Lesbrary Links: Queer Black Love in Literature, The Rise of the Queer Novella, and Censoring LGBTQ+ Kids’ Books

This has been a Pride like no other. Our usual celebrations were cancelled for COVID-19, and police brutality protests take us right back to where Pride began. LGBTQ people have Black trans people to thank for the LGBTQ rights movement, for Pride, and for so much that we take for granted, which is why it’s even more important for us to stand by them now. Police continue to target Black people of all genders, Black trans people continue to face so much violence, and the fight for rights is far from over. Black Lives Matter protests continue (even if they’re not getting as much news coverage), and there are many ways to support the movement. Check out the Black Lives Matter carrd for continually updated petitions to sign, places to donate, and ways to educate yourself. For white and white-passing people, I highly recommend reading Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad. It guides you through digging into your own internal racism and the work to be done, and it’s really opened my eyes to how far I have to go, and how much anti-racism education is a lifelong process.

The world of LGBTQ books and publishing has began to reckon with its own racism, with Black Lives Matter protests bringing more attention to the inequalities that Black authors have been raising the alarm about for years. Check out the Lesbrary’s recent article Let’s Talk About Racism in Lesbian Publishing for a brief overview of the most recent iteration of the conversation.

Breaking Jaie by S. Renée Bess  You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson  Pink Slip by Katrina Jackson  The Days of Good Looks by Cheryl Clarke  Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde

Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells  Escaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden  Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron  Bestiary by K-Ming Chang  Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta

Lesbrary link round ups are made possible by Patreon!
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Black. Queer. Southern. Women.: An Oral History by E. Patrick Johnson   We Are Everywhere by Matthew Riemer and Leighton Brown  How We Get Free edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor   Butch by Kanithea Powell  Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments by Saidiya Hartman

Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera  Odd One Out by Nic Stone   Miss Meteor by Tehlor Kay Mejia & Anna-Marie McLemore   Kings Queens and In-Betweens by Tanya Boteju   Every Body Looking by Candice Iloh

Court of Lions by Somaiya Daud  The Ever Cruel Kingdom by Rin Chupeco  Hurricane Child by Kacen Callender cover   This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone  Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

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