Celebrate Pride by reading stories that center the LGBTQIA community. For June’s Summer Book Club, we’ve rounded up a few of our favorite authors and groundbreaking characters you should bookmark, stat. Happy Pride!
1. Faith Taking Flight, by Julie Murphy
Attention YA fans! Julie Murphy’s recent book centers around Faith, a bi teenager who discovers she can fly. The character, Faith Herbert, is one of Valiant Universe’s most prominent superheroes, and Murphy’s book explores her origin story, so this one will appeal to comic book fans as well. Here’s to the superhero powers of being an awesome teen (and the main character we’ve been waiting for).
2. All Boys Aren’t Blue, by George M. Johnson
Activist and journalist George M. Johnson takes an enlightening look at gender, sexuality and societal pressures to fit into the binary constructs. Pulling from his own upbringing as a gay Black boy in America, he explores topics like toxic masculinity, family and Black joy. Voted an Amazon Best Book of the Year in 2020.
3. Wow, No Thank You, by Samantha Irby
Samantha Irby’s essays are equal parts hilarious and honest, as she explores everything from pop culture to a middle-aged girls’ night out. This one is a New York Times Best Seller for a reason. If you get hooked on her candor, see her other two essay collections, Meaty and We Are Never Meeting In Real Life for further reading.
3. Bad Feminist, by Roxane Gay
This collection of personal essays and critique explores race, gender and the political and social landscape of issues affecting women. A perfect primer for someone new to Gay’s work, she is also the bestselling author of beloved books Hunger: A Memoir of My Body and Difficult Women.