This year, we’ve seen a wave of diversity-minded book campaigns, and I, for one, am here for it. The literary canon, long fortressed by texts written by cisgender, white men, seems to, finally, be opening up.In March, the literary website and non-profit organization Electric Literature launched its Read More Women campaign, accompanied by the the #readmorewomen hashtag, in which it challenged people to increase their intake of texts written by women and non-binary authors. And at the end of October, Glory Edim, founder of the Brooklyn-based Well Read Black Girl book club and online community, will publish a collection of essays on the importance of seeing yourself in literature. Her literary community organizing advocates for representation of Black writers via the hashtag #wellreadblackgirl.
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Even if texts written by marginalized people still aren’t being noticed by the New York Times book review, it seems that readers are beginning to seriously consider the identities of the authors they read. As I considered diversifying my own reading, I wondered: what queer books did I read this year? And what queer books would I recommend to someone looking to intentionally read fewer straight, cis men?The list that follows is by no means exhaustive—there are hundreds more books published over this past year alone by queer and trans authors. Rather, it’s meant to introduce you to a few important new queer voices writing across different genres; texts not only written by people who identify as LGBTQ, but those that subvert traditional themes of gender and sexuality, queering such literary narratives.
Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote
“I’m waiting in the insurance place to renew my plates, along with a woman and her daughter, about five years old. The kid keeps talking to me, asking me stuff, showing her Lego helicopter. ‘Leave her be,’ the mom says. The kid looks right at me. ‘I don’t think he is a lady,’ she says. ‘I think he is a man with very pretty eyes.’”
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The essays narrate Ivan’s experiences in bathrooms; relationships with their family as they come of age in Canada’s Yukon and come out; and the ways they help their family come to terms with their non-binary gender identity. We learn that, as Coyote matures, so does their understanding of themself, to the point where they pivot careers: from electrician (hence the diagrams) to performer to vocal LGBTQ advocate.Tomboy Survival Guide is a critical read for this moment, offering a candid account of Coyote’s attempts to subvert a gender-binary world. “Writing about my tenderest bits is the only way I know how to have power over them,” they write.
Little Fish by Casey Plett
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While Standing in Line for Death by CA Conrad
Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor
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Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
Black Queer Hoe by Britteney Black Rose Kapri
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