The Leslie Feinberg Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature – Submissions

THE LESLIE FEINBERG AWARD FOR TRANS AND GENDER-VARIANT LITERATURE

Since 2016, The Publishing Triangle has annually recognized an outstanding work of Trans/Gender-Variant Literature. Beginning 2023, that award will be named in honor of Leslie Feinberg (1949-2014), the pioneering activist and author known for Transgender Warriors: Making History from Joan of Arc to Dennis Rodman, Transgender Liberation: A Movement Whose Time Has Come, Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue, and the groundbreaking novel Stone Butch Blues. This award recognizes outstanding contributions to the world of literature that explore themes of gender identity, diversity, and the lived experiences of transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals.

The Publishing Triangle bestows this award to honor distinguished literary works from the trans and gender-variant community. By “trans and gender-variant” (abbreviated as T/GV hereafter), we include transgender, genderqueer, non-binary, and anyone else whose self-definition is gender-variant or non-gender-conforming.

Eligibility: Works of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction by T/GV writers are eligible (as long as they are first published in English in the U.S. or Canada during current calendar year). Also eligible are nonfiction works that are primarily about the T/GV experience and which are written or co-written by cis people (for instance, a memoir by the partner of a trans person, or a monograph on an aspect of the trans experience by a non-T/GV scholar).

If desired, works may be submitted in other categories as well as this one: nonfiction to the Grahn/Shilts awards; poetry to the Lorde/Gunn awards; and fiction to the Ferro-Grumley or Edmund White award. In that case, the entrance fee, covering two categories, is $100; the fee for three categories is $150.

Full guidelines are below. For questions, email [email protected].

GUIDELINES

Deadline (for receipt of submission form): December 4, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time
Books must be published between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2026. A print edition must be available—titles published only in e-book format are not eligible.
All submissions will be done online, via our submission form. Submissions will not be accepted after December 4, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time. Contact [email protected] if you need to make other arrangements.
After submitting your book for awards consideration, you will receive an invoice from The Publishing Triangle with instructions on how to how to remit your submission fee and other important information.
All current, dues-paying individual members of the Publishing Triangle may submit 1 book in 1 category for free. If you yourself will not be supplying the books as well, please provide a contact name at the publisher whom we may contact for the requisite number of books.
All current, dues-paying corporate members of the Publishing Triangle may enter up to six (6) submissions for free. (A single book’s submission in 2 categories counts as 2 submissions.) After that, the fee is $50 per additional title.
All others must pay an entry fee of $50 per submission.
A title submitted in two categories requires a $100 fee. A title submitted in thre categories requires a $150 fee.
Questions about membership? Email [email protected].
For more information on the eligibility of anthologies, collections of previously published materials, and other special cases, e-mail [email protected].
The decisions of the coordinators and/or judges regarding eligibility are final.
After we have received and processed your submission form and payment, the coordinator of each individual award will email you instructions as to where books should be sent. (Do not jump the gun and mail us any books before we request them!) In many categories, some judges, but not all, may prefer to read in e-book format. (Note: The mailing of books from submitters and the receipt of books by judges are not governed by the December 4, 2026 deadline.)

A list of the previous winners is available on our website, here.

Note: Submission for a Triangle Award does not equal “nomination”: authors and publishers are requested not to use the latter term on their websites or in any promotional material.