8 books written by queer authors to add to your reading list 

While Pride Month shifts the focus to everything related to LGBTQIA+, from music, art, to writing, it’s important that this is not limited to just 30 days of June, and instead should be seen as an opportunity to expand the media we consume, including our reading lists. 

These books by queer authors are not only as diverse as they come—from retellings of mythological stories, to collections of feminist essays. No matter the topic or the theme, they are a celebration of all things queer.

Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay is one of the most powerful queer and feminist voices to emerge out of this generation, and Bad Feminist is one of her best work. It is a collection of essays that focusses on topics like politics, criticism, and feminism. Through these insightful essays, Gay takes us through her personal journey as a woman of colour, black culture, and the state of feminism today. This one is definitely a must read, and an inspiration for the reader on how we can do better.

Sita: An Illustrated Retelling by Devdutt Pattanaik

Devdutt Pattanaik is known for writing on mythology and history, and in this illustrated novel tells the story of Ramayana through the eyes of Sita. By leaning on the many oral, visual, and written retellings composed throughout history on the subject, he has compiled a story that approaches Ram by talking about Sita—her childhood with her father, Janaka, who hosted sages mentioned in the Upanishads; her stay in the forest with her husband, who had to be a celibate ascetic while she was in the prime of her youth; her interactions with the women of Lanka, her role as the Goddess, and more. 

Time Is a Mother by Ocean Vyoung

Ocean Vyoung, the queer Vietnamese American poet and novelist who’s known for his evocative work and his bestselling novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, has written a poetry collection called Time Is a Mother that was published last year. He’s known for exploring complex, deep, and heavy subjects like death and grief through his poetry, and here he does the same by talking about the effect his mother’s death had on him, meaning of family, and confusion regarding his own identity. 

Milk Fed by Melissa Broder

Food and queer desire collide in a delicious mix in this novel that is peppered with dark humour and wit. It follows the life of twenty-four year old Rachel who is struggling with her religious identity as a Jew in addition to body image, which has been caused by her upbringing in a calorie counting household by her mom. After she’s encouraged to take a ninety-day detox from her mother by her therapist, she bumps into Miriam who works at her favourite frozen yogurt shop and is intent upon feeding her. Soon, Rachel becomes enamoured by Miriam, and the two grow closer. What follows is a journey of self-exploration marked by mothers, milk, and honey. 

The World That Belongs To Us: An Anthology of Queer Poetry from South Asia Edited by Akhil Katyal and Aditi Angiras

If you’re looking for an interesting collection of queer poetry from South Asia, then this first-of-its-kind anthology is a good place to start. Published in 2020 and compiled by queer poets Akhil Katyal and Aditi Angiras, it brings the work of contemporary queer poets from the subcontinent and the diaspora in one book. You’ll find the work of familiar names like Hoshang Merchant, Ruth Vanita, Suniti Namjoshi, as well as upcoming poets. With submissions from across the globe and works in multiple regional languages apart from English, the themes in the collection ranges from struggles as a queer, longing, love, desire, to loneliness and activism.

Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

The book, whose title translates to ‘good herb’, is author Nina LaCour’s debut adult novel after successfully writing many young adult books. It explores the lives and journeys of two women—Sara, who ran away from her home when she was sixteen and eventually became a popular bartender in Los Angeles, and Emilie, who struggles with her Creole identity set on her by her grandparents, and her want for independence. As most love stories go, they have a meet cute at the Yerba Buena restaurant, from which point their story to find love and purpose unravels.

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth 

Vikram Seth remains one of the most celebrated Indian authors and is the winner of multiple awards including the Padma Shri, the Sahitya Academy Award, and the WH Smith Literary Award. He’s known for writing the story of ordinary people but making them extraordinary through a complex web of emotions. Take for example A Suitable Boy, a tome that follows the love story of Lata, and her mother’s attempt at finding her a suitable husband. It’s set in the early 1950s, fresh in the aftermath of partition, and explores themes of love, freedom, social stereotypes, and more. 

Feminist Fables by Suniti Namjoshi

Suniti Namjoshi is an Indian queer poet whose work spans across fables, poetry, children’s books, and novels that challenge existing stereotypes about sexism, racism, and homophobia. Namjoshi has been influenced by well-known feminist writers like Virginia Woolf, Adrienne Rich, among others, and has been an active member of the feminist and LGBTQIA+ movement. Feminist Fables, which was published in 1981 remains her most note-worthy work, where she has reworked popular fairy tales and mythology and written them from a feminist angle.