Reading lists for LGBTQIA+ audiences, summer 2021

I apologize that this list of lists is coming out at the end of summer rather than its start, but given the number and diversity of recent publications, I could not resist putting it together. That said, let me get started . . .

1 The first list, totaling 13 titles, was compiled by C. L. Clark, author of The Unbroken and guest editor for the anthology We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2020 (scheduled for release yet this month). Clark’s list of science fiction and fantasy books, in her words,

includes books from the last few years. I’ve included a mix of big productions and small, and left off some of the more well-known queer SFF novels (sorry, Gideon the Ninth, I still love you!) to leave some room to bring others to light. While the list below is certainly incomplete and doesn’t cover nearly every identity in the queer family, I hope you find something here that makes you feel less alone. . . .

Follow the link to Clark’s list for a short interview, too, then be sure to scroll to the comments section for some additions provided by other readers.

2 My second list is more current, 15 titles—fiction, nonfiction, poetry, graphic novels, and more, many by LGBTQ+ authors—published in the last year. It was originally credited to Vogue.com but was reprinted (without cover art) on them.us, an LGBT2SQIA+ online presence from Condé Nast. This list includes the memoir Black Boy Out of Time, by Hari Ziyad; a nonfiction serial killer crime drama, Last Call: A True Story of Love, Lust, and Murder in Queer New York, by Elon Green; and graphic novel Stone Fruit by Australian author-illustrator Lee Lai.

3 List number three was compiled by DonorsChoose.org for teachers who wanted to be sure their students had access to books that reflected their own identities and experiences—and to help others understand identities and experiences that were not their own. It is a list of 9 old and newish titles with LGBT2SQIA+ stories and characters and is divided into three classroom categories: elementary, middle school, and high school. The forthcoming Drama (due out this fall), by graphic memoirist Raina Telgemeier, and last year’s Clap When You Land, a novel-in-verse by Elizabeth Acevedo, are on this list.

4 The last list for this post, published at ReadBrightly.com (an effort by Penguin Random House to increase reading among kids and families), also includes some old titles, such as last year’s Stonewall: A Building. An Uprising. A Revolution, by Rob Sanders and Jamey Christoph; The Whispers, by Greg Howard; To Night Owl from Dogfish, by Holly Goldberg Sloan and Meg Wolitzer; and Hot Dog Girl, by Jennifer Dugan. However it adds in some newer titles, too, like Middle School’s a Drag, You Better Werk!, by Greg Howard; Girls at the Edge of the World, by Laura Brooke Robson; and Juliet Takes a Breath, by Gabby Rivera and Celia Moscote.

Enjoy the reads! And, remember to look at other selected titles at one of our two specialty bookstores for younger and more adult readers.

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originally posted August 12, 2021
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image information: Featured image via DifferentTruths.com, where it was used as artwork for a post, “Acceptance of Gayism and Lesbianism” (dated November 25, 2020), by human rights advocate Shormita Bose.  Note: this post contains affiliate links.