Drawn to Comics: Kate Beaton Tells Us What Would Happen if Lois Lane Met Wonder Woman
Kate Beaton talks to Autostraddle about why Ida Wells is her hero, the fascinating Filles de Roi, and obviously Wonder Woman.
Drawn to Comics: Maggie Thrash’s Debut “Honor Girl” Captures Teenage Camp Queerness
“So much of being a girl in this society is about people trying to CONTAIN you. When I think about camp, I get this gut feeling, remembering the sky above my head. No walls, no parents. During the school year, you’re just trying to survive. Camp is a chance to be someone freer- an actual person.”
Hidden Gems of Queer Lit: Rae Theodore’s “Leaving Normal: Adventures in Gender”
A smart and eloquent memoir about becoming butch, Leaving Normal: Adventures in Gender will resonate if you have a proud copy of Stone Butch Blues on your shelf, or listen to “Ring of Keys” from the Fun Home musical on repeat.
Hidden Gems of Queer Lit: Jennica Harper’s “What It Feels Like for a Girl”
What It Feels Like for a Girl centers on two 13-year-olds who meet in gym class: the narrator, addressed in a piercing second person that has the effect of melding our stories with hers, and precocious Angel, who guides her through a labyrinth of sexual exploration via magazines and videos.
Read A F*cking Book: Tanwi Nandini Islam’s “Bright Lines” Adds Color To LGBTQ Fiction
In a multigenerational, transcontinental tale, Bright Lines weaves together issues of gender and sexuality across cultures, migration, in/dependence, family secrets, conflict and tragedy, and well, botany.
Read A F*cking Book: The Right Side Of History
These 30 essays provide important context and understanding of individuals, movements and moments that formed the greater whole of a long fight for queer liberation, one that is far from over but which has made incredible strides in just a few decades.
Drawn to Comics: “Not Funny Ha-Ha” Takes a Frank and Personal Look at Abortions
Abortion, the actual thing and not the Political Issue, can be really difficult to talk about, and that’s exactly what makes such an easily approachable book like this so necessary.
Hidden Gems of Queer Lit: “Mermaid in Chelsea Creek” and the Chelsea Trilogy
“If you adore any of Tea’s other books, you’ll find Mermaid in Chelsea Creek to be every bit as transgressive and illuminating. If you ever escaped into the magical realms created by J.K. Rowling or Tamora Pierce, or if you got hooked on what dystopian YA like the Hunger Games had to say about class and privilege, you’ll relish Mermaid’s intriguing mixture of magic and social realism.”
Fool’s Journey: Poet Leah Horlick Explores Trauma, Healing and Transformation Through Tarot Symbolism
Poet Leah Horlick’s book of poems For Your Own Good uses the symbolic language of the tarot as a vehicle to express some of the most traumatic experiences of her life. These poems tell the story of an abusive relationship and its aftermath, using tarot cards and tarot symbolism to do so.
Hidden Gems of Queer Lit: Irena Klepfisz’s “Dreams of an Insomniac”
“If you have a cherished copy of Sisterhood is Powerful on your shelf, or a fascination with the ways tragedies are remembered and forgotten, you’ll enjoy this book.”
Read a F*cking Book: “Out of Orange” is the Real Life Alex Vause’s True Story
You know about Alex Vause, but you may not know much about Catherine Cleary Wolters, the drug-smuggling lesbian in thick-rimmed glasses who inspired her character. That’s where Out of Orange comes in.
Read a F*cking Book: Amber Dawn’s “Where The Words End And My Body Begins”
Although it is an individual’s work, it feels collective and empowering to see so many voices and ideas represented in this set of glosa poems.
Read A F*cking Book Review: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is Living Her Truths in “Bodymap”
I told myself 2015 was the year of living my truths. I’m excited to have a guide in this book, and in Leah’s soulful mission to love and be loved — the rest of it be damned.
Read a F*cking Book Review: “She Speaks Poetry” Is a Book for the Revolution
“These poems are middle fingers to the law, to the man, to history, to the future, to the people who continue to fight us for our lives.”
The Speakeasy Book Club #2: Come Talk About “Borderlands/La Frontera” With Us
“I didn’t want the only thing I had ever known to be taken away from me. So I ignored my desires in order not to lose everything I loved.”
“Untold Stories” Help Us Transform the Culture of Stigma Around Reproduction
Untold Stories directly disrupts the ongoing and frustrating conversation around abortion and reproductive health as a political wedge issue. It drives home the point, without proselytizing, that people’s complex reproductive lives should be at the center of conversations about reproductive health and rights.
Rebel Girls: Why You Need Barbara Smith and “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around”
These shouldn’t be revelations. These should be the frameworks of our revolution.
Read a F*cking Book: Liz Prince’s “Tomboy”
Liz Prince’s new graphic memoir Tomboy is a smart and outright cute exploration of girlhood by a girl who didn’t ‘fit’ but survived to tell the tale.
The Speakeasy Book Club #1: Let’s Talk About “Sister Outsider”
“Without community there is no liberation, only the most vulnerable and temporary armistice between an individual and her oppression.”
“Queer and Trans Artists of Color: Stories of Some of Our Lives” is a Vital Catalogue of QTPOC Voices
This is simultaneously one of the most informative and inspirational books I’ve read in a long time.It’s like a primer for how to be an effective artist or community worker.