdale Avenue Books/ DesireFinalist (ed.)Twice the Pleasure: Bisexual Women's EroticaCleis PressFinalist2014Capricious: A Texan Tale of Love and MagicCirclet PressWinnerMurder on the MountainDreamspinner PressFinalistMemoirs of a Gigolo, Second Omnibus, Vol. 5-7Riverdale Avenue BooksFinalistBound to Be a GroomRiptide PublishingFinalist and Amber LinOne Kiss with a Rock Starself-publishedFinalist2015 and Sam SchoolerDead RingerRiptide PublishingWinnerLet the Wrong Light InDreamspinner PressFinalistLess Than Three PressFinalistKneel, Mr. PresidentSamhain PublishingFinalistSunset Park Dreamspinner PressFinalistShe Whom I LoveSamhain Publishing Finalist2016Samhain PublishingWinner24/7Riptide PublishingFinalistClub TregaRiverdale Avenue BooksFinalistBold Strokes Books Finalist2017Rescues and the RhyssaLess Than Three PressWinnerCast from the EarthSelf-PublishedFinalistTau PressFinalistMichael's Wings8th Circle PressFinalist2018Carnal Knowledge: The Adoration of a Dangerous Woman and the Death of a DreamIndependently PublishedWinnerWhatever Comes FirstLess Than Three PressFinalist2019We Three: One and One and One Makes ThreeSupposed CrimesWinnerThree for AllCecaelia PressFinalistLot's Wife: An Erotic RetellingUnder Hill PressFinalist2020Bottle RocketIndependently Published Honorable Mention
Fiction + Award winners and finalists Year Author Title Publisher Result 2012In One PersonSimon & SchusterWinnerWhitetail Shooting GalleryAnvil Press PublishersFinalistMount Royal, There's Nothing Harder than LoveTightrope BooksFinalist (ed.)Beyond Binary: Genderqueer and Sexually Fluid Speculative FictionLethe PressFinalistSilver MoonLethe PressFinalistRiverhead BooksFinalistHistory of a Pleasure SeekerRandom House / KnopfFinalist2013W. W. Norton & CompanyWinnerExtravaGonzoFinalistCoronaSibling Rivalry PressFinalistBloomsburyFinalistWoodward Avenue BooksFinalistHildFarrar, Straus and GirouxFinalistMy EducationViking AdultFinalist2014In Case of EmergencyMcSweeney's PublishingWinnerFrog MusicLittle, Brown/Little, Brown and CompanyFinalistRiverhead Books /Penguin Random HouseFinalist (ed.)Best Bi Short StoriesGressive Press/Circlet PressFinalistShe of the MountainsArsenal Pulp PressFinalist2015Harper Books/Harper CollinsWinnerBlue Rider Press/Penguin Random HouseFinalistDoubledayFinalistGoddessHarper360/HarperCollins FinalistLethe Press Finalist2016Vow of CelibacyRare Bird BooksWinnerEmily Bestler Books/Atria/Simon & SchusterFinalistLoving EleanorPersevero PressFinalist2017Her Body and Other PartiesGraywolf PressWinnerKeeping the FaithSupposed CrimesFinalistBrain Mill PressFinalistEnigma VariationsFarrar, Straus and Giroux/MacmillanFinalistRandom House / PenguinRandomHouseFinalistPages for HerCounterpoint Finalist2018America Is Not the HeartViking / Penguin Random HouseWinnerFairlight BooksFinalist and Carol GuessTrue AshBlack Lawrence PressFinalistA Barnacle Book / Rare Bird BooksFinalistBhopal DanceFC2/University of Alabama PressFinalist2019NaamahRiverhead Books / Penguin Random HouseWinnerRed at the BoneRiverhead Books / Penguin Random HouseFinalistNorthern LightsSimon & Schuster FinalistSmall Silent ThingsHarper Perennial/ HarperCollins FinalistAttractionText PublishingFinalist2020All Adults HereRiverhead BooksWinnerExile MusicViking / Penguin Random HouseFinalistCeremonialsKernpunkt PressFinalistStarling DaysThe Overlook Press / AbramsFinalistBookoutureFinalistYou Exist Too MuchCatapultFinalist
Graphic Novels and Memoirs + Award winners and finalists Year Author Title Publisher Result 2016Primahood: MagentaStacked Deck Press / J.T. Avery PacificWinner and Tara Madison Avery (eds.)ALPHABET: The LGBTQAIU Creators from Prism Comics Stacked Deck PressFinalist2021Heartstopper, Vol. 3Graphix/Scholastic Inc.FinalistTin HouseFinalist
Literary Fiction +Award winners and finalists Year Author Title Publisher Result 2021Finding Bonita Independently PublishedFinalistKiss the Scars on the Back of My NeckAmble Press/Bywater BooksFinalist
Mystery +Award winners and finalists Year Author Title Publisher Result 2014Murder on the MountainDreamspinner PressWinnerAstrid Fiano Finalist2015 and Reesa HerberthPeripheral PeopleRiptide PublishingWinnerOut of OrderHarmony Ink/Dreamspinner PressFinalist2016Assassins: DiscordTriton Books/Riptide PublishingWinnerOrder in the CourtHarmony Ink Press/Dreamspinner PressFinalist2017 and Cari ZSuspicious BehaviorRiptide PublishingWinner and Cari ZRisky BehaviorRiptide Publishing Finalist2018 and L. A. WittReckless BehaviorRiptide PublishingWinnerWho Is Vera Kelly?Tin House BooksWinner and J. E. SumerauOther People's OystersBrill / SenseFinalistWe Are YoungQuercus Children's Books / Hachette Childrens GroupFinalistWhat You Want to SeeMinotaur Books / St. Martin's PressFinalist2019Blood & BitcoinIndependently PublishedWinnerBurying the DeadJMS BooksFinalist2020Ballantine / Penguin Random HouseWinner2021Investigating HelenFlashpoint PublicationsFinalistAfter You DiedAgora Books / Polis BooksFinalist
Non-fiction