reviews, releases and recommendations of LGBT media
January means I tell you about all the LGBT YA books that we know of for this year. Well, this half of the year. So let’s do that. Have fun browsing through about 140 titles.
Enjoy and preorder! And hey, a lot of those titles are (or will be) available on Scribd (I refuse to remember the new name), so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
New year, new LGBT books! Hopefully the way our releases posts work is clear, but just to reiterate: we have 8 of these posts, for the genres listed below, and we update each one every month with new books coming out (that we know about). Every post covers half a year.
In this one, you can browse the contemporary books from January to June of 2024!
Looking for the other genres?
New year, new LGBT books! Hopefully the rules of our releases posts are clear, but just to reiterate: we have 8 of these posts, for the genres listed below, and we update each one every month with new books coming out (that we know about). Every post covers half a year.
In this one, you can browse the fantasy books from January to June of 2024!
Looking for the other genres?
New year, new LGBT books! Hopefully the way our releases posts work is clear, but just to reiterate: we have 8 of these posts, for the genres listed below, and we update each one every month with new books coming out (that we know about). Every post covers half a year.
In this one, you can browse the historical books from January to June of 2024!
Looking for the other genres?
New year, new LGBT books! Hopefully the way our releases posts work is clear, but just to reiterate: we have 8 of these posts, for the genres listed below, and we update each one every month with new books coming out (that we know about). Every post covers half a year.
In this one, you can browse the mystery and thriller books from January to June of 2024!
Looking for the other genres?
New year, new LGBT books! Hopefully the way our releases posts work is clear, but just to reiterate: we have 8 of these posts, for the genres listed below, and we update each one every month with new books coming out (that we know about). Every post covers half a year.
In this one, you can browse the nonfiction books from January to June of 2024!
Looking for the other genres?
New year, new LGBT books! Hopefully the way our releases posts work is clear, but just to reiterate: we have 8 of these posts, for the genres listed below, and we update each one every month with new books coming out (that we know about). Every post covers half a year.
In this one, you can browse the paranormal/horror books from January to June of 2024!
Looking for the other genres?
New year, new LGBT books! Hopefully the way our releases posts work is clear, but just to reiterate: we have 8 of these posts, for the genres listed below, and we update each one every month with new books coming out (that we know about). Every post covers half a year.
In this one, you can browse the poetry books from January to June of 2024!
Looking for the other genres?
New year, new LGBT books! Hopefully the way our releases posts work is clear, but just to reiterate: we have 8 of these posts, for the genres listed below, and we update each one every month with new books coming out (that we know about). Every post covers half a year.
In this one, you can browse the science fiction books from January to June of 2024!
Looking for the other genres?
We write this on the first day of a temporary ceasefire in Gaza (a ceasefire, it must be noted, that Israel is reported to have already broken several times (& reported even by the BBC)), that is set to last four days. Even as Palestinian hostages are returning home to their families, the settler colonial apartheid state is doing what it can to disrupt and destroy such moments of happiness. So, now is the time to be even louder than before, to make the ceasefire permanent and to call for the dismantling of the occupation. The number of dead in Gaza is over 20,000, with thousands more still trapped beneath the rubble. Almost 2 million people have been displaced in the past seven weeks.
Starting next week, Friends of Al-Aqsa are running a Palestine Awareness Week, full of events to keep Palestine in public consciousness. We wanted to post to coincide with that, and to specifically focus on LGBT media about Palestine. One of the common threads from Zionist actors seen in the past month and a half relates to the question of how the LGBT community can support a country where such existence is punished by death. But, as many more eloquent people have said, our struggle is one. No one is free until we are all free. And are there not also LGBT Palestinians who deserve our support? And to suggest that Israel is somehow a paradise for gay people is pinkwashing to the extreme (for example, there are reports of the IOF blackmailing gay Palestinians into betraying their people, and the excerpt Omar Sakr posts in this on instagram alone should tell you more than enough as well). As I said, there are people who’ve put this more fully, and more eloquently, than us, and we would stress you read their words: Autostraddle’s article from October, and The Nation’s from November.
So, this post. In here, you’ll find books (fiction, nonfiction & poetry), films & documentaries, & music, primarily from Palestinian creators (although, you’ll spot a couple of films where this isn’t the case, but the focus remains on Palestinians within them). Before we start, we’d also like to note the following two films which we didn’t include on the rec list: Polarized (2023), dir. Shamim Sarif & Polygraph (2020), dir. Samira Saraya. The reason for this was because, given the premise of each film, we would have preferred to be able to watch them before recommending, which we ultimately haven’t had time to do.
We hope you enjoy what’s in this post and urge you to keep talking about Palestine!
* indicates that the authors themselves are Palestinian (or diaspora), but the characters featured in the book may not be.
“Away from the lamp lie truths which are uncomfortable it seems not only to Zionists but also to those who fear a direct confrontation with the Jewish state. There in the darkness one can find the only relevant framing of the conflict in Palestine: as a struggle between a settler-colonialist movement and a native indigenous population that has raged since the late nineteenth century until today”. — Ilan Pappé in On Palestine
As we post this, Israel is conducting a genocidal bombardment on Gaza. Given our platform, small in comparison to many as it may be, we feel we must preface this post thus. We do, and always will, stand with Palestine and its people, with their right to self-determination and freedom from colonisation.
If you’re sat, wondering where to start in educating yourself, or how best to help, we offer a list of a few nonfiction books to start with for the former, and for the latter, some resources for writing to your local MP (or other representative) and organising your own protest locally, if there isn’t one near you. To find out about protests near you, we’d recommend following groups local to you fighting for Palestinian freedom such as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Nonfiction books we recommend: The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine, Ten Myths About Israel, Voices from the Camps, Lawrence in Arabia, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History, Nakba, The Palestine Nakba, Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions.
And what actually prompted this particular rec list, is a tweet we saw. On October 18 at 8 pm ET, there’s going to be a virtual gathering/poem-sharing/call to action/fundraiser for Medical Aid for Palestinians. So first of all, here’s a link to RSVP, and second of all, here’s some poetry for you.
We all have books that we love to read over & over again. Or sometimes we just think about them all the time and that’s enough, too. Sometimes they simply occupy a space in our brain (and heart). It’s about craft, yes, but most of all it’s about the feelings those books evoke in us. The way they make us feel safe & loved, & cherished. And at times maybe a lot a little bit heartbroken.
So that’s what I’m offering you today. Ten books that I’ve been feeling lowkey insane about for months, and sometimes even years. A lot of books about love.
And hey, a lot of those titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
By now, after all the years of me making those posts, y’all should know the drill: inside you will find books which make it clear beyond a shadow of the doubt that their main character/love interest is bisexual or pansexual & only ones about which I am 100% sure (well, maybe 99% sure). I obviously haven’t read all of them, so please do let me know if you catch any mistakes!
Enjoy, buy and preorder! And hey, a lot of those titles are (or will be) available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
Fans of lesbian vampires should look no further than Anna Burke’s next book. Think dark romantic fantasy, lesbian vampires, murderous fey, and you’ll have some idea of the content of the book. This alone should be enough to convince you to read it, no? But if it’s not, here’s a review that hopefully will!
So, do yourself a favour and preorder this one!
When Clara Eden is offered a job as an archivist working for eccentric estate owner Agatha Montague, she thinks her prayers have been answered. Soon, she finds herself sucked into her research world, captivated by a romantic correspondence thousands of years old. But as her feelings for her employer’s assistant, Fiadh, deepen, so does her suspicion that something about Agatha Montague isn’t right. Unfortunately for Clara, it is far too late to run by the time her suspicions are confirmed..
Anna Burke
Rep: lesbian mc & li, sapphic side characters
CWs: gore
Release: 22nd August 2023
Waaay back (also known as 19th May, according to the artist formerly known as Twitter), I touted the idea of a Shakespeare retellings rec list which (drum roll please) is now here! In general, it’s a somewhat limited selection of Shakespeare plays that get considered for retellings, so I’ve tried to give as wide a range as I can (within reason, based on what I’ve read and you know, trying to get a wide range of rep in too). So, here are ten retellings you should get your hands on!
A lot of these titles are available on Scribd, so if you want to check out that service but don’t have an account yet, use my invite code to get 2 months for free! (This also gives me one free month.)
