Aaaand it’s that time of year again! As the rainbow paraphernalia officially hits Target and everyone under the (at times sweltering) sun begins prepping their floats and their costumes, so do the shelves of your local bookstores’ queer section creak under the weight of all the new titles released just in time for Pride.
This June’s list features an excellent selection of compelling and urgent queer writing across every genre! From Lambda Fellow Katie Jean Shrinkle‘s atmospheric and haunting new thriller cowritten with Jessica Alexander, to Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anne Hull‘s wistful coming-of-age memoir; from Norman Erikson Pasaribu‘s whimsical short stories to Elliot Page‘s bold and buzzy memoir; June is sure to rouse you from your reading slump and lengthen your TBR.
Bio/Memoir
- Pageboy: A Memoir by Elliot Page, Doubleday
- Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew from It by Greg Marshall, Abrams Press
- To Name the Bigger Lie: A Memoir in Two Stories by Sarah Viren, Scribner Book Company
- Through the Groves: A Memoir by Anne Hull, Henry Holt and Co.
Fiction
- The Reason I’m Here: Stories by Jarrod Campbell, Stalking Horse Press
- Dreaming Home by Lucian Childs, Biblioasis
- Countries of Origin by Javier Fuentes, Pantheon Books
- Loverbar by Lizbette Ocasio-Russe, Flashpoint Publication
- Mrs. S by K Patrick, Europa Editions
- The History of a Difficult Child by Mihret Sibhat, Viking
- Old Enough: A Novel by Haley Jakobson, Dutton
- Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens, Penguin Random House
- And Then He Sang a Lullaby by Ani Kayode Somtochukwu, Roxane Gay Books
- Run Baby Run: A Novel by Melissa Lenhardt, Graydon House
Nonfiction
- Tar Hollow Trans: Essays by Stacy Jane Grover, University of Kentucky Press
- Daddy Boy by Emerson Whitney. McSweeney’s
- Body Neutral: A Revolutionary Guide to Overcoming Body Image Issues by Jessi Kneeland, Penguin Life
LGBTQ Studies
- Moby Dyke: An Obsessive Quest to Track Down the Last Remaining Lesbian Bars in America by Krista Burton, Simon & Schuster
- Sexuality and the Rise of China: The Post-1990s Gay Generation in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China by Travis S. K. Kong, Duke University Press
- We Set the Night on Fire: Igniting the Gay Revolution by Martha Shelley, Chicago Review Press
- Begin Transmission: The trans allegories of The Matrix by Tilly Bridges, BearManor Media
Romance
- Things I’ll Never Say by Cassandra Newbould, Peachtree Teen
- All the Right Notes by Dominic Lim, Forever
- Mortal Follies by Alexis Hall, Penguin Random House
- Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style by Paul Rudnick, Atria Books
- Going Bicoastal by Dahlia Adler, Wednesday Books
Mystery/Thriller
- None of This is an Invitation by Jessica Alexander and Katie Jean Shinkle, Astrophil Press at University of South Dakota
- Livingsky by Anthony Bidulka, Stonehouse Publishing
- The Spare Room by Andrea Bartz, Ballantine Books
- The Gulf by Rachel Cochran, Harper
- The Uncanny Case of Gilles/Jeannette by Jill Dearman, The Shortish Project
- Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould, Wednesday Books
- You Don’t Belong Here by Jonathan Harper, Lethe Press
- Beatnikki’s Café by Renee James, Bywater Books
- Everything the Darkness Eats by Eric Larocca, Clash Books
- Maddalena and the Dark by Julia Fine, Flatiron Books
- Killingly by Katharine Beutner, Soho Crime
Speculative Literature
- The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson, Penguin Books
- The First Bright Thing by J R Dawson, Tor Books
- Happy Stories, Mostly by Norman Erikson Pasaribu, Feminist Press
- Darkhearts by James L. Sutter, Wednesday Books
- Open Throat by Henry Hoke, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Translation State by Ann Leckie, Orbit
Young Adult Literature
- The Secret Summer Promise by Keah Brown, Levine Querido
- From the Longing Orchard by Jessica Jopp, Red Hen Press
- Night’s Edge by Liz Kerin, Tor Nightfire
Children’s/Middle Grade Literature
- Molly’s Tuxedo by Vicki Johnson, Little Bee Books
- Pedro & Daniel by Federico Erebia, Levine Querido
- Gender Identity for Kids: A Book about Finding Yourself, Understanding Others, and Respecting Everybody! by Andy Passchier, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Poetry
- Another Word for Hunger by Heather Bartlett, Sundress Publications
- Song of My Softening by Omotara James, Alice James Books
- Gay Poems for Red States by Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. University Press of Kentucky
- Muster Points by Lucas Crawford, University of Calgary Press
- I Do Everything I’m Told by Megan Fernandes, Tin House Books
- Periodic Boyfriends by Drew Pisarra, Capturing Fire Press
- Negative Money by Lillian-Yvonne Bertram, Soft Skull
