Bryan Washington

Bryan Washington (born April 22, 1993) is an American author from Houston, Texas. His debut short story collection, Lot, won the 2020 Young Lions Fiction Award. His third novel, Palaver, won the 2025 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction.

Early life and education Washington was born 1993 in Kentucky. His family moved to Katy, Texas, 30 miles west of Houston, when he was 3 years old. Washington knew that he was gay at a young age but did not formally come out, fearing stigmatization. He graduated from James E. Taylor High School in Katy in 2011.

Career Washington's first book, Lot, is a series of 13 interconnected short stories set in Houston published in 2019 by Riverhead. The book won the 2019 Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, the 2020 Dylan Thomas Prize, and the 2020 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction.

Washington's debut novel, Memorial, was published in 2020. It was longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, and the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. Memorial was selected as a New York Times Notable Book. Prior to publication, A24 purchased the rights to adapt the novel for television, with Washington to write the screenplay adaptation.

His second novel, Family Meal, won the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction.

Washington's fourth book, Palaver, was a finalist for the 2025 National Book Award for Fiction and won the 2025 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction.

Awards Year Title Award Category Result R 2019 Lot Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence — Aspen Words Literary Prize — Crook's Corner Book Prize — Dylan Thomas Prize — Lambda Literary Awards Gay Fiction Memorial: A Novel Center for Fiction First Novel Prize — National Book Critics Circle Award Fiction 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Fiction Aspen Words Literary Prize — Heartland Booksellers Award Fiction Ferro-Grumley Award LGBTQ Fiction VCU Cabell First Novelist Award — 2022 James Tait Black Memorial Prize — William Saroyan International Prize for Writing Fiction 2024 Family Meal: A NovelLambda Literary AwardGay Fiction Los Angeles Times Book PrizeFiction