LGBTQ+ Reading List
In honor of LGBTQ+ History Month, the Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion has curated the following reading list. This book list includes some titles from our region and other global stories to help us expand our understanding of the varied and rich LGBTQ+ experiences. If you do not see a book listed here that you think would be a valuable addition, let our office know and we will add it.
- “They Called Me Queer” is a collection written by Africans who self-identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual. South Africa has become known for its tolerance towards the LGBTQIA+ community, but South Africa is still a segregated and unequal society, where sexual identities still heavily impacts every part of daily lives. This collection of stories is a testimony to the struggles, triumphs & joys of LGBTQ+ community.
- “She Called Me Woman” brings together 25 first-hand accounts of what it means to be be a queer Nigerian woman. These stories are from Nigerian ‘women’, negotiating relationships, money, sexuality and freedom, identifying outside the gender binary, and the difficulties of achieving hopes and dreams in a climate of fear.
- “Funny Boy” is a queer coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the Sri Lankan civil war. The novel charts a boy’s loss of innocence as he grapples with family conflict, political realities and his sexuality.
- “The Other Side of Paradise” by Stacyann Chin. This is a memoir about growing up in Jamaica told with grace, humor, and courage, Chin plumbs tender and unsettling memories as she writes about drifting from one home to the next, coming out as a lesbian, finding the man she believes to be her father, and ultimately, discovering her voice.
- “Piece of My Heart: A Lesbian of Colour Anthology” by Makeda Silvera is uncompromising in its honesty, at times humorous, angry, confrontational, and erotic. It celebrates the lives of women both out and coming out.
- “The Very Inside: An Anthology of Writings by Asian & Pacific Islander Lesbians” is more than fifty contributions of poetry, prose, interviews, articles and artwork that make this collection fascinating and important.
- “Storytelling in Queer Appalachia: Imagining and Writing the Unspeakable Other” is an anthology of LGBTQ+ voices from the region. This is one of the first collections of scholarship at the intersection of LGBTQ studies and Appalachian studies that blend personal stories with scholarly and creative examinations of living in Appalachia as a queer person.
- “LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia” by Jeff Mann. This collection, the first of its kind, gathers original and previously published fiction and poetry from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer authors from Appalachia. Like much Appalachian literature, these works are pervaded with an attachment to family and the mountain landscape, yet balancing queer and Appalachian identities is an undertaking fraught with conflict. This collection confronts the problematic and complex intersections of place, family, sexuality, gender, and religion with which LGBTQ Appalachians often grapple.
Resources:
https://outrightinternational.org/content/queer-reading-list
Open gallery
LGBTQ Fiction and Poetry from Appalachia book cover