February might be best known for Valentine’s Day, but it’s also Pride Month 🏳️🌈
To celebrate, Lizzy is sharing some of her favourite LGBTQ+ books and authors that we think you should check out.
There’s something here for everyone - from essays and short story collections, brilliant New Zealand fiction and non-fiction, and beautiful books for kids and young adults, right through to the spicy ice hockey romance everyone is talking about…
Take a look, and if you’re celebrating Pride with friends and family this month, we hope it’s filled with colour, love and great books!
Pride in Fiction
Whether it’s botanical horror (my new favourite specific genre) or some of the most epic love stories of our time, or even Booker Prize Winners - there are a huge range of diverse novels to get stuck into to read about diverse, beautiful characters.
Looking for a romance to get lost in?
Obviously we’re all reading and watching The Game Changers series, but here’s a few other amazing LGBTQ+ love stories to look out for. Atmosphere is a gorgeous story about the space programme in the 1980s, and the power of love in all its forms. It’s my favourite Taylor Jenkins Reid to date. By now you should all have read my two favourite romance novels ever written - Call Me By Your Name (best read alongside a strong negroni), and The Song of Achilles (make sure you have tissues). One on my own TBR is Swimming in the Dark - a book that looks like the Polish version of Call Me By Your Name. Sold. For a cozy fantasy romance I highly recommend both Legends and Lattes, and Gwen and Art are not in Love! These are fun, queer, romantic and heartwarming and will have you laughing out loud.
Want something fictional but less romantic? Don’t worry - I have you covered.
Epic Fantasy with dragons is more your vibe? Look no further than one of my favourite fantasy authors who has great representation in her books - Samantha Shannon and her popular Roots of Chaos series! For botanical horror with queer and neurodiverse characters CG Drews is the author you didn’t know you were missing out on. Their latest book Hazlethorn was one of my favourite reads last year, and Don’t Let the Forest In is now top of my TBR. They’re gothic and dark and full of yearning and creepy but in the best possible way. You won’t look at your garden the same but it will be worth it. For more literary leanings you can’t go past one of my favourite authors - Torrey Peters. Detransition Baby was a book club favourite last year and looks at the complexity of relationships and identities and parenthood. Girl, Woman, Other was a Booker Prize winner a few years back, but remains as relevant as ever. It’s a story about identity and our relationships and our history, told through 12 people whose lives intersect in Britain. If you haven’t read it yet you absolutely should!
Greta and Valdin is undeniably kiwi - from the awkwardly authentic family encounters to the character of Auckland City in the background of it all. It’s a hilarious contemporary story of a brother and sister and their complicated love lives and it’s incredibly witty as well as touching. I think Laura Vincent’s recently published Hoods Landing is going to be one of those novels that grows in popularity as people realise what an amazing writer she is. It’s already been long listed for the Ockham’s prize in fiction, and I can’t wait to read it. Again, it's about family and place and it’s set in a small town in New Zealand.
The House of Hidden Meanings is Ru Paul’s extraordinary memoir and guide to life, a reminder that we’re all ultimately performing in some way, and it reminds me a bit of another amazing memoir by a Black queer author, George M Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue. These books are such beautifully written explorations of life at the intersection of race and gender. Closer to home, Ali Mau’s memoir, no words for this, is a brave and honest look into her life in the very public eye. If memoir isn’t your thing but you still love learning, This Book Is Gay is a hilarious and clever book about gender and sexuality, an inclusive guide for anyone who just wants to know a bit more.
Picture Books:
The Same but Different is part of an amazing series of picture books (Let’s Talk) that explore diversity, emotions and relationships in a very child friendly way. This one specifically is such a fabulous guide to how we’re not all the same and why that’s such a great thing! My Shadow is Pink by Scott Stuart is a colourful picture book, perfect for every family. It explores what it feels like when you don’t quite fit in and the courage it takes to be who we are. There’s a Little Golden Book for everything, including Pride! This one is a beautiful small introduction to LGBTQ+ history and activism, and a great conversation starter!
For the older kids:
Different Kinds of Fruit is a novel by author Kyle Lukoff that is ideal for 11-13 year olds. It’s a really positive story about a young girl who is discovering the complexities of the labels we try to fit ourselves into. You might have seen the gorgeous Netflix adaptation, but Alice Oseman’s graphic novels in the Heartstopper series are so easy to get stuck into and perfect for a YA audience. You can buy a boxset with the first three, but my favourite at the moment is Nick and Charlie novella- it’s just the cutest and makes me feel better about the planet knowing these characters exist. Queer Chameleon and Friends is an uplifting comic that would make a beautiful gift for anyone connected to the LGBTQ+ community. It’s a quirky and cute collection of illustrations about community and life beyond the binary.
Have you got a suggestion for our collection of amazing LGBTQ+ books and authors? Please reply below and let us know!
Happy Pride, from all the team at Book Hero!
