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Memoirs and novels by queer authors of color
Tales of joy and heartbreak from some leading LGBTQ+ writers.
Publicat la 19 Iulie 2023
Punch Me Up To The Gods: A Memoir
Brian BroomeA moving memoir about growing up Black and gay in rural Ohio. Framing his life story around the Gwendolyn Brooks poem “We Real Cool,” Brian Broome brilliantly calls out destructive stereotypes about masculinity. A heart wrenching, intimate look at an outsider's search for a space to be his authentic self.
How We Fight for Our Lives: A Memoir
Saeed JonesPoet Saeed Jones lays bare the struggle of growing up both gay and Black in Texas. His prose evokes these painful memories with just the right amount of distance to show the hope beyond the otherwise bleak circumstances. “How We Fight for Our Lives” won the 2020 Lambda Award for best Gay Memoir/Biography.
In the Dream House: A Memoir
Carmen Maria MachadoWinner of the 2020 Lambda Award for best LGBTQ Nonfiction. Carmen Maria Machado (“Her Body and Other Parties”) doesn’t just break all the rules with her marvelous memoir — she transcends them. Masterfully weaving together dozens of genres, from gothic and folktales, to lesbian pulp and road trips, Machado tells the frightening story of a past relationship with an abusive girlfriend. “In the Dream House” breaks the destructive silence surrounding abusive queer relationships — and breaks open a new way of nonfiction storytelling.
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More
Janet MockWriter and producer Janet Mock’s memoir of coming out as transgender is an urgent read right now, as the higher levels of discrimination and violence committed against trans women of color has made national headlines. Mock provides a path to a better tomorrow.
I Can't Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I've Put My Faith in Beyoncé
I Can't Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I've Put My Faith in Beyoncé
Michael ArceneauxHeartfelt and heartbreaking, Michael Arceneaux’s essays explore his experiences as a gay, Black, Catholic Southerner, including how he set about, in his words, “unlearning every damaging thing I’ve seen and heard about my identity.” From praying to Jesus to “cure” him of homosexuality and being recruited for the priesthood, to his love of Beyoncé and coming out to his mom, this is a bold collection on the power of self-acceptance.
When They Call You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir
Patrisse CullorsThis eloquent memoir interweaves Patrisse Khan-Cullors’ experiences growing up in southern California as a queer Black woman with a social commentary about the Black Lives Matter movement (which Khan-Cullors helped found), where we are now, and where we can go from here.
Fire Shut Up In My Bones: A Memoir
Charles M. BlowNew York Times journalist Charles M. Blow tackles the tough task of connecting and disentangling his race, class, sexual, gender, and geographic identity in this poetic memoir. An important coming out story from a bisexual, Black, Southern man.
The Yellow House: A Memoir (2019 National Book Award Winner)
Sarah M. BroomSarah Broom’s breathtaking memoir made countless best-books-of-the-year lists when it came out in 2019, including Barack Obama’s and The New York Times’ top 10. Broom tells the story of her family through the framework of their beloved yellow house in a New Orleans neighborhood you never see in travel guides. You’ll feel the humidity and hear the Mississippi rising through her evocative writing, as Broom chronicles how her family rides out Hurricane Katrina — and generations of social injustices.
How To Write An Autobiographical Novel: Essays
Alexander CheeAlexander Chee’s book is mostly memoir mixed with morsels of writing tutorial as he attempts to both unravel and connect all the disparate parts that shape our identities. Chee’s observations as a mixed-race gay man who grew up with sexual abuse provide a powerful and clear perspective.
Karamo: My Story of Embracing Purpose, Healing, and Hope
Karamo BrownKaramo Brown tells the uplifting story of how he overcame struggles with drugs and alcohol, abuse, racism, homophobia, and more to become the inspirational “Culture Expert” on Netflix’s beloved “Queer Eye.” Karamo’s commitment to strength through lifelong learning and self-reflection radiates throughout his inspiring memoir.
Unbecoming: A Memoir of Disobedience
Anuradha BhagwatiAnuradha Bhagwati’s life is full of twists and turns, some purposeful and others punishing: After graduating from Yale, she decided to join the Marines, defying the expectations and wishes of her Indian parents. From there, she found a strength previously unknown to her, while also enduring flagrant sexism as one of the few female members of the Marines. Bhagwati’s life is fascinating, and her work as an activist after leaving the service has led to historic changes for women serving in the military.
Long Live the Tribe of Fatherless Girls: A Memoir
T Kira MaddenT Kira Madden was raised by a Chinese Hawaiian mother and a Jewish father in Boca Raton, Florida, and she quickly figured out that she was queer to boot. In her memoir, she reveals just how confining and heavy the boxes we try to shove ourselves (and each other) in are, despite the vast diversity of experiences.
Patsy: A Novel
Nicole Dennis-BennIn this winner of the 2020 Lambda Award for best Lesbian Fiction, many tough choices face the titular Patsy: She decides to leave Jamaica, her daughter, and her husband looking for a better life in America and her first love, Cicely. While she grabs the reins of her life, it doesn’t stay on course, and she’s left trying to navigate through her desired dreams and harsher reality. A bold exploration of immigration and motherhood.
Her Body and Other Parties: Stories
Carmen Maria MachadoCarmen Maria Machado’s collection of stories is so wonderfully weird. Genre-bending, uncanny, and often very funny, each of these unusual stories has something poignant to say about being a person and about being an artist, and in particular about what it’s like inhabiting a female body.
The Deep
Rivers SolomonSolomon’s “The Deep” is based on a Hugo Award-nominated song from Clipping, the rap group headed by Daveed Diggs. It’s about a group of mermaid-like people who are descended from pregnant slaves who perished when they were tossed overboard crossing the Atlantic. This Lammy Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror winner defines the word haunting.
Another Brooklyn: A Novel
Jacqueline WoodsonThis 2016 National Book Award finalist by beloved (and queer) author Jacqueline Woodson has been compared to contemporary classics like “The Bluest Eye,” “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn,” and “The House on Mango Street.” Vanity Fair raved: “In Woodson’s soaring choral poem of a novel … four young friends … navigate the perils of adolescence, mean streets, and haunted memory in 1970s Brooklyn, all while dreaming of escape.”
A Brief History of Seven Killings
Marlon James“Black Leopard, Red Wolf” author Marlon James won the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 2015 for this inventive and poetic novel. It explores the chaotic streets of Kingston, Jamaica, using an assassination attempt on Bob Marley as a jumping-off point. The CIA, crack wars, gang violence, and reggae fill the pages in a book that, in the judges’ words, “just keeps coming.”
The House of Impossible Beauties: A Novel
Joseph CassaraIf you’re a fan of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” you might’ve heard the expression “category is.” (RuPaul even wrote a song called “Category Is!”) This phrase hails from the underground ballroom scenes of the 1980s and early ’90s, which is where and when “The House of Impossible Beauties” takes place. A heartbreaking, yet vibrant, story with the drag culture in 1980s Harlem at its heart.
Beijing Comrades: A Novel
Bei TongIt took decades for an English translation of this cult classic novel from China to be published, but now this important work of queer literature is available to a whole new audience. “Beijing Comrades” follows a traditional forbidden love formula while also critiquing homophobia and governmental policies in the world’s most populous country.
Meet Cute Diary
Emery LeeNoah Ramirez is a trans boy in love with love, and he wants to keep the dream of a happily ever after open for other trans teens like him. So he starts a blog about cute trans relationships. But a troll insists that all the stories are fake — which they are. In swoops Drew with a fake-dating proposal to save Noah’s blog — and steal his heart. This is a meet cute story for the ages that’s been blurbed by pretty much every notable YA author in the LGBTQIA+ space (Kacen Callender, Aiden Thomas, and Becky Albertalli, to name just a few).
You Should See Me in a Crown
Leah JohnsonA perfectly executed rom-com starring a queer, black teen running for prom queen. Wallflower Liz Lighty is determined to be crowned prom queen and win the $10,000 scholarship prize associated with the honor so she can afford to go to an elite college. The biggest problem? Liz is in love with one of her prom queen competitors.
Blanca & Roja
Anna-Marie McLemoreTwo sisters from a cursed family. One destined to become a swan. Both fiercely devoted to protecting the other from that fate. In this magical YA novel, author Anna-Marie McLemore reimagines a queer Swan Lake and Snow White woven together with Latinx folklore, all while reveling in the love of family, both the kind we are born into and the kind we choose for ourselves.
Felix Ever After
Kacen CallenderBlack, queer, and trans, 17-year-old artist Felix Love is having a complicated summer. Targeted by an anonymous transphobic bully, Felix catfishes his suspected tormentor, but his plan for revenge sends him on an adventure of love and self-discovery. With a fantastic (and diverse) cast, this feel-good novel is wonderfully messy, warm, and full of friendship and love.
Cemetery Boys
Aiden ThomasA cute, queer love story between a gay trans boy and a ghost. Yadriel is determined to prove his gender identity to his Latinx family by exhibiting powers of a brujo rather than a bruja. Yadriel means to summon the ghost of his recently deceased cousin, but instead ends up with the spirit of his school’s bad boy, Julian Diaz. A stunning #OwnVoices story that is breaking down several barriers.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
Benjamin Alire SáenzBenjamin Alire Sáenz’s stunning novel is a delicate and beautifully written portrayal of the intensity and unruly passion that comes with our formative teenage years. It lives up to the elegance of its cover and mouthful of a title. A visceral reminder of the life-altering effects that happen when you meet that one person: your first love.
More Happy Than Not
Adam SilveraAdam Silvera’s debut is unforgettable, with its compelling characters, its deft depiction of class politics without relying on stereotypes and slang, and its message that hardship helps us find happiness.