Our Favorite Queer Books!

Anything not saved will be lost. ‘Am Samstag gehen die Mädchen in den Wald und jagen Sachen in die Luft’ (~ on Saturday, the girls go into the forest and blow things up) by Fiona Sironic is a dystopian novel set in a nearby, but undetermined, future where the world is dying. Climate change has raised temperatures to nearly unbearable levels. Vegetables, fruits, and other fresh produce are luxuries for the super-rich. Entire species are becoming extinct. Most families decide a

‘Wild Dark Shore’ by Charlotte McConaghy is set on the fictional Shearwater Island, located somewhere between Tasmania and Antarctica, in 2025, right after the publication of the book. And although it is set in the present, the story focuses on the future—a future that seems insecure due to climate change. The story is told from several perspectives: Rowan, Dominic, Raff, Fen, Orly, and, at one point, Alex.

‘When God was a Rabbit’ by Sarah Winman is divided into two parts: the Before and the After. However, Winman clarifies that it's “not really a Before and After, more as if they are bookends.” Eleanor Maud Portman, called Elly, grows up in Essex. Her parents are charmingly eccentric, and her brother Joe, who is five years older, is her constant companion and protector. Elly feels lonely and friendless, so one Christmas, Joe gives her a rabbit—God.

‘Tin Man’ by Sarah Winman is set mostly in Oxford, mostly in the 1990s, as well as in London and France. At the heart of this story of friendship, love, and grief are Ellis, Michael, and Annie. The first half of the book is told from Ellis’s point of view. In the second half of the book, the readers read a journal written by Michael, Ellis’s best friend since childhood.

‘Demon Copperhead’ by Barbara Kingsolver is set in southern Appalachia from the 1980s to the 2000s. Damon Fields is born in a trailer home, still in his amniotic sac. Or rather, he has born himself to his unconscious teenage mother, out on some drug or another. His father was already dead before he was born. The only adults who care for him are the elderly Peggots next door, who are grandparents to his best friend, Maggot. Maggot is not considered to be man enough by many in

Jazz Jennings published her memoir ‘Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen’ when she was fifteen and it chronicles her transition. Jazz takes her readers from her earliest years through her teenage years, sharing all her struggles: personal, academic, and mental. She also opens up about her struggles with her gender identity. And while this memoir focuses on her experience as a trans child and teenager, it also addresses the universal challenges faced by children and te

‘Red at the Bone’ by Jacqueline Woodson begins with Melody’s formal introduction to society in 2001. The story is told through nonlinear narratives from multiple points of view, including flashbacks on the day of her introduction. However, the last few chapters tell the story of what happens afterward.

‘The Mothers’ by Brit Bennett is set in Oceanside, California. The story centers on three characters: Nadia, Aubrey, and Luke. Nadia is seventeen and her mother has died. Suicide. She lives with her father and is struggling with her grief. When she meets Luke, who is a few years older and the pastor’s son, they start dating.

‘Punainen erokirja’ (English: ‘The Red Book of Farewells,’ German: ‘Das rote Buch der Abschiede’) by Pirkko Saisio is the last novel in the author’s autofictional trilogy. Set in Helsinki and spanning several decades, readers follow Pirkko through her youth and early adulthood. Early on, she realizes that she is attracted to women. This occurs during a time when Finnish law penalized same-sex attraction.

‘Blutbuch’ by Kim de l’Horizon is powerful, poetic, and deeply deserving of the German Book Prize. This autofictional novel chronicles Kim’s attempt to retrace the past—particularly that of their female ancestors—while navigating a queer, nonbinary present. In Kim’s family, the women speak often but avoid the unspeakable. The men remain silent. Kim, instead, writes.

‘OBIE is Man Enough’ by Schuyler Bailar follows Obie: a seventh-grader, competitive swimmer, nerd, and Korean American boy. And Obie is trans. When he realizes and shares that he is a boy, his family supports him wholeheartedly. But things don't always run smoothly—he loses his spot on the swim team, faces rejection from friends, and becomes a target of bullying and transphobia at school.

‘Auf See’ (~at sea) by Theresia Enzensberger is an intelligent dystopian novel, set in the near future, about an artificial island in the...

She was the perfect reckless. ‘The Stars and the Blackness Between Them’ by Junauda Petrus is so sweet—and heartbreaking. And although...

‘Die Sonne, so strahlend und Schwarz’ (~the sun, so radiant and Black) by Chantal-Fleur Sandjon is a YA novel like no other—a tender,...

The first volume of 'Heartstopper' introduces us to Charlie, who recently came out as gay, and Nick, a rugby player who seems to have his life together.

‘Panza de Burro’ (English: ‘Dogs of Summer,’ translated by Julia Sanches, German: ‘So forsch, so furchtlos,’ translated by Christiane...

‘Shuggie Bain’ by Douglas Stuart is the author’s debut novel, inspired by his own life. And as hard as it was to read, it was just as...

‘Young Mungo’ by Douglas Stuart is the author’s second book after ‘Shuggie Bain.’ And this one is as brilliant as the first. Growing up...

‘Sissy: A Coming-of-Gender Story’ by Jacob Tobia is the perfect book for (young) non-binary people. In their memoir, Jacob tells their story up to their graduation from Duke. And while their story isn’t always happy, they are so unapologetic in telling it.

‘Under the Udala Trees’ by Chinelo Okparanta is a moving account of Ijeoma’s live in the Nigeria, mostly from the 1960s to the 1980s....