New Zealand academic and writer Chris Brickell was BOTD in 1971. Born in Wellington , he completed a doctorate in gender studies at Victoria University. His first book Mates and Lovers, published in 2008, focused on gay friendships and communities in New Zealand prior to the decriminalisation of homosexuality. The winner of Best First Book prize at the 2009 Montana Book Awards, Brickell attracted significant media attention for his portrait of New Zealand gay writer Frank Sargeson, debunking Sargeson’s claim that he had been the victim of homosexual entrapment by police. Brickell’s subsequent books Southern Men and Two by Two collated archival photographs and documents of gay men’s lives, travels and friendships. In Manly Affections, he analysed the homoerotic subtext of 1880s studio photographer Robert Gant and also co-edited Queer Objects, a study of queer cultural artefacts. He has published editions of the diaries of queer New Zealand writers James Courage and Robert Lord. Brickell is a Professor in Gender Studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, where he lives with his partner Jeffrey.