Books for Pride Month
June is LGBTQIA Pride Month! We’ve gathered together some great fiction, non-fiction, memoir and biography.
May 23, 2023
Pride Month is currently celebrated each year in the month of June to honor the 1969 Stonewall Uprising in Manhattan. The Stonewall Uprising was a tipping point for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States.
Today, celebrations include pride parades, picnics, parties, workshops, symposia and concerts, and LGBTQ Pride Month events attract millions of participants around the world. Memorials are held during this month for those members of the community who have been lost to hate crimes or HIV/AIDS. The purpose of the commemorative month is to recognize the impact that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals have had on history locally, nationally, and internationally.
To learn more about the history of Pride Month, check out the Library of Congress’s About, Resources, and Audio & Video pages.
For events this year in Connecticut, visit LGBT Pride Month.
Looking for more? Check out lists from previous years: 2021 | 2022
Fiction
Nevada
Imogen Binnie
A beloved and blistering cult classic finally back in print, Nevada follows a disaffected trans woman as she embarks on a cross-country road trip.
The Lost Americans
Christopher Bollen
A young woman finds herself in the crosshairs of powerful and very dangerous enemies when she travels to Cairo to uncover the truth about her brother’s mysterious death.
The Secret Lives Of Country Gentlemen
KJ Charles
The leader of the Doomsday smuggling clan, Joss Doomsday, to save his sister from a hanging offense, blackmails Sir Gareth with the secret of their relationship to force him to recant, but is unable to stay away from this well-mannered gentleman—and the danger and mystery he brings.
The Skin And Its Girl
Sarah Cypher
Faced with a difficult decision, Betty, a young, queer Palestinian American woman finds answers in partially translated notebooks that reveal her late Aunt Nuha’s complex life and struggle with her own sexuality, which she hid from the family, along with much more than that.
Keya Das’s Second Act
Sopan Deb
When he makes a discovery that could change everything in his life, Bengali American Shantanu Das finds a way to atone for his daughter Keya’s death by turning her unfinished manuscript into a play with the blessing of Keya’s girlfriend.
Homebodies
Tembe Denton-Hurst
When she loses her coveted media job, Mickey Hayward writes an angry letter outlining the racism and sexism she has endured as a Black woman in media only to have it met with overwhelming silence, and retreats to her hometown to seek a break from her troubles, until a media scandal puts her forgotten letter in the spotlight.
Learned By Heart
Emma Donoghue
A heartbreakingly gorgeous novel based on the true story of two girls who fall secretly, deeply, and dangerously in love at boarding school in 19th century York, from the bestselling author of Room and The Wonder.
Scorched Grace
Margot Douaihy
A chain-smoking, heavily tattooed, queer nun, Sister Holiday, when Saint Sebastian’s School becomes the target of a shocking arson spree, launches her own investigation, which turns her against colleagues, students and fellow Sisters as she pieces together the clues to solve this explosive mystery.
Your Driver Is Waiting
Priya Guns
For the first time ever, Damani, who drives for an app, starts dating a white girl with money, but when their romance intensifies and she finally lets her guard down, her girlfriend does something unforgivable, setting off an explosive chain of events.
Didn’t Nobody Give A Shit What Happened To Carlotta
James Hannaham
After two decades in a men’s prison, a free trans woman is surprised to see that New York City has changed as much as she has in the new novel by the award-winning author of Delicious Foods.
The World And All That It Holds
Aleksandar Hemon
From literary powerhouse Aleksandar Hemon, author of The Lazarus Project, comes a big, brilliant, sweeping novel of love, memory, and history in the making. It tells of the relationship between Pinto and Osman, who cross the battlefields of the First World War, find love, and fight to survive.
Something Wild & Wonderful
Anita Kelly
When he meets outgoing hiker Ben Caravalho on the Pacific Crest Trail, Alexei Lebedev falls in love on the biggest adventure of his life, but when their plans for the future are tuned upside down, he hopes they can hold on to something this wild and wonderful.
The Boy With A Bird In His Chest
Emme Lund
Fleeing to Washington to hide in plain sight with his family, Owen Tanner, who has a bird in his chest, feels joy and acceptance, despite living in a constant state of fear, in a community that embraces him for who he is.
Small Joys
Elvin James Mensah
While working at a dead-end job at a movie theater, college dropout Harley attempts to take his own life, but is interrupted by his new roommate who takes him under his wing, showing him everything that makes life worth living until their friendship becomes complicated, which causes him to falter once again.
For Her Consideration
Amy Spalding
Nina, an aspiring Hollywood scriptwriter takes a chance on romance with gorgeous movie star Ari after a devastating public breakup, in the new novel by the best-selling author of We Used to Be Friends.
Behind The Scenes
Karelia Stetz-Waters
A business consultant with a series of popular and sexy mindfulness videos meets a rebounding director looking to finance her film, in the new novel by the author of the “Out in Portland” series.
In Memoriam
Alice Winn
Henry Gaunt, a student at an idyllic boarding school in the English countryside is relieved to escape his feelings for Sidney Ellwood when he enlists to fight in World War I, but is horrified when all his classmates join him.
Glassworks
Olivia Wolfgang-Smith
Follows several generations of a family between 1910 and 2015, from Agnes who leaves her spendthrift husband for a Bohemian naturalist glassblower to her great-granddaughter who is a burned-out stoner making cremains into glass keepsakes.
Biography and Memoir
¡hola Papi!
How To Come Out In A Walmart Parking Lot And Other Life Lessons
John Paul Brammer
The popular LGBTQ columnist and writer presents a memoir though a series of essays that chronicle his life growing up as queer, mixed race kid and offers advice for young people facing the same journey.
Memories Of A Gay Catholic Boyhood
Coming Of Age In The Sixties
John D’Emilio
Memories of a Gay Catholic Boyhood is John D’Emilio’s coming-of-age story in which he takes readers from his working-class Bronx neighborhood and Columbia University to New York’s hidden gay male subculture and the political and social upheavals of the late 1960s.
Everybody Else Is Perfect
How I Survived Hypocrisy, Beauty, Clicks, And Likes
Gabrielle Korn
A collection of essays from the former editor of the lifestyle publication Nylon that reveals her struggle to overcome insecurities about her body and finding love as a lesbian in New York.
The Bold World
A Memoir Of Family And Transformation
Jodie Patterson
A respected activist, entrepreneur, and writer draws on inspiration from her ten-year-old transgender child in an exploration of identity, gender, authenticity, and race as they have shaped generations of her African American family.
How Do I Un-Remember This?
Unfortunately True Stories
Danny Pellegrino
The host of the podcast Everything Iconic! discusses his life growing up as a closeted gay and his coming of age in the 1990s as the internet opened him to a whole new world of culture.
Lost & Found
Kathryn Schulz
A staff writer at The New Yorker and winner of the Pulitzer Prize brilliantly explores of the role that loss and discovering play in all of our lives, in this part memoir, part guidebook to living in a world that always demands both our gratitude and our grief.
Non-Fiction
What’s Your Pronoun?
Beyond He & She
Dennis Baron
The University of Illinois linguistics professor and national commentator on language issues explores evolving debates regarding modern pronoun usage, tracing the history of pronouns, the creations of new gender pronouns and the role of pronouns in establishing identity and rights.
Unconditional
A Guide To Loving And Supporting Your Lgbtq Child
Telaina Eriksen
Unconditional: A Guide to Loving and Supporting Your LGBTQ Child provides parents of a LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning) child with a framework for helping their LGBTQ child navigate a world that isn’t always welcoming.
Leaving Isn’t The Hardest Thing
Lauren Hough
The author, who has had many identities–an airman in the U.S. Air Force, a cable guy, a bouncer at a gay club–recounts her childhood growing up in the infamous cult The Children of God, in this searing and extremely personal collection of essays.