As a gay Cuban-American kid, I always wanted more books with queer protagonists and I wanted more protagonists to be kids of color. I rarely found either (and never both in one book). Happily, a few decades later, we live in a moment where these stories are finally getting their due; you can now find all facets of the LGBTQ+ experience in print with characters from an array of cultures. As a writer, I’m excited to be part of that with my book Spin Me Right Round, featuring a gay Cuban-American protagonist. Seeing his face looking back at me from the bookstore shelves is a dream come true.
Cuban-American Luis wants to bring his boyfriend to prom, but his school is stuck in the past and says no. When a freak accident sends him back in time to 1985, he finds out what his school is afraid of, breaks up his own parents (oops!), and makes it his mission to save the school closet case from a terrible fate. Back to the Future but more gay and less white, Spin Me Right Round is a tale of making the future you want when the world isn’t quite ready.
I remember well how starved I was as a teen for books about kids like me—queer, Cuban, or both—so I love books that fill a void. Sara Farizan does that with Iranian girls Sahar and Nasrin, including a swoony kiss you won’t want to miss. For anyone who’s ever had sparks with a friend, this is an extra special read.
Seventeen-year-old Sahar has been in love with her best friend, Nasrin, since they were six. They've shared stolen kisses and romantic promises. But Iran is a dangerous place for two girls in love--Sahar and Nasrin could be beaten, imprisoned, even executed if their relationship came to light. So they carry on in secret--until Nasrin's parents announce that they've arranged for her marriage. Nasrin tries to persuade Sahar that they can go on as they had before, only now with new comforts provided by the decent, well-to-do doctor Nasrin will marry. But Sahar dreams of loving Nasrin exclusively--and openly. Then Sahar…
I went to college for art while trying to figure out my future, so I fell hard for the story of Felix, a Black and trans teen who is subjected to harassment, finds potential romance, and wrestles with whether he’s the artist he thinks he is. His relationship with his dad is complicated and heartfelt, and you’ll feel compassion all the way.
A Stonewall Honor Book * A Time Magazine Best YA Book of All Time
From Stonewall and Lambda Award–winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.
Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He desperately wants to know what it’s like and why it seems so easy for everyone but him to find someone. What’s worse is that, even though he is proud of his identity, Felix also secretly fears that he’s one marginalization too…
I love magical realism and Zoraida Cordova’s our reigning queen. A young Latina witch is torn between her female bestie and a hunky brujo, creating a queer triangle to remember in a fantastical world called Los Lagos. (Serious worldbuilding is Cordova’s gift.) And if you love this, it’s just the beginning—there are two more books in the series.
The first book in the Latinx-infused Queer fantasy series from highly acclaimed author Zoraida Cordova that follows three sisters-and teen witches-as they develop their powers and battle magic through epic questing in the realms beyond. Alex is a bruja and the most powerful witch in her family. But she's hated magic ever since it made her father disappear into thin air. So while most girls celebrate their Quinceanera, Alex prepares for her Deathday-the most important day in a bruja's life and her only opportunity to rid herself of magic. But the curse she performs during the ceremony backfires, and her…
Did you know there were lesbian bars in San Francisco in the 1950s? I didn’t until fellow author and neighbor Malinda Lo wrote this beautiful romance about two girls in Chinatown during the red scare. While the heroine discovers a whole new world, so do we. And interspersed chapters help us understand where her parents are coming from.
"That book. It was about two women, and they fell in love with each other." And then Lily asked the question that had taken root in her, that was even now unfurling its leaves and demanding to be shown the sun: "Have you ever heard of such a thing?"
Seventeen-year-old Lily Hu can't remember exactly when the question took root, but the answer was in full bloom the moment she and Kathleen Miller walked under the flashing neon sign of a lesbian bar called the Telegraph Club.
America in 1954 is not a safe place for two girls to fall…
I cried when I finished this swoony love story about the short romance of two Latinx boys. I mean, the author warns you what’s coming, but he’s made their love story so sweet, you can’t help but root for an “ever after” that can’t come. Along the way, Silvera has made up a world like ours but with its own rules and logic, an almost-us society that is completely believable.
From the author of the INTERNATIONAL NO. 1 BESTSELLER THEY BOTH DIE AT THE END comes an explosive examination of grief, mental illness, and the devastating consequences of refusing to let go of the past.
Please note that covers may vary.
You're still alive in alternate universes, Theo, but I live in the real world where this morning you're having an open casket funeral. I know you're out there, listening. And you should know I'm really pissed because you swore you would never die and yet here we are. It hurts even more because this isn't the first promise you've…
I’m an avid reader of queer literary fiction not only because I write it but because I’m looking to see my life experience captured on the page. As a gay man, a father of two young boys, and one-half of an interracial married couple, I know the complexity of modern queer living firsthand. In recent years, I’ve been astounded by the breadth of great LGBTQ+ books that examine queerness fully and empathetically. I seek out these books, I read them feverishly, and I become a champion for the best ones. In an era of intense book banning, it’s so important to me to elevate these books and their authors.
The Birthright of Sons is a collection of stories centered around the experiences of marginalized people, namely Black and LGBTQ+ men. Although the stories borrow elements from various genres (horror, suspense, romance, magical realism, etc.), they are linked by an exploration of identity and the ways personhood is shaped through interactions with the people, places, and belief systems around us.
In each of these stories, the protagonists grapple with their understanding of who they are, who and how they love, and what is ultimately most important to them. In almost every case, however, the quest to know or protect oneself is challenged by an external force, resulting in violence, crisis, or confusion, among other outcomes.
The Birthright of Sons is a collection of stories centered around the experiences of marginalized people, namely Black and LGBTQ+ men. Though the stories borrow elements from various genres (horror, suspense, romance, magical realism, etc.), they're linked by an exploration of identity and the ways personhood is shaped through interactions with the people, places, and belief systems around us.
Underpinning the project is a core belief - self-definition is fluid, but conflict arises because society often fails to keep pace with personal evolution. In each of these stories, the protagonists grapple with their understanding of who they are, who and…
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