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1510+ LGBTQ+ Short Stories to read

Submitted by writers on Reedsy Prompts to our weekly writing contest . Discover incredible works of queer fiction right here, on this page of fresh new LGBTQ+ stories.

🏆 Winning stories

“ vegan hamburgers ” by ariana tibi.

🏆 Winner of Contest #234

Vegan Hamburgers February 1st 11:11pm WOW. I cannot believe that just happened. I went to AJ’s studio and almost walked out with a record deal. I was sober, too. He started rolling a joint and offered me some but I immediately said no. Last week, I had drinks at Lighthouse Studios and the executive was totally judging me when...

“ The Lop-it-off-a-me List ” by Ethan Zimmerman

🏆 Winner of Contest #231

The Lop-it-off-a-me List Count money in the envelope one more time. Make sure Marcel has his itinerary. Ask Alex if she will come by to feed Odin. Buy extra cat food and litter so Alex doesn't have to. Give her the spare key next time I see her. Kiss Odin and tell her she is the best cat in the world, even if she has always been destructive...

“ my fellow passerine ” by Jay Wayne

🏆 Winner of Contest #129

Content warning: Alcohol use, mild language, sexual themes, referenced sexual abuseWhen Bast hears the low groan from the bedroom, he quietly begins making tea. The motions are familiar, as soothing as the brew itself. He takes a handful of dried ironwort stalks down from the cupboard, the flower buds crinkling as he counts out six and returns the rest to the bundle.The floorboards creak with soft footsteps in the next room over.He fills a pot one-third of the way with water and adds the ...

⭐️ Recommended stories

“ damn the lizard patriarchy ” by hazel ide.

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #220

CW: Off-page mentions of suicide and sexual assault.When I was young, I fell in love with a girl. Her heavy black Doc Marten boots, climbing out of her boyfriend's shitty old sedan, caught my eye as I stumbled off the school bus, my friend slamming into me from behind. I watched her smile and laugh, dumbstruck, before I was shouldered out of the way by other students, anxious to flee the tall yellow monstrosity behind me, but I couldn't stop staring. She wore a crushed velvet blue mini dress, a thick black ch...

“ Goodbye ” by Alice Brooks

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #219

It was awfully quiet. Too quiet for her comfort, the room had never felt this silent before. The only sound she could hear were the raindrops leaving an intricate pattern on the foggy windows.She flicked the light switch, but nothing happened. Flicked it again, and one more time for good measure, but the bulb stayed cold. She let out her breath in a short, sorrowful sigh, releasing every emotion she didn’t know she felt, emotions that kept her mind captive, like cold, dead fingers squeezing and clinging onto her heart.T...

“ Whispers from the Stoop ” by Maddy Shilts

⭐️ Shortlisted for Contest #217

We used to call it the “Homework Stoop.” No homework would ever get done, of course. We were kids who saw too little of each other despite being in the same building all day. All we’d ever do is gossip, trash-talk, and place bets on whose order would be called first. It used to be a place where sweet memories in the making were accented by the sweet aftertaste of our far too bougie drinks. Now it leaves a taste i...

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🏆 Featuring 12 prize-winning stories from our community. Download it now for FREE .

✍️ All stories

“ andyne ” by angela hepworth.

Submitted to Contest #244

Andyneby Angela Hepworth Laryians and humans alike shrink back when Andyne rips through the main floor of the castle. The sound of her iron boots hitting the floor, clanking and clattering along with her long, powerful strides, sends the loud, ravenous hall of Freepallian soldiers into silence every time without fail. Queen Sylvia’s first in command, a warrior fiercer than any other, Laryian or human, male or female—Andyne was nearly a queen in her own right, commanding respect with her mere presence alone. Today, certainly, was no excepti...

“ Loves Excavation ” by Shereese Jones

Submitted to Contest #243

"Excuse me, is it possible to speak with the head curator in charge of the Cuisine on Ice Exhibit?" I inquired politely at the Front Desk of the Walton Museum. The woman behind the desk regarded me as if I wasn’t worth her time–glaring like some scab lingering too long. After a brief pause, she replied in a condescending tone befitting a suburban housewife, "Are you from the Atlantic Star or the Artist Prompt?" Her eyebrow arched as she scanned me from head to toe, seemingly convinced I didn't belong. I could already tell getting past Mrs “I...

“ The Museum of Love ” by Candy Grace

Almost there. I’ll meet you inside. Skye rolled her eyes at Julia’s message. This was exactly why she didn’t like making plans with her younger sister. Julia had fun ideas, but participating in them didn’t matter as she was chronically late to every single event. Skye switched off her phone and looked up at the top of the building in front of her. The tan building had a wooden sign that read, “The Museum of Love.” She wasn’t completely sure why Julia had picked this place, but something about the place’s name intrigued her. Most museums had ...

“ Shadows of Persistence ” by Ellie Mae

Ella, though not her real name, was a skilled agent operating under the guise of an ordinary woman, parked her car outside the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida. She glanced at the clock on her car’s dashboard and exhaled a sigh of relief as it read 2:02. Still twenty minutes early, she had time to assess the situation before her mission commenced.The museum was unusually quiet for a Tuesday afternoon, but Ella didn’t mind. Dressed in nondescript black pants and a purple blouse, she blended seamlessly into the surroundings. Her...

“ A Kiss From Death ” by Azar Rose

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve loved going to museums with my grandparents.They’d always tell me about the paintings and their meanings and every time without fail they’d tell me how they met at the very same museum we walked through.They’d tell me it was love at first sight. They met at a painting where a girl is being saved by her lover. My grandma would tell me about how that was her favourite painting, how every time she came here she’d sit in front of it and just enjoy the precise strokes of the paintbrush, the detail put into the emotion...

“ Abstract Concepts ” by Aeryn Goodspeed

Figarro wrinkled his nose, the scraggly whiskers threatening to poke him in his droopy orange eyes. His tail twitched as his vision wandered over the canvas. A moment passed, and he gave a derisive sniff, shaking his head.“Nope. Can’t see it.”Standing beside him, the half-Ortuxan ran his hands through his hair, giving a disgruntled groan. “You’re not supposed to see it, Fig,” Daybreak said. “It’s an interpretation, not a depiction. One would think a gib so interested in abstract concepts would be interested in abstract art.”“This one a’ your...

“ By The Third Rooster's Crow ” by Ricky Madden

Submitted to Contest #242

Blank was small once, although she always felt so big. Pulsing at the beginning of the world, expecting the end of it. Infinity was never an option for her, as it seemed to be for some people, so she sang and screamed until the windows shook and she took every shush as an act of war. Blank was committed to understanding the world, something no one else seemed all too bothered with. Her parents were content to let her wander, answering every question from her as vaguely as possible. She learned soon that her answers would not come from them. ...

“ Our Hill of Stars ” by Amber Ystrevi

“Maid,” Queen Victoria called from her side of the court, “We need a tiebreaker.” Aurelia glanced up from her tray of pastries, her green eyes glowing in the moonlight from the window as she subtly rubbed her hands on her white apron. The Queen and King sat on a raised platform, the royal advisors fanned around them in a semi-circle, split evenly in half. Aurelia scanned the room before her gaze landed on the Queen’s large brown eyes. Her long blond hair framed her beautiful face, and her dark brown eyes brought Aurelia back to simpler times...

“ To Be A Pilgrim ” by Paul Littler

​Anthony rounded the headland, his breath snatched away by the gusty south westerly, ignoring Lol’s ghost looming on the path ahead. He trudged the coastal path, grateful for the tug of the mud at his boots and the salty slap of the gauzelike mist; a reminder to stay in the moment and not let the past drag him back.​He pushed determinedly through Lol’s spectre. Anthony’s impulsive decision to get away to walk and think had been met with scepticism by their friends; the sam...

“ Flyboy ” by Timothy Motley

Submitted to Contest #241

Gust of wind battered the small community of Shadows Brook. Well, really the word community was a bit of a stretch when used to describe Shadows Brook. In reality it was nothing more than a series of six A framed, two story wooden cabins that sat tucked away on the side of a volcano. As a boy Crowley was terrified every time that his mother dragged him to the cabin. Crowley had grown up in the nineties. An era dominated by movies that highlighted the dangerous nature of volcanoes. Why his grandmother had decided to buy a house along the side...

“ Unconditional ” by Denise Glickler

In the fading light, the Florida streets buzzed with life. Long shadows danced on the pavement, animated by the setting sun. Amidst the jostle, one figure stood stark, a man with the weight of his world showing in his eyes. John Richardson was his name, a man known for his adamantine beliefs. His life had always been defined by structure, order, Christianity, and staunch predictability. But that changed when his only son...

“ I Doubt It ” by Gray Mediocratic

I DOUBT IT. I walk down up the busy city streets. The wind tosses my hair over my shoulders. The wind plays with fallen leaves, pushing them gently until they leap in all directions, flailing in a frantic yet delicate manner. The morning sun dances with the windows, casting bright reflections amongst the bricked walkways. Pedestrians stream through the streets like pools of...

“ The Golden Keyboard ” by Jon Little

Submitted to Contest #240

Taking down the Christmas tree, Paul finds an orphaned present hiding under the tree. The tag reads, To: Paul Paul opens it and finds an ergonomic keyboard. He inspects the tag, the keyboard, the wrapping -- nothing. It's not that he doesn't appreciate it, but an explanation would have been nice. Or at least a gift receipt. There is nothing wrong wi...

“ Baby Butch ” by D. Grimes

TW: transphobia Zee tucked their white tee into their Wranglers, slipped a sliver carabiner through their front belt loop, and put on their Tims. They slicked back their crew cut with a light pomade and evaluated themselves in the mirror. Was the look too casual? Too stereotypical? Maybe it'd be obvious that Zee didn’t know what they were doing, but it was probably too late to change.Zee checked their phone. 2:35 PM. 99% battery. A text from Lyla.See you soon! Parking can be a nightmare. I’ll wait for you...

“ The Waterloo Eight ” by Eva Smith

The Waterloo Eight Prologue A five coach train departed from Waterloo station at 12:48 with 8 passengers on board, two of which were children and one a pregnant woman. It was an overground driverless train, there were no TFL staff on board. The train was scheduled to arrive at vauxhall at 12:52- it never did. It has been 3 weeks since the incident and experts are still not ...

The Best LGBTQ+ Short Stories

Over the past fifteen years or so, LGBTQ+ and queer fiction has veritably exploded — what we might call a long-overdue reckoning after many years of literary scarcity. Because while it’s true that LGBTQ+ creators have long been part of the literary scene (Emily Dickinson, Oscar Wilde, Patricia Highsmith, Truman Capote, and countless more), it’s only recently that they’ve been able to acknowledge their identities without fear of persecution... and even more recently that their stories have become accepted fare for mainstream fiction.

Fortunately, times have very much changed. Trailblazing authors like David Levithan and Sarah Waters proved that readers were hungry for LGBTQ+ fiction and representation, and since the early aughties, this trend has only been on the rise. Bestselling novels like Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda and The Miseducation of Cameron Post have been turned into blockbuster films, and just about every YA agent out there has “own-voices LGBTQ+ stories” on their manuscript wish list.

However, don’t make the mistake of thinking there’s anything close to a surplus of these stories! Not only do many incredible LGBTQ+ stories remain as-yet untold, but when you think about it, there are hardly any of them in the mainstream when compared to straight, cis narratives — which is why it’s such good news that this trend doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Read the best new LGBTQ+ stories right here

If you’re searching for brand-new LGBTQ+ and queer fiction (especially of the short variety) you’ll be pleased with what you find here. This page is home to all the LGBTQ+ stories submitted to our Reedsy short fiction contest , whether as part of a related prompt or simply to tell an LGBTQ+ story that touches readers’ hearts and minds.

From romance to drama to post-apocalyptic fare, some of the contest’s best entries have involved LGBTQ+ characters and narratives — as you’ll see from the many starred stories at the top of the page! Click on the previews to read each one, and remember to “like” and comment on your favorites, as well “follow” the authors you love. What’s more, if you feel the urge to write, indulge it by entering the contest yourself! Simply sign up to our writing prompts newsletter to receive the next edition and unleash your inner creativity. You'll be in with a chance of receiving our cash prize — plus the chance to appear in Prompted , our new literary magazine!

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12 Amazing Queer Short Story Collections to Read Right Now

Laura Sackton

Laura Sackton is a queer book nerd and freelance writer, known on the internet for loving winter, despising summer, and going overboard with extravagant baking projects. In addition to her work at Book Riot, she reviews for BookPage and AudioFile, and writes a weekly newsletter, Books & Bakes , celebrating queer lit and tasty treats. You can catch her on Instagram shouting about the queer books she loves and sharing photos of the walks she takes in the hills of Western Mass (while listening to audiobooks, of course).

View All posts by Laura Sackton

I didn’t used to be a huge fan of short stories. I tried to read a lot of story collections, but I’d always find myself mildly disappointed. So, over the years, they mostly dropped out of my reading life. I didn’t miss them. At least, I didn’t think I missed them. Now that I’ve started reading short story collections again, I can see clearly what the problem was: the stories I was reading before just weren’t queer enough! These days I cannot get short stories into my bloodstream fast enough. There are so many! More come out every month! There’s absolutely nothing wrong with non-queer short story collections, but as someone who grew up hungering for queer lit, this current abundance is especially satisfying.

So I’ve put together a list of 12 of my absolute favorite queer story collections from the past three years. Believe me when I tell you that these 12 are just the beginning. I limited myself to books published in 2020 and after, which means I didn’t include Look Who’s Morphing by Tom Cho, Sea, Swallow Me by Craig Gidney Laurance, or Love After the End edited by Joshua Whitehead. I’m currently reading Pretend It’s My Body by Luke Dani Blue (out in September), and after that I plan to devour Gods of Want buy K-Ming Chang (out in July). I could write several more paragraphs like this, but I’ll refrain.

These collections span a wide range of genres form contemporary and historical fiction to sci-fi and fabulism. There’s a book of Métis futurism, and a few collections that can only be defined as Weird Queer. You’ll find queer characters falling in and out of love, wrestling with big life decisions, contemplating time travel, turning into trees, having kids. I’ve tried to include books that represent as broad a range of LGBTQIA+ identities as possible, but of course no list will ever reflect the messy, wonderful diversity of queer lives.

Ready for your TBR to overflow with queer brilliance? Let’s go.

Rainbow Rainbow by Lydia Conklin

In these often unsettling stories, queer and trans characters grapple with darkness. They hurt and cause harm, experience violence and inflict it, make terrible choices, and struggle to understand themselves. Conklin writes about queer family making, desire, sexual violence, loneliness, abusive and toxic relationships, queer friendship, and teenage confusion. It’s not an easy collection to read, but it’s refreshing to see queer characters who are not always good or likable, but flawed humans with weird longings, hidden traumas, soft centers, and prickly edges.

Buffalo is the New Buffalo by Chelsea Vowel

In this collection of Métis futurism, Chelsea Vowel imagines seemingly-infinite potential futures rooted in and informed by Métis history, worldviews, mythologies, and community. A Métis superhero in 1950s Edmonton ponders how best to serve his family and community. A queer family uses Nanite technology to ensure that their baby only speaks Cree. A woman’s consciousness gets uploaded into a simulation, where she transforms into a buffalo. Each beautifully crafted story grapples differently with colonialism and climate change; together, they offer a powerful vision of healing, liberation, and renewal.

A Natural History of Transition by Callum Angus

This beautiful book of fabulist stories is all about transformation. Angus takes the idea of transition as a fixed journey from Point A to Point B and explodes it. Characters transform into mountains, give birth to cocoons, and switch genders based on the seasons. It’s a book full of stones and secrets, trans magic and queer joy, insects and lovers and complicated families.

Afterparties by Anthony Veasna So

Every time I try to write about this collection, I come up short. It’s just that good. Set in and around a small California town, the stories center the lives of Cambodian immigrants and their Cambodian American children. So’s prose sizzles and surprises; it is electric and alive in a way that still startles me whenever I think about it. So writes about generational trauma, the complexities of diaspora, and all the specific ways that history, family, culture, race, and geography live inside bodies. Some stories capture a moment of intense change; others beautifully illuminate the ordinary. Every single one is both singular and expansive.

A Dream of a Woman by Casey Plett

This is a collection about trans women and relationships between trans women — romantic, familial, platonic, adversarial. The stories aren’t exactly linked, but there are several that are broken up into sections that appear throughout the book — stories that keep returning to the same character, like a serialized novel. I’ve never read a collection that does this before; it’s such an interesting and innovative way to play with the form. Plett writes so brilliantly about her characters’ emotional interiority that you come to know them in a way that’s rare in short fiction.

Personal Attention Roleplay by Helen Chau Bradley

I often have trouble remembering short stories, even the ones I love: there’s just not as much material in a story as there is in a novel! But I didn’t have that problem with this collection. I can still vividly recall so many of the characters and settings: a queer band on their first American tour; two cousins on Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in Spain; a woman who becomes increasingly obsessed with an ASMR channel on YouTube; two people waiting in a line in the early days of the pandemic. These funny, brilliantly observed, tender, strange stories about mostly queer and Asian Canadian characters will stay with me forever.

Manywhere by Morgan Thomas

In these subtle and moving stories, Morgan Thomas blurs so many boundaries: between past and present, self and other, magic and reality. Most of the stories are set in the South — some in the present, some in the past, and many in a delicious in-between time, not quite then and not quite now. They delve into queer and trans history, lineage, and ancestry. The dialogue is especially vivid, and there is a deep sense of place in every story. This is a stunning debut — grounded in the physical and distinctly, queerly weird.

Las Biuty Queens by Iván Monalisa Ojeda

These slice-of-life stories are mostly set in New York City, and center a community of Latine trans women and femmes, many of whom are sex workers and immigrants. Each story hones in on a particular moment, conversation, or relationship, giving the book a sense of intimacy and immediacy. Ojeda doesn’t shy away from the hard stuff — his/her characters deal with transphobia and sexism and violence. They don’t all survive. But the collection as a whole is a witness, a celebration, and an ode to the messy complexity of queer and trans lives.

100 Boyfriends by Brontez Purnell

This wonderfully loud and sexy collection of stories is definitely NSFW. In stories that are by turns hilarious, upsetting, raw, and tender, queer men muddle their way through hookups, breakups, relationships, messy affairs, good choices, bad choices, and a lot of sex. Purnell writes with a direct, straightforward openness. His prose is witty and observant and full of truth-telling it’s hard to turn away from.

Sarahland by Sam Cohen

In this collection, a slew of characters named Sarah deal with challenges both mundane and fantastical. Most of these Sarahs are young Jewish women and college students, Millennials struggling with debt and breakups and family strife and sex. But there’s also a story about an older queer couple who decide to turn into trees and a retelling of the Sarah & Abraham story in which Sarah is a trans woman. Together, these stories explore queer identity, womanhood, power dynamics, loss, obsession, and a whole lot more.

Everyone on the Moon is Essential Personnel by Julian K. Jarboe

Fans of queer speculative fiction, listen up: you’re going to want to pick up this collection ASAP! It’s another genre-blending collection that has a little bit of everything. The stories are set in a variety of futures, some terrifying, some hopeful, and most a combination of the two. Jarboe explores bodily autonomy, desire, societal control, freedom, friendship, and queer community. In the title story, the longest in the collection, a character ponders whether to take a low-paying job on the moon. The collection is worth reading for this story alone, but the rest are wonderful, too.

Apsara Engine by Bishakh Som

I’ve been craving more graphic short story collections ever since reading this book! It’s an eerie collection of strange and fabulous stories, a mix of fabulism, sci-fi, fantasy, and realistic fiction. A trans mapmaker presents at an academic conference. A woman’s life becomes consumed by a past love. Som writes about trans and queer characters in ordinary and extraordinary situations; they get into all sorts of messy tangles, and sometimes find their way out. The range of art is striking — each story has its own style.

Looking for more fantastic queer short story collections? Check out this list I made of the stories I’d include in my dream queer short story anthology !

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LGBTQ Reads

Non-fiction.

For younger than Middle Grade, see Children’s Books . For adult memoirs and personal essays, click here .

* = Not yet released YRE = Young Readers Edition

Middle Grade

• Gender Rebels by Katherine Locke (text) and Shanee Benjamin (art)
• The Stonewall Riots: Coming Out in the Streets by Gayle E. Pitman
• Rainbow Revolutionaries by Sarah Prager
• Queer History Project : No Way, They Were Gay? by Lee Wind

Miscellaneous

• Sex is a Funny Word: A Book about Bodies, Feelings, and YOU by Cory Silverberg

Young Adult

• Stonewall by Ann Bausum
• * Stonewall by George M. Johnson, ill. by Theo Lorenz
• Queer, There, and Everywhere by Sarah Prager
• The 57 Bus: A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives by Dashka Slater

Identity/Orientation

• Queer: The Ultimate LGBTQ Guide for Teens by Kathy Belge and Marke Bieschke
• Some Assembly Required by Arin Andrews
• Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard by Alex Bertie
• I Have Something to Tell You by Chasten Buttigieg (YRE)
• Rapture Practice: Growing Up Gay in an Evangelical Family by Aaron Hartzler
• Brave Face by Shaun David Hutchinson
• Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen by Jazz Jennings
• All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson
• On Top of Glass by Karina Manta
• High School by Tegan & Sara

Miscellaneous/How-To

• * Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding by Maia Kobabe and Sarah Peintzmeier, PhD

General/Reference

Anthologies

• The Remedy: Queer and Trans Voices on Health and Health Care ed. by Zena Sharman
• Margaret Webster: A Life in Theatre by Milly S. Barranger ( Amz )
• Aimée & Jaguar: A Love Story, Berlin 1943 by Erica Fischer
• Middlebrow Queer: Christopher Isherwood in America by Jaime Harker
• Singled Out by Andrew Maraniss
• Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry by Imani Perry
• Sally Ride: America’s First Woman in Space by Lynn Sherr
• Lorraine Hansberry: The Life Behind A Raisin in the Sun by Charles J. Shields
• The Mayor of Castro Street: the Life and Times of Harvey Milk by Randy Shilts
• Barney Frank by Stuart E. Weisberg

Ballroom/Dance

• And the Category Is…: Inside New York’s Vogue, House, and Ballroom Community  by Ricky Tucker

Cinema/Movies

• The Fruit Machine: Twenty Years of Writings on Queer Cinema by Thomas Waugh

Drag/Performance

• Glitter and Concrete: A Cultural History of Drag in New York City by Elyssa Maxx Goodman ( B&N )
• The Big Reveal: an Illustrated Manifesto of Drag  by Sasha Velour
• Acts of Gaiety: LGBT Performance and the Politics of Pleasure by Sara Warner ( Amz )
• Bulldaggers, Pansies, and Chocolate Babies: Performance, Race, and Sexuality in the Harlem Renaissance by James F. Wilson ( Amz )

Literary Arts

• Eminent Outlaws: The Gay Writers Who Changed America by Christopher Bram
• Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature   by Emma Donoghue
• Pedro’s Theory by Marcos Gonsalez
• Keeping it Unreal: Black Queer Fantasy and Superhero Comics  by Darieck Scott
• Transgressive Tales: Queering the Grimms ed. by Kay Turner and Pauline Greenhill
• Gay Bar: Why We Went Out   by Jeremy Atherton Lin
• Hi Honey, I’m Homo!: Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture by Matt Baume ( Amz )
• Stagestruck: Theater, AIDS, and the Marketing of Gay America by Sarah Schulman

Visual Arts

• Out/Lines: Underground Gay Graphics From Before Stonewall by Thomas Waugh
• Lust Unearthed: Vintage Gay Graphics from the DuBek Collection by Thomas Waugh

Gender Identity

• Contesting Intersex: The Dubious Diagnosis by Georgiann Davis
• Before We Were Trans  by Kit Heyam
• How to Understand Your Gender by Alex Iantaffi

Cities/Countries

• Queer City : Gay London from the Romans to the Present Day by Peter Ackroyd
• Welcome to Fairyland: Queer Miami Before 1940 by Julio Capo Jr.
• Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World 1890-1940   by George Chauncey
• Gay and Lesbian Atlanta by Wesley Chenault and Stacy Braukman
• Chicago Whispers: A History of LGBT Chicago Before Stonewall by St. Sukie de la Croix
• * Revolutionary Acts: Black Gay Men in Britain by Jason Okundaye
• Fire Island: Love, Loss, and Liberation in an American Paradise by Jack Parlett
• When Brooklyn Was Queer by Hugh Ryan
• Never Going Back: A History of Queer Activism in Canada by Tom Warner

Gay and/or Lesbian History

• Familiar Faces, Hidden Lives: The Story of Homosexual Men in America Today by Howard J. Brown, M.D.
• Charity and Sylvia: a Same-Sex Marriage in Early America by Rachel Hope Cleves
• Hidden From History: Reclaiming the Gay and Lesbian Past ed. by Martin Duberman
• Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in 20th Century America by Lillian Faderman
• The Stonewall Generation: LGBTQ Elders on Sex, Activism, and Aging  by Jane Fleishman
• Making Gay History by Eric Marcus
• We Set the Night on Fire: Igniting the Gay Revolution   by Martha Shelley
• My American History: Lesbian and Gay Life During the Reagan/Bush Years by Sarah Schulman

HIV/AIDS Crisis

• How to Survive a Plague by David France
• It Was Vulgar & It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic  by Jack Lowery
• Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman
• And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic by Randy Shilts
• Love Your Asian Body: AIDS Activism in Los Angeles by Eric C. Wat

Legal Battles and Discrimination

• The Deviant’s War: The Homosexual vs. the United States of America by Eric Cervini
• The Lavender Scare by David K. Johnson
• The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals by Richard Plant
• The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: And the Unwritten History of the Trans Experience by Zoë Playdon

Lifestyle and Travel

• Real Queer America: LGBT Stories from Red States by Samantha Allen
• Moby Dyke: a Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in America  by Krista Burton
• Better Living Through Birding  by Christian Cooper ( Amz )
• The Pride Atlas: 500 Iconic Destinations for Queer Travelers by Maartje Hensen ( Amz )
• Woodsqueer: Crafting a Sustainable Rural Life by Gretchen Legler

Military and Politics

• Fighting Proud: the Untold Stories of the Gay Men Who Served in the Two World Wars by Stephen Bourne
• Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement  by Wendy L. Rouse
• Conduct Unbecoming: Gays and Lesbians in the US Military from Vietnam to the Persian Gulf by Randy Shilts
• Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution by David Carter
• Stonewall by Martin Duberman

Transgender and/or Intersex History

• Nepantla Squared: Transgender Mestiz@ Histories in Times of Global Shift by Linda Heidenreich
• Female Husbands: A Trans History  by Jen Manion
• Black on Both Sides by C. Riley Snorton
• Transgender History by Susan Stryker
• * The Other Olympians by Michael Waters

Intersectionality

• Feels Right: Black Queer Women and the Politics of Partying in Chicago by Kemi Adeyemi ( Amz )
• Black Trans Feminism by Marquis Bey
• Refusing Compulsory Sexuality: A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture  by Sherronda J. Brown
• Balancing on the Mechitza: Transgender in the Jewish Community by Noach Dzmura
• Sweet Tea : Black Gay Men of the South by E. Patrick Johnson
• Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought by Briona Simone Jones
• Not Straight, Not White: Black Gay Men From the March on Washington to the AIDS Crisis by Kevin J. Mumford
• Performing Queer Latinidad: Dance, Sexuality, Politics by Ramon H. Rivera-Servera ( Amz )
• A View From the Bottom: Asian American Masculinity and Sexual Representation by Hoang Tan Nguyen
• Queer Brown Voices: Personal Narratives of Latino/a Activism by Uriel Quesada
• * Rediscovering Two-Spirits: Native American Stories of Spirituality, Resilience, and Community by Gregory Smithers
• The Natural Mother of the Child by Krys Malcolm Belc
• * My Child is Trans, Now What? A Joy-Centered Approach to Support   by Ben V. Greene
• * Mama: A Black, Queer Woman’s Journey to Motherhood by Nikkya Hargrove (Memoir)
• This is a Book for Parents of Gay Kids by Dannielle Owens-Reid

Self-Help/Advice/Lifestyle

• The Ex-Girlfriend of My Ex-Girlfriend is My Girlfriend by Maddy Court and Kelsey Wroten
• The Velvet Rage: Overcoming the Pain of Growing up Gay in a Straight Man’s World by Alan Downs, Ph D.
• *DapperQ Style Manual by Anita Dolce Vita

Sexual Orientation

• I Am Ace: Advice on Living Your Best Asexual Life  by Cody Daingle-Orions
• The Invisible Orientation: An Introduction to Asexuality by Julie Sondra Decker

Bisexuality

• Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution by Shiri Eisner
• Bisexual Men Exist  by Vaneet Mehta
• Bi: The Hidden Culture, History, and Science of Bisexuality by Dr. Julia Shaw
• Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women’s Love and Desire by Lisa M. Diamond

Cookbooks by Queer Authors

• Jew-ish by Jake Cohen
• Cat Cora’s Classics with a Twist by Cat Cora and Ann Krueger Spivack
• Cooking from the Hip by Cat Cora and Ann Krueger Spivack
• The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty

Anthologies with Queer Representation

• Feminism for the Real World ed. by Kelly Jensen
• The (Other) F Word ed. by Angie Manfredi

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Queering up your shelf, one rec at a time!

New and Classic Queer Literature to Read for Free Online

Reading Lists

15 stories by sarah gerard, igoni barrett, bryan washington, and more from the recommended reading archive.

For pride month, we’re rounding up some of our favorite stories and novel excerpts by and about queer people from the Recommended Reading archives. These stories present a diverse cross-section of queer lives: an intersex woman who survived the bombing of Hiroshima, a black man in Nigeria who one day wakes up white, a man getting gender-confirmation surgery in Canada, a young girl in Brazil who learns, for the first time, a word that describes the way she feels. There are ends and beginnings of committed relationships, reliable and fraught friendships, painful affairs, and pleasant ones. Not all of the stories are about queer relationships or characters. One is about a hawk. The earliest work is from 1940, the most recent is from April 2019.

Recommended Reading is the weekly fiction magazine of Electric Literature, where we present short stories and novel excerpts every Wednesday, each with an original introduction. This list samples some of the most exciting new work in queer fiction, as well as forgotten classics. The recommendations, by writers including Chinelo Okparanta, Michael Cunningham, Alexander Chee, and Justin Torres, give space for peers to support one another and for the greats in that genre to support a new generation.

“ Together ” by Jess Arndt

In “Together,” a story from Jess Arndt’s collection Large Animals , a couple contracts an unknown STD at the same time that large, monstrous weeds overrun their yard. As Justin Torres writes in his introduction to the story, it “is a story precisely about the churning going on beneath the surface — about the awful lot going on inside each of us. Arndt reminds us that physically, psychically, we are processes; we are happening all the time. The life of both mind and body is defined by an awesome and constant churning.”

“ Little Boy ” by Marina Perezagua

“Little Boy,” named for the codename of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, tells the story of H., a intersex survivor of the explosion. In her introduction to the story, former Recommended Reading Senior Editor Lucie Shelly writes, “Drawing on the unexpected juxtaposition of WWII Japanese-American conflict and binary gender expectations, Perezagua explores the power of intangible indicators — feeling, legacy, and sensation — to uproot our logic, identities, and classifications.”

“ Alta’s Place ” by Morgan Thomas

Cory grew up in DC, works in a dry cleaning business, and wants to work in fashion design someday. Alta grew up in Mongolia, married young, and is negotiating her request for asylum. While both identify as gay women, Recommended Reading editor-in-chief Halimah Marcus points out in her intro, that Cory is too quick to map their lives onto one another: “As gay women Alta and Cory have few experiences in common…When Cory came out to her family, her mother was pious and deflective. When Alta’s landlord in Sharyn Gol found her in bed with another woman, he kicked her out. For Alta, coming out was not a consideration. ‘Your mother didn’t ask if you were gay,’ she says to Cory. ‘No one asked you.’”

“ Pussy Hounds ” by Sarah Gerard

“‘Pussy Hounds’ by Sarah Gerard is a story about four friends who take a trip to Maine for a self-imposed writing retreat. As it happens, not much writing gets done. One of them isn’t even a writer to begin with. They go for walks, watch movies, gossip over dinner. Their delicate social accord is threatened by a mysterious ‘back massage incident’ that occurred years-prior. Nina, the narrator, has recently escaped a toxic marriage. Filtered through her inner life, the story is also about making art, gender and sexual identity, self harm, and abuse. ‘Pussy Hounds’ is not, despite the title, a story about chasing pussy, though pussy does play a part.” —Halimah Marcus

Blackass by Igoni Barrett

“Despite its Lagosian setting, when reading the opening pages of Igoni Barrett’s witty, socially insightful novel, Blackass , I am reminded of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis : a young man wakes up to the realization that he is no longer who he once was, but has become a different kind of ‘being.’ In Barrett’s version, the young man goes to bed a black man and wakes up white. The family set-up is the same: the young man, his sister, his mother and father. A job on the line.” —Chinelo Okparanta

“ Hiddensee ” by Michelle Hart

“Michelle Hart’s ‘Hiddensee’ is about a young woman’s affair with her college professor. Perhaps it’s worth noting the obvious: that this isn’t the story of a vulnerable girl and an older man. It’s the story of a girl and a woman, of a girl becoming a woman over time, and in moments, of a woman becoming a girl.” —Halimah Marcus

Two People by Donald Windham

Donald Windham’s novel about a Roman affair between two men is a classic to Brandon Taylor, Recommended Reading Senior Editor. He writes,“On its surface, Two People is a simple story. Forrest, a man unmoored in Rome by his wife’s sudden departure after a long period of dissatisfaction, takes up with a young Italian male prostitute. The writing is spare and lucid, with a kind of keen emotional intelligence that arrives with all the suddenness of a spring shower. Windham is a master of accumulating seemingly inconsequential details that crest into something true and deeply felt. There is great style in his pages, a quiet elegance. It’s easy to give yourself over to his storytelling.”

“ Flor ” by Natalie Borges Poleso

“ Amora , the collection from which this piece is taken, contains narratives that remain mostly absent from Brazilian literature. Stories of women loving women, wanting women, having their hearts broken by women, getting into confusing amorous entanglements with women. There is a single definition for amora in the Portuguese dictionary: the fruit of a blackberry or mulberry bush. A berry in other words. But here, amora appears rather as the female form of amor, or love, in all its multiple manifestations.” —Julia Sanches

“ You Wouldn’t Have Known About Me ” by Calvin Gimpelevich

This spare, lyrical story follows the narrator over a few days as he undergoes gender-confirmation surgery in a Canadian clinic. The story is attentive not only to all the ways a body is made and unmade, but also to discomfort and unease of shifting human relationships. It’s a taut story about bodies, healthcare, wealth, and the ways we look after ourselves and others.

“ Lot ” by Bryan Washington

“The title story of Bryan Washington’s collection Lot is about one family’s negotiation with gentrification in Houston. The unnamed narrator, whose sister has married out and whose brother has gone to war, tries to keep the family restaurant alive, despite the memories that haunt him there. As Aja Gabel notes in her introduction to the story, “‘Lot’ is part of a constellation of connected stories that span this collection, a kind of epic in episodes. At this point in the narrator’s life, the explosive potential of change tremors under his surface, in both his body and mind. The consequences of acknowledging the slow cracks in his life are massive, but ‘Lot’ deals with those fissures with a high-wire combo of precision and tenderness.” —Aja Gabel

“ Sundays ” by Emma Copley Eisenberg

“For a story that’s about sex six days a week, there’s something prayer-like, even Biblical, about Emma Copley Eisenberg’s “Sundays.” Jeffrey, a scientist, is Mondays and Thursdays, Lamya, a Muslim marine biologist, is Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and polyamorous Beth, who lives in North Carolina with her primary partner, is Fridays and Saturdays. Six days, three different people to love or desire.” —Halimah Marcus

“ The First Summer ” by Matthew Griffin

For queer people, quite simple acts of intimacy and love (such as sleeping in a bed together or even casual physical affection) can carry heightened tension and fear. In his introduction to this excerpt from Matthew Griffin’s excellent debut novel, Stuart Nadler writes, “ It is exhausting to have to write that fiction like this should not feel as brave and important and transgressive as Matthew Griffin’s Hide feels, and that an honest, emotionally complicated, lushly beautiful depiction of two men who have spent their life together, and who are about to encounter death, should not feel so refreshing and so necessary. But the times, sadly, do not always dictate our literature. So, along comes a book like Hide  — a first novel, a Southern novel, a novel about love and death and the terror of discovery — that does what all the best fiction seeks to do, which is that it shows its characters as humans.”

The Pilgrim Hawk by Glenway Wescott

Michael Cunningham calls The Pilgrim Hawk , originally published in 1940, an “invisible classic,” which hardly anyone had heard of when NYRB Classics reissued it in 2011. If The Pilgrim Hawk is an invisible classic, then Glenway Wescott is an overlooked legend—an openly gay man, born in 1901 in the midwest, who moved to Paris with his partner in the 1920s. In his introduction of The Pilgrim Hawk excerpted in Recommended Reading , Cunningham muses, “How did [Wescott] produce a book that encompasses fundamental human issues like domesticity’s capacity to be both life-saving and soul-destroying; the annihilating but animating powers of lust and jealousy; the secret war between social classes; and aging and mortality themselves, among many others?”

“ Hello Everybody ” by AM Homes

With her many novels and short story collections including This Book Will Save Your Life , The End of Alice , May We Be Forgiven , and The Safety of Objects , AM Homes is one of the greatest writers working today. “Hello Everybody” was published in Recommended Reading in 2012 and was included in Homes’s 2018 collection Days of Awe . Like much of her work, this story examines capitalism’s effects on the family with her signature blend of satire and empathy. In her introduction, Halimah Marcus writes, “When you’re young, when your world is sheltered and your options for exploration limited, even a visit to a friend’s house becomes an anthropological expedition; each family, an as-yet unknown tribe. Here [that tribe is] the “pool people,” an L.A. family who lives for air-conditioning and calorie-counting, for whom a bathing suit is a uniform but who hate getting wet.”

“ Between Your Heart and the Fabric ” by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore

“In this excerpt [from the novel Sketchtasy ], we find the protagonist Alexa reading a book, Rebecca Brown’s The Gifts of the Body , with a sometimes lover, Nate. As they read together, Alexa tells us, “I’m thinking about this shame we all carry, the shame that means we deserve to die.” Sketchstasy is a call to reject the norms dictated to us by those who would never care about us but insist on telling us how to live — or die — as a way of obtaining the approval that will never come. It’s also a call to reject even the imitation of those norms. As a writer, over three novels, a memoir and five anthologies, Sycamore is someone who has always wanted revolution more than acceptance, and dreams that maybe that could be the best party of all. And this novel is her grand masked ball.” —Alexander Chee

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10 essential non-fiction books to learn about LGBTQ history and culture

From historical accounts to personal testimony, these non-fiction books are a great starting point for experiencing the reality of LGBTQ people’s lives.

In the reality TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race , the act of deftly insulting your competitors is called "reading". And reading, as the catchphrase goes, is fundamental.

But reading is vital to the LGBTQ experience – and not just on reality television. Queer people have always told their stories as a way to render themselves visible; in doing so, they give hope to others that they may one day be safe to tell theirs.   

These 10 non-fiction titles are a great way to begin to understand LGBTQ people’s experiences. The library, as RuPaul also says, is open.

We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer liberation   by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown (2019)

An inclusive account of the fight for queer freedom and equality,  We Are Everywhere  is a beautifully designed photographic journey from queer activism’s roots in late 19th Century Europe, through the Stonewall riots and up to present day politics.

From the curators of popular Instagram account @ lgbt_history , which champions unheard voices in queer narratives,  We Are Everywhere  offers an immersive history lesson direct from the diverse group of people who got us here.

The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson (2015)

The Argonauts is a love story, describing writer Maggie Nelson’s marriage to the artist Harry Dodge, who is fluidly gendered. But this short, captivating memoir is never just one thing, ranging widely and deeply on the meanings of pregnancy, family, sex and love. In doing so, Nelson opens the reader’s mind to possibilities beyond the binary and the magic that happens when you get there.

The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister by Helena Whitbread (2010)

LGBTQ people are largely absent from the history books. So personal testimony such as that of 19 th Century English landowner Anne Lister is a vital way to see that we have always existed.

Lister, known as "Gentleman Jack" by Halifax locals, kept diaries – written in code – which describe in detail her life as a woman who ‘could love, and only love the "fairer sex"'. Celebrated as "the first modern lesbian", on account of how she conducted her life in an era so radically different from now, Lister was an example of courage in action. 

Queer Intentions – A (Personal) Journey Through LGBTQ+ Culture by Amelia Abraham (2019)

Journalist Amelia Abraham takes the temperature of contemporary queer culture, journeying from drag performances in LA to Turkish underground clubs in this insightful and wide-ranging discovery of LGBTQ life as it is lived.  A vibrant, wide ranging exploration of what it means to be queer now, Queer Intentions also asks who is being left behind and where we go from here as a global community.

How to Survive a Plague – The story of how activists and scientists tamed AIDS by David France (2017)

David France’s insider account of the battle to stop the AIDS epidemic is the story of how – in the face of government and societal indifference – grassroots activists harnessed scientific research to save lives.

France’s devastating and heroic book is both a testament to the millions who lost their lives and to all who have survived because of the activists’ efforts. It is a story about community, and the individuals who put their lives on the line for it.

How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones (2020)

Queer coming-of-age memoirs shine light on the diversity of experience in the LGBTQ community. That we are not simply one thing is a cornerstone of Saeed Jones’ timely memoir about growing up gay and black and Southern, in Texas in the late 1990s.

"Being a black gay boy can get you killed," he writes, in this emotionally raw and intimate account of discovery and identity which happens at the intersection of sex, race and power.

We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir by Samra Habib (2019)

The conflict between faith and sexuality is explored in journalist Samra Habib’s memoir of growing up queer in a Muslim household. Habib was raised in the Ahmadi Muslim community in Pakistan, which regularly faced with threats from Islamic extremists. When her family moved to Canada as refugees, she encountered new dangers from racism to poverty and familial pressure to conform. Harrowing yet hopeful, We Have Always Been Here is testimony to the power of speaking your truth, and the potential for reconciliation with family and faith.

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New LGBTQ Nonfiction for Pride 2022

Join the Library in celebrating Pride Month throughout June with book recommendations, free online events, resources, and more.

We are fortunate to be living in a golden age for LGBTQ literature, where any list you make is bound to have incredible queer voices. So being able to make a list made up entirely of those voices is such a treat —and miraculously, there were too many to include in just one list!

Below are some of our favorites from among the latest nonfiction releases which include memoirs, essays, social history, and more. When you're done exploring these, check out new fiction releases in several genres including science fiction, mystery, romance, short stories, and literary fiction.

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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.

And the Category Is…Inside New York’s Vogue, House, and Ballroom Community

by Ricky Tucker

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

Burning Butch

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.

The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison

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.

In Sensorium: Notes For My People

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.

Brace For Impact

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.

Girls Can Kiss Now: Essays

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.

Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things in Between

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. 

Brown Neon: Essays

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. 

Asylum: A Memoir and Manifesto

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.

Boys and Oil: Growing Up Gay in a Fractured Land

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. 

Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.