I’ve also focused on fun ways to celebrate that do not require being in big crowds or attending massive events. Big Pride events are fun for lots of people! They’re important! But they’re not for everyone. Also, we’re still in a pandemic. I used to feel left out — or like there was something wrong with me — when I was younger, because I never wanted to go to big Pride parades. Now I know that parades are just one of dozens and dozens of ways to celebrate how great it is to be queer. So whether you’re ready to dig into queer history, excited about reading all the queer books this month, or looking for some fantastic LGBTQ+ bookish orgs to donate to, get ready to wave your rainbow book flag high. If you’re looking for even more ways to celebrate, check out our Pride Month archives! You’ll find booklists galore — enough to keep you reading till next June! There are far too many amazing queer books coming out this summer and fall to list them all here. But I’ll give you the highlight reel of my personal preorder list, which includes:
All This Could Be Different by Sarah Thankam Mathews (contemporary fiction) Making Love with the Land by Joshua Whitehead (nonfiction) Your Emergency Contact Has Experienced an Emergency by Chen Chen (poetry) Pretend It’s My Body by Luke Dani Blue (short fiction) A Minor Chorus by Billy-Ray Belcourt (contemporary fiction) Gods of Want by K-Ming Chang (fabulist short fiction) Jade Is A Twisted Green by Tanya Turton (contemporary fiction) Before We Were Trans by Kit Heyam (history) Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore (YA historical fiction) Refusing Compulsory Sexuality by Sherronda J Brown (nonfiction) Ask the Brindled by No’u Revilla (poetry)
If you’re looking for even more queer books to preorder, we’ve got a fantastic guide for how to find upcoming book releases, as well this useful primer on how to keep track of new releases. Hope in a Box provides LGBTQ+ inclusive books, curriculum, and trainings to educators. With all the book bans going on right now, ensuring that kids and teachers have access to queer books and educational materials is more important than ever. LGBT Books to Prisoners is “a trans-affirming, racial justice-focused, prison abolitionist project” that sends books to incarcerated LGBTQ people all over the United States. The Bureau of General Services — Queer Division and Bluestockings Cooperative are two volunteer bookstores, activist spaces, and community centers, both in New York City. A fantastic place to start is We Are Everywhere by Leighton Brown and Matthew L. Riemer (who run @lgbt_history on Instagram). It’s a gorgeous book full of hundreds of photos — just looking at it is a treat. But it’s also a detailed, complicated history. Brown and Riemer delve into the good and the bad, exploring the schisms and conflicts in the history of queer activism, as well as the moments of success and solidarity. And when you’re reading for more, check out these LGBTQ+ history books, these must-read books about LGBTQ+ history, and these books about queer women’s history. If you’re more inclined to learn about history by reading historical fiction, there are loads of fantastic books on this list of the best queer historical fiction. Luckily for all of us who don’t live near a queer-owned bookstore, there’s this little thing you may have heard of called online shopping. I really appreciate being able to buy books from queer-owned indie bookstores whose mission and values I align with, even if they’re hundreds of miles away from me. In the past few years, I’ve bought from Buffalo Street Books, a community-owned bookstore in Ithaca, New York, and Loyalty Bookstores in D.C. At the beginning of the pandemic I spent hours virtually browsing A Room of One’s Own in Madison, Wisconsin, thanks to the the amazing rec lists the booksellers there have curated. One of the great things about Bookshop is that smaller stores that don’t have their own online shops can create Bookshop storefronts and receive a portion of the profits. I’ve enjoyed browsing (and buying from) Tubby & Coo’s Mid-City Book Shop — and there are so many more queer-owned stores with Bookshop storefronts to discover! Over the years, Pride has become more and more corporate, with huge corporations paying lip service to queer rights and queer culture during June, despite remaining silent (or actively hostile) the rest of the year. There are tons of queer artists, creators, and small business owners making and selling all sorts of Pride goods (bookish and otherwise), and they are worth seeking out and supporting.
