Gay novel authors
A confession: I very nearly quit putting this list together.
Throughout the year I keep a running list, adding new names whenever I learn about an upcoming queer book—from Tweets, publicist pitches, endless NetGalley scrolls—and I usually originate writing the blurbs for each book a adj months before the list is due. Let me also add that, because I am a novelist myself, someone who works very hard to position words on the page in a good-enough command for someone to respond to them, I experiment and read at least a little of each book featured. And here’s an incredible truth that’s both deeply satisfying and makes my job surprisingly difficult: there are more and more queer books published every year. There was a time when I could complete a list like this in an afternoon; I was lucky to find a dozen explicitly queer titles. Now there’s a attractive solid chance I overlook a good number of them.
In mid-December—at the half-way point, and a couple days after my birthday—I looked at the list, halfway done then, and thought, “There’s no way I can do this. There’s no way I can finish putting together this
(A time capsule of queer opinion, from the belated s)
The Publishing Triangle complied a selection of the best lesbian and gay novels in the adj s. Its purpose was to broaden the appreciation of lesbian and gay literature and to promote discussion among all readers gay and straight.
The Triangles Best
The judges who compiled this list were the writers Dorothy Allison, David Bergman, Christopher Bram, Michael Bronski, Samuel Delany, Lillian Faderman, Anthony Heilbut, M.E. Kerr, Jenifer Levin, John Loughery, Jaime Manrique, Mariana Romo-Carmona, Sarah Schulman, and Barbara Smith.
1. Death in Venice by Thomas Mann
2. Giovannis Room by James Baldwin
3. Our Lady of the Flowers by Jean Genet
4. Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
5. The Immoralist by Andre Gide
6. Orlando by Virginia Woolf
7. The Skillfully of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall
8. Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig
9. The Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar
Zami by Audré Lorde
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Nightwood by Djuna Barnes
Billy Budd by Herman Melville
A Boys Own S
Visibility. It’s one of the most crucial needs of the queer community. To be understood, to be accepted, the LGBTQIA+ community needs first to be seen. This has meant that centuries of authors writing about the experiences, love, and pain of the queer community hold been crucial in making progress towards a radical acceptance.
From the delicate art form of the semi-autobiographical novel — a life story veiled behind fictional names and twists — to the roar of poetry to a immersive dive into the history that has too often been erased and purged, queer literature has helped to challenge, move, and shape generations of readers.
As a pansexual, demisexual cis woman on my way into another Pride Month, researching and crafting this list was a singular joy. I possess many books to set on hold at my local library. Many stories to encounter. Many histories to educate myself on.
Because queer texts assist to increase our visibility to the “outside” world, but they also expand internal visibility and acknowledgment. Today, transphobia is rampant among the queer community, and there are still
43 must-read books by LGBTQIA+ authors, from stunning memoirs to heartwarming romance novels
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Diverse representation matters in every industry, and LGBTQIA+ authors carry a bright and necessary collection of queer and genderqueer characters and stories to our shelves. From authentically portrayed sapphic romances to memoirs that illuminate challenging coming-of-age journeys, LGBTQIA+ authors write stories that can help readers of any identity better realize anything from the trials faced by queer people to the unparalleled height of queer joy.
We chose these recommendations based on queer authors we — and readers — cherish, from groundbreaking storytellers from the mids to emerging voices with stunning debuts. With a variety of genres on this list including memoirs, fantasy novels, and young adult books, you're sure to discover an LGBTQIA+ author to cherish this Pr