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It’s Lesbian Visibility Week! So, what better time to pick up a lesbian book? I was planning on making a list of new lesbian books to read and preorder, but I’m happy to say there were too many to choose from. So, I’ve narrowed it down to just new lesbian memoirs and biographies. Some of these came out last year, and some come out this year.
These memoirs and biographies explore the lives of lesbian activists, athletes, poets, actors, and more. We’ve got the memoir of an activist who fought for women’s, queer, and Maori liberation; the story of Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner’s time in a Russian penal colony and how she endured; a biography of the inimitable poet Audre Lorde and her legacy; a biography of the women who ran a lesbian helpline in the 1990s; and an inside look at The L Word from two of the stars.
Hine Toa: An Extraordinary Memoir by a Trailblazing Voice in Women’s, Queer and Maori Liberation Movements by Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku
This is a memoir of a prominent Māori lesbian activist and academic, Ngāhuia te Awekōtuku. It follows her journey from growing up a working-class girl from the pā to becoming a founding member of Ngā Tamatoa and the Women’s and Gay Liberation movements. Her experience of being denied entry into the United States in 1972 for being a lesbian was the catalyst for the formation of several of the first Gay Liberation groups in New Zealand.
Coming Home by Brittney Griner with Michelle Burford
On February 17, 2022, Brittney Griner was detained in Russia for mistakenly carrying hash oil that had been medically prescribed. For the first time, Griner shares what it was like to experience the Russian legal system and eventually be sent to a Russian penal colony. Days after her arrest, Russia invaded Ukraine, making Griner’s legal battle even more complicated. Griner describes how thoughts of her family, especially her wife Cherelle, helped keep her holding on to hope that one day she would be free. —Kendra Winchester
Survival Is a Promise: The Eternal Life of Audre Lorde by Alexis Pauline Gumbs
If you’re looking for a dry, birth-to-death, “here’s an accounting of the events of this person’s life” biography, this book is not for you. If you’re looking for a biographical poem, a multilayered close read of Audre Lorde’s poetry, a book that centers her relationships, an exploration of the ongoing legacy of her liberation work, an ode to complexity and nuance—then you’re going to want to run to this astounding, prismatic work of nonfiction. —Laura Sackton
Thank You For Calling the Lesbian Line by Elizabeth Lovatt (May 27)
In the 1990s in North London, there was the Lesbian Line, a lesbian hotline. This book blends memoir, history, and biography by alternating between the author’s coming out story and the lives of the women who ran the hotline. She also explores lesbian identity today: “What do we owe to our lesbian forebears? What can we learn from them when facing racism, transphobia and ableism in the community today?”
So Gay for You: Friendship, Found Family, and the Show That Started It All by Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey (June 3)
It’s hard to overstate the impact The L Word had on a generation of queer women. Now, Kate Moennig and Leisha Hailey are telling the story of the show that changed their lives. In addition to some behind-the-scenes looks at the making of The L Word and its rise in popularity, this is a reflection on their friendship and how it’s seen them through the hardest times in their lives.
20 New Queer Books Out This Week
As a bonus for All Access members, here are 20 new queer books out this week, including the T4T dark romance Where The Stars Are by Micah Flowers and an adorable F/F contemporary set at a Black-owned movie theater: If We Were a Movie by Zakiya N. Jamal.
Exclusive content for All Access members continues below.
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The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
This week, we’re highlighting a post that had our Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz feeling a type of way. Now, even five years after it was published, Vanessa is still salty about American Dirt. Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
Picture it: The United States, January 2020. A book with a pretty blue and white cover is making the rounds on the bookish internet. The blue ink forms a beautiful hummingbird motif against a creamy background, a bird associated with the sun god Huitzilopochtli in Aztec mythology. Black barbed wire, at once delicate and menacing, cuts the pattern into a grid resembling an arrangement of Talavera tiles. The package is eye-catching, ostensibly Mexican in feel, and evocative of borders and the migrant experience.
The book tells the story of a bookstore owner in Acapulco, Mexico, who is forced to flee her home when a drug cartel murders everyone in her family except for her young son at a quinceañera. She and the boy are forced to become migrants and embark on a treacherous journey north to the U.S. border, evading the cartel and befriending fellow migrants along the way. The book is being lauded not just as the “it” book of the season but as the immigration story. It gets the Oprah treatment and is praised by everyone from Salma Hayek to the great Sandra Cisneros, who called it “the great novel of Las Américas.”
It’s been over five years, and this book is still the bane of my existence.
Sign up to become an All Access member for only $6/month and then click here to read the full, unlocked article. Level up your reading life with All Access membership and explore a full library of exclusive bonus content, including must-reads, deep dives, and reading challenge recommendations.
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
This week, we’re highlighting a post that had our Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz feeling a type of way. Now, even five years after it was published, Vanessa is still salty about American Dirt. Read on for an excerpt and become an All Access member to unlock the full post.
Picture it: The United States, January 2020. A book with a pretty blue and white cover is making the rounds on the bookish internet. The blue ink forms a beautiful hummingbird motif against a creamy background, a bird associated with the sun god Huitzilopochtli in Aztec mythology. Black barbed wire, at once delicate and menacing, cuts the pattern into a grid resembling an arrangement of Talavera tiles. The package is eye-catching, ostensibly Mexican in feel, and evocative of borders and the migrant experience.
The book tells the story of a bookstore owner in Acapulco, Mexico, who is forced to flee her home when a drug cartel murders everyone in her family except for her young son at a quinceañera. She and the boy are forced to become migrants and embark on a treacherous journey north to the U.S. border, evading the cartel and befriending fellow migrants along the way. The book is being lauded not just as the “it” book of the season but as the immigration story. It gets the Oprah treatment and is praised by everyone from Salma Hayek to the great Sandra Cisneros, who called it “the great novel of Las Américas.”
It’s been over five years, and this book is still the bane of my existence.
Sign up to become an All Access member for only $6/month and then click here to read the full, unlocked article. Level up your reading life with All Access membership and explore a full library of exclusive bonus content, including must-reads, deep dives, and reading challenge recommendations.