11 Relatively New LGBTQI+ Books To Read This Pride Month

Looking for new reads to add to your already substantial collection? We’ve rounded up some great LGBTQI+ books for Pride Month!

Pride Month is just a great jumping point when it comes to these truly incredible, layered works. You know what they say, there’s no better time than the present — and in light of the legal and socioeconomic struggles for equality that members of the LGBTQI+ community endure and the rights they (we!) fight for, why not pick up a few new reads from queer voices and help amplify books penned, drawn and collected by trans, non-binary, gay, lesbian, and intersex writers. From poetry collections to graphic novels, memoirs, photographic anthologies and, yes, some fiction, here are just a few LGBTQI+ books to read this June.

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LGBTQI+ Books To Read This Pride Month

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vuong

Genre: Poetry
Release Date: 5 April, 2022

From Vietnamese American poet, essayist and novelist Ocean Vuong (of “On Earth We Are Briefly Gorgeous” fame!), Time Is a Mother is a gorgeous new poetry collection that contemplates love, loss and trauma in the aftershocks of his mother’s death. Reviews are already calling it deeply intimate and heart-aching.

Available on Book Depository for $136.98

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Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Manns

Genre: Poetry
Release Date: 9 March, 2021

From spoken word poet Jasmine Mans, this poetry collection explores race, feminism, and queer identity — almost pushing back against the often flat, limited, and often outright flagrant attempts at representing Black women to really showcase and consider these layered, multifaceted women for who they are.

Available on Book Depository for $116.88

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We Are Everywhere by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown

Genre: Photography
Release Date: 7 May, 2019

While not quite a ‘read’, this substantial photography book from the creators and curators of the massively popular Instagram account LGBT History showcases a rich, sweeping archive of the Queer Liberation Movement. A beautifully crafted coffee table book to flip through again and again.

Available on Book Depository for $526.14

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Stung with Love by Sappho

Genre: Poetry
Release Date: 27 October, 2009

Oops, we may have gotten carried away with the poetry recommendations (we promise there are non-poetry reads on this list!), but what is a gay book list without the mother of lesbians herself — Ancient Greek poet Sappho! In fact, the word “lesbian” is derived from the name of the Greek island of Lesbos, where Sappho resided. Little remains of her writing, so this surviving text is really worth delving into.

Available on Book Depository for $86.38

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The Miseducation of Cameron Post by Emily M. Danforth

Genre: Fiction
Release Date: 7 February, 2012

You may be familiar with this work through its 2018 film adaptation that stars Chloë Grace Moretz. Even if you’ve given that a watch, don’t hesitate to pick up the original book. Author Emily M. Danforth’s debut novel, The Miseducation of Cameron Post is a coming-of-age story that follows a 12-year-old Montana girl who is sent to a conversion camp after her romantic relationship with another girl is discovered.

Available on Book Depository for $95.93

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We Have Always Been Here by Samra Habib

Genre: Memoir
Release Date: 4 June, 2019

A heavy piece about family and forgiveness, Pakistani Canadian writer and photographer Samra Habib pens this emotional memoir about growing up as a Muslim minority (Ahmadi Muslims are explicitly forbidden to call themselves Muslim under the Pakistani penal code) and queer in Pakistan and, later, Canada. An exploration of faith, art, love, and queer sexuality.

Available on Book Depository for $79.14

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Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson

Genre: Semi-autobiographical
Release Date: 21 March, 1985

Jeanette Winterson pens this coming-of-age, and semi-autobiographical, story about a lesbian girl growing up in an English Pentecostal community. One of the more closely-studied books on this list (being included on both GCSE and A-Level reading lists for education in England and Wales), the novel also contains references to numerous other literary works, historical figures and aspects of popular culture.

Available on Book Depository for $85.39

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Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

Genre: Fiction
Release Date: 7 January, 2021

American author Torrey Peters’ debut novel Detransition, Baby is a beautiful piece of literature that explores gender, parenthood, love, and trans life. Tender and emotional (Peters said the novel was written like a soap opera), this book is groundbreaking by sheer publication, as it’s one of the first novels written by an out trans person to be published by a big-five publishing house and was also nominated for the 2021 Women’s Prize for Fiction, making Peters the first openly trans woman to be nominated for the award.

Available on Book Depository for $131.73

The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice by Shon Faye

Genre: Nonfiction
Release Date: 2 September, 2021

A Sunday Times bestseller, this is a book clearly written by a journalist. Shon Faye put together this project over three years, with a good chunk of research and writing taking place during the pandemic. Emphasising transgender experiences, Faye explores issues of social class, employment and housing insecurity, police violence and prisons, and sex work — and liberation.

Available on Book Depository for $102.10

I’m Afraid of Men by Vivek Shraya

Genre: Nonfiction
Release Date: 28 August, 2018

Now that’s a title! This exploration of toxic masculinity refuses to be vindictive or callous, and instead sympathetic and compassionate whilst challenging cruelty, misogyny, gender imposition and unaccountability.

Available on Book Depository for $126.28

Heartstopper Volume 1 by Alice Oseman

Genre: Illustrated graphic novel
Release Date: Original comic – 2016, Kickstarter print run – 2018

A personal favourite! An ongoing webcomic started in September 2016, this sweet series focused on two English boys — Charlie Spring and Nick Nelson — who meet and fall in love is truly heartwarming. Its popularity led to an equally lovely television adaptation, that you can watch now on Netflix Hong Kong.

Available on Book Depository for $91.22

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Editor’s Note: All listed prices were correct at the time of publication. “LGBTQI+ Books You Should Read This Pride Month” was originally published on 19 June 2019 by Zona Hiranandani and was most recently updated in June 2022 by Sakina Abidi.