New LGBTQ Nonfiction for Pride 2022

by Neema Avashia

With lyric explorations of foodways, religion, sports, standards of beauty, social media, gun culture, and more, these essays from a queer Indian American teacher from West Virginia mix nostalgia and humor, sadness and sweetness, personal reflection and universal questions.

by Ricky Tucker

A love letter to the legendary Black and Latinx LGBTQ underground subculture, uncovering its abundant legacy and influence in popular culture.

by R/B Mertz

When divorce moves young Mertz away from rural Pennsylvania and their abusive father, their mom and stepdad dive headfirst into the world of conservative Catholic homeschooling. Mertz comes into a queer identity, and also seeks to use religion for both acceptance and rebellion.

by Hugh Ryan

A historian explores the roots of queer and trans incarceration, connecting misogyny, racism, state-sanctioned sexual violence, colonialism, sex work, and the failures of prison reform. A close look at a building intricately tied to the history of Greenwich Village and Stonewall.

by Tanaïs

A queer writer and perfumer presents a memoir focused on the history of scent and how it has been used to mark the differences between the civilized and the barbaric, pure and polluted. A critical, alternate history of South Asia from an American Bangladeshi Muslim femme perspective.

by Putsata Reang

An award-winning journalist shares her struggle to make her mother proud by becoming a good Cambodian daughter, while dealing with the fallout after coming out to her, which eventually breaks their bond in two.

by Gabe Montesanti

A powerful and redemptive story of how the dazzling world of roller derby helped one young woman transform her fear and self-doubt into gutsy, big-hearted, adventurous living.

by Jill Gutowitz

A fresh and intoxicating blend of personal stories, sharp observations, and laugh-out-loud humor. This timely collection of essays helps us make sense of our collective pop-culture past even as it points the way toward a joyous, uproarious, near - and very queer - future.

by Joseph Osmundson 

Invisible in the food we eat, the people we kiss, and inside our own bodies, viruses flourish—with the power to shape not only our health, but our social, political, and economic systems. A leading microbiologist tackles the scientific and sociopolitical impact of viruses in twelve striking essays.

*This book will be published on June 7th. 

by Rachel Gutiérrez

Part butch memoir, part ekphrastic travel diary, part queer family tree, this essay collection gleans insight from the sediment of land and relationships. For Gutiérrez, terrain is essential to understanding that no story, no matter how personal, is separate from the space where it unfolds.

*This book will be published on June 7. 

by Edafe Okporo

This memoir from the global gay rights and immigration activist recounts his being forced to flee from a violent mob in his native Nigeria and his experiences navigating the confusing U.S. immigration system as a refugee.

*This book will be published on June 7. 

by Taylor Brorby

A poet and essayist recalls growing up gay in in rural North Dakota and how his experiences in the ravaged landscapes of coalfields and mining led him to a career in environmental activism.

This book will be published on June 7.