A site that advocates for consumers to buy books from independent retailers has unveiled a list of the top LGBT+ books to read during Pride Month.
The list compiled by Bookshop includes recommendations from independent booksellers and features LGBT+ stories, queer poetry, graphic novels, educational non-fiction, and LGBT+ books for children.
For adult readers, titles include ‘Queer Power‘ by Dom&Ink, a non-fiction book celebrating contemporary figures and covers topics including coming out, gender, mental health, and activism.
Other non-fiction recommendations include ‘A Little Gay History of Wales‘ by Daryl Leeworthy; ‘The Bi-Ble‘, edited by Lauren Nickodemus and Ellen Desmond; ‘Life Isn’t Binary‘ by Meg-John Barker and Alex Iantaffi; ‘In the Dream House‘ by Carmen Maria Machado; and ‘Close to the Knives‘ by David Wojnarowicz.
Graphic novels also feature on the list, including ‘Our Work is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Trans Resistance‘ by Syan Rose; ‘Gender Queer‘ by Maia Kobabe; and ‘I Never Promised You A Rose Garden‘ by Mannie Murphy.
For fiction readers, there’s ‘Kitchen‘ by Banana Yoshimoto; ‘Pet‘ by Akwaeke Emezi; ‘The Seep‘ by Chana Porter; ‘Juliet Takes A Breath‘ by Gabby Riviera, illustrated by Celia Moscote; and ‘Lot‘ by Bryan Washington.
There are also recommended poetry books, including ‘Don’t Call Us Dead‘ by Danez Smith and ‘Your Silence Will Not Protect You‘ by Audre Lorde.
Nicole Vanderbilt, Managing Director of Bookshop UK, said: “Bookshop.org is all about real people and real love for books, bringing a human touch to online shopping. We believe the personal recommendations you get from booksellers are one of the key reasons that it’s so important to support indies.
“Humans who have read responded to and recommended books will always be a better way into books than algorithms alone. We are excited to share the recommended reads for Pride Month from some of our indies, and we hope they’ll inspire, entertain, and further the understanding and empathy of readers of all ages.”
Why you should create an inclusive workplace library
Creating a workplace library where staff can borrow and swap books on inclusion topics is a subtle yet powerful change employers can make to workplace culture. Adding LGBT+ literature to this collection can make LGBT+ staff feel seen and valued, while LGBT+ job seekers could pick up on this when entering the office for an interview.
Having a workplace library full of inclusive LGBT+ literature could also act as an educational resource for other employees, enabling them to become better allies not just during Pride Month but the entire year-round. Finally, it doesn’t have to stop at LGBT+ subjects; employers, perhaps with the help of employee resource groups, should help decide what other books about underrepresented groups should be added to the collection.
To see more LGBT+ titles from Bookshop click here.
