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Pride Reading List

Pride month is over but that doesn’t mean that celebrations have to stop! Celebrate a second Pride month (or all year around if you like) with these LGBT2Q+ books. In this case, these are books that either are written by LGBT2Q+ authors and/or feature LGBT2Q+ characters, as recommended by members of the LGBT2Q+ community in Canada.

Have a recommendation to add? Post it in the comments below.

Fiction & Memoir

“Conversations With Friends can be tricky to recommend for a Pride reading list, as some people question Rooney’s queer credentials. Rooney does not disclose her sexuality, something I understand. I can imagine how invasive it would feel, as a public figure, to have people feel entitled to that. At a reading with Rooney I attended, two separate people tried to get her to essential admit which sex scenes are based on her own experience. I recommend this book because reading it felt like looking into a mirror. The character of Francis perfectly reflected a bisexual identity I recognize and a mind I relate to deeply. The writing is excellent, sparse without being insufficient, and with a wonderful ear for dialogue that actually sounds like how people talk (important for a book with “Conversation” in the title). And besides, it’s just plain sexy and fun!”

I haven’t read [We Have Always Been Here] yet but I think the discussion of Muslim identity + queerness isn’t reflected in media much, so this book can be very insightful.”

Poetry & Plays

“The Wound is a World is a beautiful collection of poetry. The writing is powerful and succinct. It was interesting to see the academic language I know from university being put into poetry. Belcourt has a great sense of humour that keeps the tenderness from feeling sappy, or rage and hurt from feeling overwhelming. I think I can get behind any book that presents a decolonial heaven where “everyone is at least a little gay.”

“I talked to Billy about astrology when I met him! He’s a libra and very cool (obviously)”

Graphic Novels & Comics

“Our Dreams at Dusk (Shimanami Tasogare) is one of the few manga I’ve seen written by an LGBT author (ace and non-binary) that really grasps and articulates the nuances of growing up queer. It’s also a gorgeous manga so I recommend it to people who aren’t usually into manga. I originally read their other series (Nabari no Ou) as a teen and having one of the main characters be canonically intersex in addition to multiple members of the main cast being heavily queer-coded was new to me at the time.”

More authors to check out

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Catherine Vendryes

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