Cruising for Rivendell: What Draws Queer People to High Fantasy?
“I think people who are seekers can just really want something so badly to be real… but then you’re almost willing to do anything to make it real.”
Leah Johnson Is the Toni Morrison of Queer YA, It’s Time We Get Real About That Fact
“I just want people to know that at the core of every book I write, I want to center black girls in their wholeness and show that you can be flawed. You can be scared. You can be beautiful.”
EXCLUSIVE Excerpt: Meet Toni, One of the Main Characters in Leah Johnson’s Latest Novel “Rise to the Sun”
Leah Johnson’s new novel “Rise to the Sun” follows two Black queer girls falling in love at a music festival — here’s an exclusive excerpt!
Kristen Arnett on “With Teeth,” Lesbian Motherhood, and Sagittarius Chaos
“I want to read stories about dykes not acting right. I want to read about people being messy. So I want to write about that too.”
Lez Liberty Lit: Counterfactual Realities
How memory works, BOOK IT nostalgia, why pleasure should never be guilty and more.
Things I Read That I Love #319: Yacht Content, Poolside Content, White Claw Content
Topics include TikTok, Office Space, the actual office, being bipolar, Amazon, the Disgusting Food Museum, Ghost Ship, facial feminization surgery, gymnastics, the childcare industry and so much more!
My Teenage Obsession Gets a Second Life and a Queer Adult Spin
“Had my teen girl self been sure of herself and comfortably queer as I am today, she may not have become so obsessed with advice columns in the first place.”
Lez Liberty Lit: Spontaneous Touch
Rediscovering spontaneous touch through reading, starting something new, the secret feminist history of the Oxford Dictionary and more.
“We Are Watching Eliza Bright'”s Sixsterhood Is a Collective Narrator of Queer Possibility: An Interview with A.E. Osworth
When queer voices — especially those of trans people, and Black and brown people — are so frequently ignored or actively silenced, centering a narrator made up of them turned out to be an active effort.
Talking with Alison Bechdel about Feminist Martial Arts, Lockdown, and Her New Book “The Secret to Superhuman Strength”
“My bookish exterior perhaps belies it,” write Alison Bechdel in The Secret to Superhuman Strength, “but I’m a bit of an exercise freak.” That is, it turns out, an understatement. Alison Bechdel shares her process of writing this latest book over the last ten years, collaborating with her partner, and the “huge blossoming of lesbian culture.”
Read About the Real-Life Inspiration for “Benedetta” and More with these 5 Books on Queer & Trans Nuns
If you’d like more backstory on the real-life story of Sister Benedetta that inspired this film while you wait for its wide release, or just want more to read about real-life lesbian nuns, this is where to get started.
Lez Liberty Lit: Cultivate Weirdness
Have you been to your re-opened local library yet? Plus, how to write faster, why to get weird, what book publishing stands for and more.
“The Ex-Girlfriend of My Ex-Girlfriend is My Girlfriend” Is a Goddamn Delight
“The Ex-Girlfriend of My Ex-Girlfriend is My Girlfriend: Advice on Queer Dating, Love, and Friendship” is helpful, funny, aesthetically pleasing, and very very queer. In short? This book is a goddamn delight!
Which Lesbian Pulp Book Cover Are You?
Find out what mid-20th century gay stereotype you’d be!
Lez Liberty Lit Is Watching Eliza Bright
This is a We Are Watching Eliza Bright appreciation post. Plus: reading in the morning, the collapse of the dream of eternity, learning queer community and more.
“We Are Watching Eliza Bright” Is a Smart, Feminist Thriller – and Also a Very Cool F*cking Book
“We Are Watching Eliza Bright” is a direct response to GamerGate… and a searing indictment of the political nightmare it foreshadowed.
Things I Read That I Love #318: Eternally Hopeful That This Time There Will Be a Snack
Topics include marrying your platonic best friend, the rise of therapy-speak, COVID in prison, Homecoming at HBCUs, abuse documentaries, the road to terfdom, ranking the muppets and more!
Malice’s Lesbian Love Story (and Bitter Realities) Are Worthy Additions to Dark Fantasy Re-Tellings
The dark fairytale re-telling has become an established fantasy sub-genre in its own right, and Malice’s sweet lesbian love story and bitter realities are a more-than-worthy addition.
Joss Whedon and JK Rowling Don’t Own My Queer Narratives
Whedon and Rowling don’t get to lay claim to the stories we wrote, whether they were in fan fiction, on forums, or even just in our own, quiet thoughts. We own the narratives that give us meaning.
Power Is Searingly Political and Personal In Melissa Febos’ “Girlhood”
Secrets, silence, internalized misogyny, power, desire, and the catastrophic — yet very common — ways in which girls are harmed as they grow into women are all themes that Febos examines in “Girlhood,” an essay collection that blends memoir, journalism, and cultural critique.