New and notable LGBTQ+ titles, from novels to memoirs to photography
The 2000s Made Me Gay: Essays on Pop Culture
by Grace Perry
Published June 1, 2021. Social Science.
A longtime contributor to The Onion and The Reductress, Perry turns her pen to the 2000s pop culture she grew up on. In a time when queer representation was largely missing from mainstream media, she recounts finding it in the subtext, both blatant and less so, with essays touching on everything from Katie Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It,” to Harry Potter to Mean Girls.
Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir
by Akwaeke Emezi
Published June 8, 2021. Biography.
The New York Times-bestselling author of “The Death of Vivek Oji” penned this memoir through letters, exploring their life from their childhood in Nigeria to their path to success as an author, all the while diving into spiritual and artistic explorations of gender and body, love, life, and what it means to carve out your own freedom in the world.
Embodied: An Intersectional Feminist Comics Poetry Anthology
by Wendy Chin-anner (Editor), Tyler Chin-Tanner (Editor), A Wave Blue World Inc (Contributor)
Published May 11, 2021. Graphic Novel/Poetry.
Part graphic novel, part poetry collection, this unique artistic compilation presents work by cis female, trans, and non-binary poets and comics.
Here For It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America: Essays by R. Eric Thomas
Published Feb. 18, 2020. Biography.
From his conservative Black church to his mostly white, affluent high school to code switching in college, R. Eric Thomas writes about and navigates what it means to be “other” in this series of essays that examine his life, from coming to terms with his sexuality to figuring out if the hurt of the world was worth it, to reimagining what it means to be “normal.”
Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing: Essays
by Lauren Hough
Published April 13, 2021. Biography.
Lauren Hough grew up in The Children of God, but this isn’t simply a cult memoir. Hough documents trying to find herself outside of “The Family,” from being the subject of a hate crime as a gay woman in the Air Force to living out of her car in Washington, D.C., as she tried to scrape by, to seeing all sides of America as a cable guy.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
by Ocean Vuong
Published June 4, 2019. Fiction/Literary.
Written as a letter from a Vietnamese-American son to his illiterate mother, this lyrical book captures a family’s traumatic history in the language of a poet.
Rainbow Milk
by Paul Mendez
Published June 8, 2021. Fiction/Cultural Heritage.
This novel starts in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, when blind boxer-turned-gardener Norman Alonso migrates there from Jamaica, hoping to find a better life but confronting racism and shame as he tries to provide for his family. The story then jumps to the 2000s and the story of his grandson, Jesse, who is gay and unaccepted by his Jehovah’s Witness family and community. The story follows Jesse as he moves to London in search of his own better life, and dives into the discoveries he makes there.
Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality
by Sarah McBride
Published March 6, 2018. Biography.
Transgender activist Sarah McBride – who since this book was published was elected as a state senator in Delaware and is a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign – tells her story, of coming out to her parents and classmates, diving into the national political spotlight, and meeting, marrying and losing her husband, Andy Cray, who died of cancer in 2014, just days after they were married.
Untamed
by Glennon Doyle
Published March 10, 2020. Biography.
Glennon Doyle was a Christian writer and dedicated wife and mother when she saw soccer star Abby Wambach for the first time. And her world was changed – she started listening to the voice inside herself telling her what she wanted, instead of listening to what society had dictated to her all her life. She left her husband, married Abby, and worked to rebuild herself, untamed.
We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation
by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown
Published May 7, 2019. Social Science/LGBTQ+Studies
This book of photographs and historical anecdotes features photos by both famous photographers and everyday people, documenting LGBTQ history and the fight for equal rights.
Written in the Stars: A Novel
by Alexandria Bellefleur
Published November 10, 2020. Fiction/Romance/Comedy
This lesbian take on the romantic comedy trope tells the tale of Darcy, who doesn’t believe she wants to fall in love, and Elle, who doesn’t think Darcy could ever be for her. But when the two agree to pretend to be dating to appease their families, will true love follow?