Happy Pride! Pride is in June to honor the Stonewall uprising in 1969 in New York - and 2019 is the fiftieth anniversary of the uprising! New York's Greenwich Village plans to honor two of the Uprising's leaders, Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, with statues this year.
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi: Ada, born with one foot on the other side, copes with fractured selves that grow in power as she grows up and leaves southern Nigeria for college in the United States. This is Akwaeke Emezi's debut novel; they are one of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 honorees of 2018. Freshwater was a finalist for the Pen/Hemingway Award for a Debut Novel and was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.
Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein: Explore gay life in 1970s and '80s New York City in these Tony Award-winning plays!
Speak No Evil by Uzodinma Iweala: A revelation shared between two teens from very different backgrounds sets off a chain of events with devastating consequences. Iweala's first novel, Beasts of No Nation, is now a film.
Darius the Great Is Not Okay by Adib Khorram: When Darius Kellner travels to his mother's native Iran for the first time, meeting his grandparents' next door neighbor, Sohrab, changes his life.
We Are Okay by Nina LaCour: Marin's tried to leave her past behind - but her best friend, Mabel, is coming for a visit, and Marin will be forced to confront everything that's been unsaid.
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado: Tumble into the strange and fabulous in Machado's debut collection of short stories, a 2018 Lambda Literary Award winner and a finalist for the 2017 National Book Award.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai: Chicago author Rebecca Makkai explores the HIV epidemic in this award-winning novel set in 1980s Chicago and present-day Paris.
Indecency by Justin Philip Reed: Explore inequity and injustice in this National Book Award and Lambda Literary Award winning poetry collection.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz: When 15-year-old Ari meets Dante, everything starts to change.
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon: Stuck in the slums of a ship that ferries humanity to a mythical Promised Land, Aster learns there may be a way to a better life - if she's willing to sow the seeds of civil war.
Nepantla: An Anthology for Queer Poets of Color edited by Christopher Soto: Christopher Soto and Lambda Literary founded the online journal Nepantla to celebrate queer poets of color. Read selections from the journal in print for the first time!
Black Dove: Mamá, Mi'jo, and Me by Ana Castillo: In this Lammy-winning collection of essays, Ana Castillo explores what it means to be a single, brown, feminist parent in the contemporary United States.
!Cuéntamelo! Oral Histories by LGBT Latino Immigrants by Juliana Delgado Ropera: Explore the lives of LGBT Latinx immigrants from the '80s and '90s in their own words in this Lambda Literary Award-winning oral history!
Amateur: A True Story About What Makes a Man by Thomas Page McBee:Explore male violence, gender stereotypes, and the limitations of conventional masculinity as McBee, a trans man, trains for a charity boxing match.
Tomorrow Will Be Different: Love, Loss, and the Fight for Trans Equality by Sarah McBride: Activist Sarah McBride tells the story of her life in this memoir.
No Ashes in the Fire: Coming of Age Black & Free in America by Darnell Moore: Writer and activist Moore tells the story of his life.
The New Negro: The Life of Alain Locke by Jeffrey C. Stewart: The Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Alain Locke, father of the Harlem Renaissance.
A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Marlon Bundo & Jill Twiss with illustrations by E.G. Keller: Marlon Bundo is a lonely rabbit in Washington, DC - but that's all about to change in this Rainbow List and GLADD-nominated picture book.
Julián is a Mermaid by Jessica Love: Julián dreams of dressing up like the spectacular people he saw on the bus - but what will Abuela think when she finds the mess he's made trying to dress up like them?
Hurricane Child by Kacen Callendar: Caroline, born during a hurricane, falls in love with a newcomer from Barbados and sets out to find her missing mother, all during another hurricane the year she is 12.
Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldúa: Pioneering Chicana feminist and activist Gloria Anzaldúa explores life along the border in this collection of poetry and essays.
A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns by Archie Bongiovanni & Tristan Jimerson: A quick and easy comic book guide to they/them pronouns!
Trap Door: Trans Cultural Production and the Politics of Visibility edited by Reina Gossett, Eric A. Stanley, & Johanna Burton: Delve into the politics of trans cultural representation and production in Lambda Literary Honor anthology, including dossiers, conversations, essays, and archival research.
Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde: Explore the essential work of pioneering Black feminist Audre Lorde, including her famous speech "The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House."
Looking for more to read? These literary awards are a good place to start.
The Lambda Literary Awards (better known as the Lammys) have been presented yearly since 1989 and celebrate the best in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender books. Winners are announced every year in June.
The Rainbow List, compiled yearly since 2008 by the Rainbow List Book Committee of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Roundtable of the American Library Association, celebrates the best in authentic representations of GLBTQ content for youth.
The Stonewall Book Awards, named for the Stonewall Uprisings, have celebrated the best in GLBT literature for adults and youth since 1971--only two years after Stonewall! Awards are announced early, in January or February.