Summer is the best time to get some reading done. One great way to celebrate LGBTQ+ Pride Month is by reading books from queer writers.
It’s not just about supporting or exploring queer writing. Reading queer authors exposes you to what queerness was like in different periods. It may be shocking to read older queer books and realize the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community today have changed or persisted in interesting ways.
Below is a list of 10 queer authors and fiction/nonfiction book recommendations to understand the LGBTQ+ community throughout time.
Audre Lorde
Describing herself as “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet,” Audre Lorde was an influential figure in the feminist movement of the civil rights movement in the United States.
She wrote both prose and poetry and spoke at many universities across the US. She was an early pioneer of the concept of “intersectionality” and was an outspoken activist against racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism.
One of her most significant works would be her book Zami: A New Spelling of My Name, which is described as a “biomythography.” The novel describes those she’d loved and lost throughout her life in New York City. She writes her prose like a poet; in fact, there are poetry samples she wrote during the described events peppered throughout the text. Exploring her sexuality and NYC’s queer culture alongside her race in a time of growing racial desegregation, Zami creates a fascinating look into Lorde’s life and creativity.
Oscar Wilde
Irish-born Oscar Wilde was a Victorian playwright in the late nineteenth century. Wilde was primarily famous for his satirical plays poking fun at the rich and elite of English society. At the same time, he was a prominent member of fashionable circles during his popularity.
Shortly after the release of his first and only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Wilde was charged with “gross indecency” for his sexual relationships with men.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is Wilde’s most famous work, perhaps aside from his society play The Importance of Being Earnest. The novel follows young aristocrat Dorian Gray, who obsesses over youth, beauty, and other hedonistic pursuits. If you’ve ever heard a reference to having a portrait in the attic to explain why someone never seems to age, then they’re talking about Dorian Gray. The cursed portrait’s painter, Basil Hallward, seems to have an obsessive, idolatrous love for Dorian, creating a dark dynamic between an artist and his muse.
Virginia Woolf
Virginia Woolf was an English modernist writer best known for her novels exploring the self and mental health. An influential feminist, Woolf is famous for many works, one of which is her collection of feminist essays, A Room of One’s Own. She was also a pioneer of the narrative style “stream of consciousness.”
Though not labeled one way, Woolf had a “not-so-secret” affair with fellow author Vita Sackville-West. Penguin Books writes, “Getting hold of a long-out-of-print copy of the Virginia and Vita letters had become something of a rite-of-passage for modern-day sapphists.”
Many of Woolf’s novels include queer themes. Last Spring, the University of Idaho theater department released a play version of her novel Orlando. This satirical story is inspired by her lover, Sackville-West, and follows the adventures of a man who one day wakes up as a woman and carries on throughout time.
Another novel to pick up would be Mrs. Dalloway. Largely employing the “stream of consciousness” style, this relatively short tale follows Clarissa Dalloway as she prepares and hosts a party. Clarissa describes a passionate relationship with her friend Sally Seton from her childhood, making the queer themes more subtle but vastly interesting.
Judith Butler
If you’re looking for a more queer theory-based read, Judith Butler is the author for you. They are a queer philosopher and gender studies scholar who is influential in academia today. They are currently a professor of comparative literature at the University of California, Berkeley.
As a significant trailblazer in the world of gender and feminist theory, Butler’s work is a great way to explore philosophical and sociological understandings of identity.
Their most famous work would be their 1990 book Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, where they develop the concept of gender performativity. Butler argues that all gender is a performance and that heteronormative conceptions of gender are too limiting for the human experience. Though it may be a more challenging read given Butler’s expertise, thinking about gender in a contemporary sense is a great exploration point during Pride Month.
Radclyffe Hall
Radclyffe Hall was a fascinating figure from Victorian England. She was the author of the so-called “lesbian Bible.” Hall was a prominent writing salon and social group member in England and Paris. Known also for her tailored suits and masculine clothing style, later in life, Hall often went by the name John instead of her given name, Marguerite.
Hall’s most notable work would be The Well of Loneliness, a founding piece of lesbian literature. The novel details the life of Stephen Gordon, a young masculine lesbian growing up as an “invert” as she comes to terms with her identity and the trials of love.
The Well of Loneliness was one of the first works to portray lesbians sympathetically, making it a significant piece of queer history. This book was banned from shelves in 1928 for “obscenity” but is now praised as a tear-jerking lesbian classic.
James Baldwin
First known for his civil rights activism, James Baldwin was a Black American writer known for his essays, poetry, and novels. His works focus primarily on masculinity, sexuality, race, and class. As an openly gay man, Baldwin’s work is some of the most influential of the civil rights and gay liberation movements.
Though his 1954 novel Go Tell It on the Mountain may be his best-known work, his 1956 novel Giovanni’s Room is influential to gay literature. The novel follows the life of an American man living in Paris and struggling with his relationships with men. It is a larger discussion of bisexuality and internalized homophobia in complex and diverse ways.
Sappho
If you’re looking for a more ancient choice of queer literature, the Ancient Greek poet and musician Sappho is the way to go. Though not much is known about her, she has been an icon for lesbians. Her name inspired the current term “sapphic” or “Sapphist” for queer women, and the island she came from, Lesbos, inspired the current term “lesbian.”
Much of Sappho’s work is lost to time. What’s left of her work is one full poem and a collection of poetry fragments. There are plenty of Sappho translations, but a more recent and well-regarded one would be Anne Carson’s If Not, Winter: The Fragments of Sappho. The poems largely focus on her love for women, marriage songs, and her internal processing of emotions.
Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman is one of the most significant writers in American history. Writing during the American Civil War, Whitman’s poetry was part of the transcendentalist movement.
With themes of living in the moment, loving life and nature, and spirituality, Whitman’s free love and queerness often came through in his lyrical verses.
His most significant poetry collection is Leaves of Grass, which features poems like “Song of Myself,” the “Calamus” poetry cluster, “The Sleepers,” and “I Sing The Body Electric.” Though Whitman never identified as bisexual, his poetry containing sexual themes often describes “manly love” and relations with both men and women.
Federico García Lorca
Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca was a part of the Generation of ‘27, a group of poets that influenced Spanish literature. His work was censored by Francisco Franco’s regime.
García Lorca was a gay man who suffered depression after a relationship with sculptor Emilio Aladrén Perojo. He also had a close relationship with painter Salvador Dalí, which inspired the film Little Ashes.
Any of his poetry books would be an excellent choice for Pride Month since much of his poetry is about love. His notable work is Poeta en Nueva York, or Poet in New York, written in 1930 and published posthumously. This poetry collection was written during García Lorca’s time in New York City, during which the stock market crash and his personal feelings of homophobia influenced his writing.
Alice Oseman
A more contemporary author to end on is Alice Oseman, a novelist known for her YA webcomic Heartstopper. As a writer, illustrator, and producer of Heartstopper’s comic and TV series, Oseman is a talented queer creator hoping to take queer love to young adults.
Heartstopper follows English high schoolers Nick and Charlie as they navigate love, homophobia, and identity. The Netflix series starring Kit Conner and Joe Locke has gained a massive fanbase. Heartstopper gives queer audiences a wide variety of identities and a feel-good story to relate to.
Victoria Kingsmore can be reached at [email protected]