Queer Literature

Queer Literature List

Welcome to our book list! This book list has been compiled by Bhumika, Meghan, Katy and Johnnie, and includes fiction, poetry, memoirs, blogs, an Atlanta bookstore and literary festival, and more! Mostly written in English. If you’re truly interested, we guarantee you’ll find something good.

The following books/authors/websites/etc. are recommended by Bhumika aka Paisley Boniface:

• Rakesh Satyal, Blue Boy. This is coming of age novel about an Indian American boy, Kiran, who is struggling with his gender and sexual identity while trying to make sense of the conflicting messages about “normalcy” he’s getting from his American friends and Indian family.
• Rigoberto Gonzalez self identifies as a gay Chicano. He is an author, poet, editor, and professor of English. His books include The Mariposa Club, Men Without Bliss, and Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa.
• David Levithan is a YA author and editor. He identifies as gay, and many of his books include queer main characters. His books include Boy Meets Boy, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson.
• The Last Herald Mage Trilogy by Mercedes Lackey is an epic fantasy ranging over several years. The main character is Vanyel Ashkevron as he finds a place where he fits in as a herald mage, finds love, loses love, becomes a hero of the nation, and experiences loneliness as he becomes the last herald mage. This book is a rollercoaster with all its ups and downs. The main character is also queer.
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin is a ground breaking feminist science fiction written in the late 1960s. The novel is about Genly Ai who visits a planet called “Winter” or “Gethen” by the people of the planet. The people on this planet are not male or female. They enter kemmer for a few days a month where their bodies change to male or female depending on the chemistry they have with their partner.
• “I’m Here. I’m Queer. What the Hell Do I Read?” by Lee Wind is a really great blog reviewing books with queer characters and themes. The books he reviews are mostly YA, but he does branch out some. He updates regularly, and the blog is fun and easy to read. You can also recommend books for his blog.
• The Atlanta Queer Literary Festival is a queer literary festival held each year at various Atlanta locations that sponsors queer writers to come and read and hold readings, panels, roundtable discussions. The website houses the festival schedule, information about their annual keynote speakers, author bios, and other information.

The following books are recommended by Meghan, aka pinky madison:

Strings Attached
Jeremy, the closeted main character of this book, gets sent away to live with some rich relatives when his mother goes into rehab. In his new home, the formerly poor boy has to figure out how to exist in a high-stakes upper class world. He also receives a mysterious phone call implying that his father’s previously thought to be accidental death may have been intentional. This novel is a murder mystery, though the author also describes it as a “deliciously witty page-turner about the ‘puppet’ who wishes only to be a real boy.”

Luna
Luna is a young adult fiction book told from the point of view of a young teenage girl named Regan whose brother, Liam, is transitioning. She has know about his gender identity for as long as she can remember, but she has a complicated relationship to the thought of him actually transitioning and being a girl in public. This is a powerful book about the challenges of acceptance and the power or familial love.

Geography Club
The Geography Club is a rather short young adult novel about a gay high school boy who starts a secret gay student club at his school. Once he meets other queer students at his school, he decides that they need a club to meet, but he doesn’t think his high school is prepared for an openly gay club, nor does he think the members are prepared to be “out,” so they form the Geography Club, naming it that under the hope that no one would join a club with such a boring name. The main character struggles to make the club work while attempting to have his first relationship. This novel is a very fast read with very real – and flawed- characters.

Boy Meets Boy
Boy Meets Boy is a very strange book. It is a very cute romantic comedy of a story, but the setting is so idealistic that it is a bit off-putting. The suburban town in the book is incredibly gay friendly, and it sometimes borders on magical realism. Despite the flaws though, the characters in this novel are wonderful, and this book is essentially a gay equivalent to fluffy straight teen romance novels. It is also very funny and sweet. It’s candy reading, but in a good way.

Parrotfish
Parrotfish is named for a fish capable of changing its gender whenever it needs to. The story centers around Grady McNair – formerly Angela – as over the course of one holiday season decides to act on his increasing discomfort in a female body. The story focuses primarily on how his family and schoolmates deal with him coming out, but he does also fall in love with the hottest girl in school.

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn
Eon is a young adult fantasy novel featuring a female character who must pretend to be a man in order to learn magic. An important side character is actually transgendered. Gender issues are not a focus of the book, instead choosing to put a queer character in a standard fantasy setting and not making their entire conflict about their queerness.

Annie on My Mind
Two girls of different social classes in New York meet at a museum and try to navigate having a lesbian relationship in the early 80s. This book is frequently seen on banned book lists, and is one of the earliest queer young adult books published.

Rubyfruit Jungle
Published in 1973, this novel is a lesbian coming-of-age story about a girl adopted into a poor family who experiments sexually in high school and goes on to discover herself as a lesbian, an activist, and a filmmaker.

Bait
Bait is a novel told from the perspective of a boy who bullied a gay classmate into killing himself. The novel is anti-bullying, but tells the story in a unique way.

Down to the Bone
This novel is about a Latina lesbian girl going to Catholic school in Miami. She is caught reading a love letter from her girlfriend in class and is expelled, then kicked out of her house. The novel is surprisingly upbeat given this though, and is about how the main character Laura comes to find her place in the world.

Freak Show
A “gender obscurist” bio-male high school student named Billy seeks to become his conservative high school’s prom queen. The main character refuses gender labels, but does find himself in a relationship with a boy at his school. The book is written in a humorous, conversational tone from Billy’s point of view.

Finlater
This novel, set in 1969, just after segregation, is about a relationship between a young black man and a young Jewish man in Cincinatti.

Ash
This novel is a retelling of the Cinderella story, about a young woman clinging to her mother’s pagan beliefs while being forced to live with her strict stepmother and her two stepsisters in a city turning to more organized religion. Her “fairy godmother” is actually a slightly evil faerie man who makes deals with her in exchange for her wishes, and instead of falling in love with the prince, Ash falls in love with the Prince’s chief huntress.

The Bermudez Triangle
Three best friends face their first separation the summer after high school while Nina goes off to a pre-college program. The two friends left behind, Mel and Avery, fall for each other and once Nina comes back, they all have to figure out what to make of their friendship and the new relationships between them.

The following books and bookstores are recommended by Katy, aka susiescorcher:

• Charis Books & More is a bookstore is “the South's oldest and largest feminist bookstore,” specializing in children's books, feminist and cultural studies books, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer fiction and non-fiction. They will order you any book in print for those who request it, with a 10% discount for those who order online. But call them (404-524-0304) if you don’t see that book you want online -- not everything is listed on the site. Charis also holds regular events, and you can view their calendar online. The bookstore is relatively MARTA accessible, not a long walk from the Edgewood/Candler Park and Inman Park/Reynoldstown trainstations.
• The Other Side of Paradise by Staceyann Chin, a half-black, half-Chinese lesbian from Jamaica. This is her memoir, which includes stories about growing up in poverty with her brother and grandmother and, occasionally, her father and mother, neither one of whom claim Staceyann. Barnes & Noble says of the book, “[Chin] plumbs tender and unsettling memories as she writes about drifting from one home to the next, coming out as a lesbian, and finding the man she believes to be her father and ultimately her voice.” The website for Chin’s book can be found here, and her website with more of her writings, including poetry, can be found here. See her spoken word on youtube -- she kicks ass.
• Binet al Nas is a cultural e-zine produced by the Mujadarra Grrls for Arab queer people. This e-zine includes translations of the content in Arabic, English and French. The authors say of the site that it “is designed to serve the needs and interests of women who identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer (including female-to-male and male-to-female trans* people in any state of transition), and who are identified ethnically or culturally with the Arab world, regardless of where they live.”
• Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson is a novel involving a main character who has no name or gender who falls in love with a married woman. Winterson says of the book on her website, “All of my books are about boundaries and desire - the boundaries we should try to cross, like fear and class and skin-colour and expectation, and the boundaries that seem to define us, such as our sense of self, our gender. Disease, especially a disease like cancer or aids, breaks down the boundaries of the immune system and forces a new self on us that we often don't recognise.” Winterson’s website has other writings posted on it, including poetry and short stories.
• Radical Women of Color Bloggers houses links to a number of blogs and e-zines written by radical and queer women of color. The Queer Zine Archive Project also provides another extensive list.
• The Salt Roads by Nalo Hopkinson is historical fiction that follows three women -- Mer, a Haitian slave, Jeanne Duval, a woman from 19th century France, and Meritet, a prostitute in Roman Egypt -- focusing on their connection through the spirit, Ezili, and their sexualities.
• Black Looks is a blog with a focus on African queer people and radical politics. The blog houses a section with podcasts, for those who would prefer to listen than look.
• Octavia E. Butler was an African-American author of science fiction and fantasy whose books include Kindred, Fledgling, Bloodchild and Other Stories, Dawn, Adulthood Rites, Imago, Parable of the Sower, Parable of Other Talents, Mind of My Mind, among many others. Read ProfBailey's blog entry on Wild Seed for an explanation of the work and its relation to queer theory.
• Lieutenant Nun: The Memoirs of Catalina de Erauso is the autobiography of a 17th century wealthy Spanish transman. Publishers Weekly says of the book: “de Erauso never explains how she conceals her gender. Her attitude seems entirely that of the colonial male. One murderous knife fight, for instance, is justified when "my companion, with plenty of people around to hear it, told me I lied like a cuckold.”...De Erauso's delivery is deadpan and devoid of introspection. There is no purple prose, quite the opposite. While the pace is headlong, it raises more questions than it answers. But Michelle Stepto's useful introduction fills in much of the essential historical and social background, yielding a fascinating portrait of a very peculiar adventurer's life in colonial Chile.”
• zahrawithaz has posted an entry on her livejournal that includes more than 50 books written by queer people of color. It’s a pretty extensive list, including authors of many nationalities, so check it out if you’re looking for more to read!

The following books are recommended by Johnnie, aka johnnie_sanchez:

Finding H.F. by Julia Watts (fiction)
“Abandoned by her mother and raised by her loving but religiously zealous grandmother, 16-year-old Heavenly Faith Simms (H.F. for short) has never felt like she belonged anywhere. When she finds her mother's address in a drawer, She and her best friend, Bo, an emotionally repressed gay boy, hit the road in Bo's scrap heap of a car and head south to Florida where she is determined to start a new life with the mom she has never known.” -Amazon
Winner of the 2001 Lambda Literary Award in the children/young adult category.

Talking in the Dark by Billy Merrell (poetry)
“This is a memoir that is lived in moments. The moments you know - when you see your parents' marriage dissolving, when you realize you're a boy who likes boys, when you speak the truth and don't know if it will be heard. The moments you don't recognize until later - when you leave things unsaid (even to yourself), when you feel your boyfriend letting go, when you give up on love. And the moment you get love back. In an amazing narrative of poems, Billy Merrell tells an ordinary story in an extraordinary way.”
–Barnes and Noble
“This memoir is as difficult as it is beautiful. Merrell writes, "Years later I'll wonder how I didn't know I was lonely when everyone around me did." His sophisticated verse and compelling story will capture attention as it stirs compassion.” –Amazon

Tinderbox Lawn: Prose Poems by Carol Guess, an openly lesbian woman (poetry)
Set on the margins of Seattle, beneath bridges and on the banks of waterways, in strip clubs and flooded farmland, the prose poems in Tinderbox Lawn illuminate the intersection of domesticity and bohemia, orthodoxy and passion. Each untitled block of prose constitutes a novel-in-miniature, with shadow characters and shards of plot. The intensity of Carol Guess's poems builds through lyrical language and recurring images, capturing the moment when the small mad heart at the center of things stalls mid-tick.
–Amazon

Trans Liberation: Beyond Pink or Blue by Leslie Feinberg, a transgengered author (collection of speeches)
“This stirring call for tolerance and solidarity from the acclaimed activist and author of Transgender Warriors collects Leslie Feinberg's speeches on trans liberation and its essential connection to the liberation of all people.” –Barnes and Noble
“As someone who faces oppression, incomprehension, and violence every day on the basis of “hir” appearance and the refusal to adhere to a rigid gender designation (Feinberg was once denied emergency medical treatment for endocarditis by a doctor who dismissed hir angrily as "a very troubled person"), Feinberg is in an excellent position to refute the shallow assumptions of the medical establishment and the mainstream media, as well as the more extreme views of the political and religious right.” -Amazon

Crush by Richard Siken, a gay poet (poetry)
“Richard Siken’s Crush, selected as the 2004 winner of the Yale Younger Poets prize, is a powerful collection of poems driven by obsession. Siken writes with ferocity, and his reader hurtles unstoppably with him. His poetry is confessional, gay, savage, and charged with violent eroticism.” –Amazon

Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano, a trans feminist
“With her first full-length book, biologist, writer and musician Serano positions herself as a Betty Friedan of the transsexual community. Making a case that trans discrimination is steeped in sexism and that trans activism is a feminist movement, Serano delivers a series of articulate, compelling and provocative essays that unmask many of the misconceptions surrounding transsexualism, gender and feminism. Where most books on the topic focus either on first-person accounts or clinical observations, Serano approaches her topic from multiple angles. Tempering her own experience as a transsexual woman with psychological documentation, historical research and sociological data, she explores the debate on biology versus socialization; the media's "lurid," "superficial" and "contrived" depictions of trans women; the psychology of transitioning; "boygasms" versus "girlgasms"; nonacceptance and marginalization of transsexual women by the feminist community; and the subtle shades of gray between masculinity and femininity. Though her writing is dense at times, Serano largely succeeds in breaking down complex issues and offering deep insights that will be valued by anyone interested in transsexualism or gender studies.” –Amazon

The Marrow’s Telling by Eli Clare, a transman
A collection of poetry and prose, The Marrow's Telling spans fifteen years, exploring how bodies carry history and identity over time. Embracing contradiction and repetition, this work maps itself around embodied experiences of disability, race, gender transgression and transition, family violence, and sexuality. –Barnes and Noble

Butch is a Noun by S Bear Bergman
“should be required reading in any gender studies curriculum…a brave, whipsmart, and passionately human tour through a portion of the gender/cultural map…Butch is a Noun, the first book by activist, gender-jammer, and performer S. Bear Bergman,won wide acclaim when published by Suspect Thoughts in 2006: a funny, insightful, and purposely unsettling manifesto on what it means to be butch (and not). In thirty-four deeply personal essays, Bear makes butchness accessible to those who are new to the concept, and makes gender outlaws of all stripes feel as though they have come home. From girls' clothes to men's haircuts, from walking with girls to hanging with young men, Butch is a Noun chronicles the perplexities, dangers, and pleasures of living lifeoutside the gender binary.” -Amazon

She’s Not There: a Life in Two Genders, (autobiography)
Boylan, English professor and author of the critically acclaimed novels The Constellations (1994),The Planets (1991), and Getting In (1998), began life as a male named James Boylan. In this autobiography, she details her lifelong struggle with her burgeoning femaleness and the path she followed to become a female, both physically and mentally. For 40 years, the author lived as a man, seemingly happy and even marrying a woman and fathering two children. At a certain point, though, she realized that she couldn't suppress her desire to live as a female and so eventually went through all the steps to become female, including sexual reassignment surgery. There is something troubling about Boylan's lighthearted tone, and while she hints at it, there is no really clear depiction of the havoc this transition must have wreaked on her married life (Boylan's wife was clearly devastated) and on her children (who at times refer to her as boygirl or maddy). But Boylan's well-written and informative book is a worthy contribution to the body of work on this subject. -Amazon