In honor of pride month, what are everyone’s favorite LGBTQ+ books? It can be a book that deals with the LGBTQ+ experience, or just a book that prominently features queer characters in prominent roles.
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The Death of Vivek Oji by Akwaeke Emezi - Deals with trans issues in Nigeria, where Emezi is from.
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Pet by Akwaeke Emezi - A YA novel with a trans main character, but doesn’t deal with trans issues. It’s nice to have trans representation in a book that’s not about trans trauma. Also has positive representation of polyamory and disability in side characters.
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Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta - About the lesbian experience in Nigeria, where Okparanta is from.
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A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers - Nonbinary main character, but does not explicitly deal with trans issues.
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Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales - YA novel that deals with bi erasure.
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Two books from Marguerite Yourcenar:
- The Abyss (L’œuvre au noir): fascinating fiction about a wandering alchemist during the Renaissance. Main character is bisexual.
- Memoirs of Hadrian: Historical novel about a Roman emperor. Main character is deeply in love with another man.
Both may not be about LGBTQ issues, but their main protagonist are nonetheless fantastic examples of mesmerizing LGBTQ characters.
We laughed in Pleasure by Lou Sullivan, goes through his diaries and experience as a gay trans man. Its heartbreaking, funny, enraging and inspiring all at once.
Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue by Leslie Feinberg, basically an exploration from multiple angles and a questioning of rigid takes on gender and sexuality. Some of the terminology in hir book is a bit outdated but the ideas and structure are still solid today as when it was written. Good as intro to the area as well.
The Post-Self series by Madison Scott-Clary. This page has short descriptions of the books and links to where you can buy them: https://post-self.ink/
It is broadly about a future where people can upload there minds to a computer system, which makes them (barring some specific and rare circumstances) immortal and allows them to make copies of their uploaded selves. There are multiple non-binary protagonists, one of them also being aromantic and asexual. There are also polyamorous, bisexual and gay characters.
