5 Black Queer Writers To Add To Your Shelves
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“One doesn’t have to operate with great malice to do great harm. The absence of empathy and understanding are sufficient.”
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Although June is Pride month here in the U.S., October 11 is National Coming Out Day. It’s a reminder that there is power in claiming your identity and in being an ally for others. This year marks the 30th anniversary of this day of remembrance, started in 1988 during the first March for Lesbian and Gay Rights in Washington.
This post is short and sweet- simply to celebrate 5 great LGBTQ writers that I admire and think you should too. Many are writers I read or follow on social media.
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Aryka Randall (She's Just Not That Into You: The Fab Femme's Guide to Queer Love and Dating)
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I found her book browsing through Barnes and Nobles a few years ago and I bought her book on impulse. It's a cute how-to on finding love. Now she stars in a series called "30" based on her book, which is screened in Huston this past June.
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Staceyann Chin (The Other Side of Paradise)
Chin is a poet and activist living in New York City. I was moved by her intense piece “Not My Fault” that I saw on youtube and have been following her on social media since. She is active in her community and has awesome “living room protest” videos with her young daughter, Zuri.
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Jacqueline Woodson (The Day You Begin, Another Brooklyn)
Woodson writes books at every reading level from picture books to adult fiction. Her young adult memoir-in-verse, Brown Girl Dreaming, won the National Book Award in 2014. Her work is prolific and engaging, and most notably should not be missed.
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J Mase III (“If I Should Die Under the Knife, Tell My Kidney I was the Fiercest Poet Around”)
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J Mase III is a Trans poet based in Seattle and blogs for the Huffington Post. He also spends his time as an educator on the needs of LGBTQ youth by way of in person shows, curriculum development, and consulting work. He is the founder of “awQward, the first ever trans & queer people of color specific talent agency.”
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Roxane Gay (Hunger, Not That Bad, Ayti)
Although I've only read Gay's nonfiction, she is well known for her writing across genres. From Black Panther comics to novels and scathing opinion pieces, Gay writes honestly and direct.
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Who are your favorite LGBTQ authors? Are you reading anything special for National Coming Out Day?
About the Author
Black & Bookish is the brainchild of Antoinette Scully, educator and lover of all things bookish. She is on a quest to fill your bookshelves with beloved authors of the African Diaspora. When she's not hanging out online, she's living it up as the mother of two rambunctious girls and wife of a local filmmaker.