#RainbowReading for Adults: 30 Books for 30 Days of Pride Month 2017

By Gwen Glazer, Librarian
June 1, 2017

June is Pride month, of course, but it’s also the American Library Association's GLBT Book Month! We’re excited to present our favorite LGBTQ+ books each day of June. 

These recommendations shine a spotlight on the vast range of books written by, about, and for the LGBTQ+ community. Picture books, memoirs, fiction, graphic novels, poetry, photography -- there’s something for every reader, every day.

Check out our recommendations for kids and teens, too! And check out our Pride events happening all month long. 

Major thanks to the expert librarians who assembled these lists: Lauren Bradley, Caitlyn Colman-McGaw, Chelsea Condren, Thomas Knowlton, and Nina Maness.

What are your favorite LGBTQ+ books? Let us know in the comments.

  1. Wuvable Oaf by Ed Luce (graphic novel)

  2. The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel (graphic novel)

  3. Pregnant Butch: Nine Long Months Spent in Drag by A.K. Summers (graphic novel)

  4. Calling Dr. Laura: A Graphic Memoir by Nicole J. Georges (graphic novel)

  5. Dirty River: A Queer Femme of Color Dreaming Her Way Home by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (biography/memoir)

  6. The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson (biography/memoir)

  7. Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More by Janet Mock (biography/memoir)

  8. Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? by Jeanette WInterson (biography/memoir)

  9. Zami, A New Spelling of My Name by Audre Lorde (biography/memoir)

  10. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel (biography/memoir)

  11. Hold Tight Gently : Michael Callen, Essex Hemphill, and the Battlefield of AIDS by Martin Duberman (biography/memoir)

  12. Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin (fiction)

  13. The Passion by Jeanette WInterson (fiction)

  14. The Summer We Got Free by Mia McKenzie (fiction)

  15. The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi (fiction)

  16. Bright Lines by Tanwi Nandini Islam (fiction)

  17. The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall (fiction)

  18. Carol (The Price of Salt) by Patricia Highsmith (fiction)

  19. Stone Butch Blues by Leslie Feinberg (fiction)

  20. Queer by Sunil Gupta (photography)

  21. Disavowals, or Cancelled Confessions by Claude Cahun and Claude Cahun: A Sensual Politics of Photography by Gen Doy (photography)

  22. What Belongs to You by Garth Greenwell (fiction)

  23. Wanting in Arabic by Trish Salah (poetry)

  24. Later Poems: Selected and New, 1971-2012  by Adrienne Rich (poetry)

  25. Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community, ed. by Laura Erickson-Schroth (nonfiction)

  26. Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde (essays)

  27. This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color edited by Cherríe L. Moraga and Gloria E. Anzaldúa (nonfiction)

  28. Safe Space: Gay Neighborhood History and the Politics of Violence by Christina B. Hanhardt (history)

  29. Brother to Brother: New Writings by Black Gay Men, ed. by Essex Hemphill; conceived by Joseph Fairchild Beam (nonfiction)

  30. Gender Outlaws: The Next Generation by Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman (nonfiction)

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Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Staff picks are chosen by NYPL staff members and are not intended to be comprehensive lists. We'd love to hear your ideas too, so leave a comment and tell us what you’d recommend. And check out our Staff Picks browse tool for more recommendations!