Happy Pride Month, Akron!
June is a time to celebrate LGBTQ+ culture. One easy way to do this is to consume products made by members of that community, including books written by queer authors.
This month’s Words on the Street is here to help you celebrate Pride month by representing as many members of the LGBTQ+ community as possible. From trans middle schoolers obsessed with cryptids to poetic comments on gender and gender norms, this list includes gay, lesbian, trans and gender-nonconforming authors and characters.
With these books, we hope to introduce you to your new favorite author and encourage you to support queer people every month, not just in June.
Akron’s annual Pride Festival and Equity March kicks off with a 5K run on Aug. 21. The festival and equity march take place on Aug. 22. Go here for more information.
“Giovanni’s Room” by James Baldwin
David is a young American expatriate searching for purpose in 1950s Paris. Though he has just proposed to his soon-to-be wife, Hella, he finds himself struggling with his own sexuality while she’s away on a trip. This struggle emerges when he finds himself tangled in bartender Giovanni’s sheets. They spend the whole summer together, and, through James Baldwin’s story, we’re able to peel back David’s layers to see how he became the cold, avoidant man he is.
Baldwin’s writing is among my favorite because of how he’s able to establish his characters and atmosphere in so few words. For example, we get a feel for just how claustrophobic Giovanni’s room is through the descriptions of its immense clutter. We also get a feel for Giovanni’s deep affection for David through Baldwin’s descriptions of their days together sitting in lofty Parisian cafés and walking along the Seine River. This book is a classic piece of queer literature because of its themes of desire, identity and societal pressures. David very clearly desires Giovanni, but because of societal norms that don’t include same-sex relationships, he doesn’t feel as though he can pursue anything long-term.
“Cosmic Love at the Multiverse Hair Salon” by Annie Mare
Tressa Fay Robeson is a well-known social media personality and in-demand hairdresser. Despite strong friendships and success in her professional career, her love life is lacking and she’s feeling unfulfilled. When Tressa Fay gets a text one day that was not originally meant for her, and the exchange becomes flirty, she decides that is the sign she’s been looking for. There’s just one problem: Tressa Fay and Meryl, the engineer she’s been bantering with, exist in two different universes. Tressa Fay is living five months ahead of Meryl. Plus, according to Meryl’s sister, Gayle, Meryl has been missing for a month. As Tressa Fay, her friends and Gayle begin to unravel the mystery of their disconnected timeline, Tressa Fay wonders if she can warn Meryl about her impending absence and prevent her disappearance.
This book by Annie Mare marries science fiction and romance in a clever way. We simultaneously explore the idea of multiverses, or the theory that multiple universes exist at the same time, and watch a budding romance through the adorable texts between the two women. By showing us Gayle’s love for Meryl as well as Tressa Fay’s friendships, this book also explores familial relationships, both blood and chosen. We’re given detailed looks into friends’ lives and inner conflicts, like Linds’ frustration with her feeling that her polyamorous relationship is not being taken seriously.
“Bury Your Gays” by Chuck Tingle
Misha, a horror movie scriptwriter, has just been nominated for his first Oscar for his live-action short, “Mouse Den,” after years of working in Hollywood. However, his excitement is short-lived when producers on his TV show, “Travellers,” tell him he has to drastically change the arc of two female characters, who he planned to have fall in love later in the series. Misha, who is queer, is given two options: either these characters must reveal that they are straight or they will be killed off. As Misha thinks through his choices, he finds that the aliens, serial killers and ghosts he’s written about in past scripts are coming to life and haunting him. He must quickly decide what is more important to him: his morals or his boss’ threat of taking him to court for breach of contract.
Chuck Tingle is a well-known pseudonymous queer author whose writing explores a variety of genres, such as horror, romance and fantasy. In this book, Tingle’s focus is queer resilience as he deals with themes of identity and corporate greed. As we learn about Misha’s career, we also learn about his back story, including how he came to terms with his sexuality. This book also explores a well-known horror movie trope, the titular “bury your gays.” This refers to the large number of gay characters who are killed off or used as a prop or plot device compared to heterosexual characters. The network executives tell Misha that data they’ve collected shows queer tragedy performs better than seeing queer characters succeed, furthering this trope.
“The Guncle” by Steven Rowley
This book by Steven Rowley centers around Patrick, a former sitcom star. Since his partner died in a car accident, Patrick has spent most of his days in Palm Springs using humor to shield himself from his grief. Then, tragedy strikes again. Patrick’s sister-in-law dies suddenly and it’s apparent his brother is not equipped to care for his children, so Patrick steps up to take care of his niece Maisie and nephew Grant. Gay Uncle Patrick, or GUP, comes up with his own “Guncle Rules,” or a list of guidelines he uses to help guide the kids through different situations. He teaches them how to dress themselves and what to do when a gay man hands you his phone to show you a picture (do not swipe). Though his rules helped distract the kids from their grief and give them a sense of routine, Patrick quickly realizes that life doesn’t always adhere to rules and he must learn how to respond to the kids’ needs accordingly.
Patrick has some very funny one-liners, such as “You can’t spell nemesis without me, sis.” He is also a character with a lot of depth, which is especially clear when he talks to the kids about their mother. Though the book deals with ongoing grief, it never feels too heavy because Patrick’s mourning is balanced by his quick-witted, sometimes-raunchy sense of humor and the ridiculousness of the Guncle rules.
“Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” by Alison Bechdel
This graphic memoir documents Alison Bechdel’s reckoning with her sexuality and her complicated relationship with her father. As Bechdel, who is a lesbian, begins to understand herself, she also peels back the layers of her father’s life to realize he may have not been fully truthful about his own sexuality. A few weeks after Bechdel has this realization, her father dies.
The memoir gets its name from the family-owned funeral home nicknamed the “fun home” where Bechdel grew up. The cartoonist also writes about her childhood in a house her father was constantly working on, which made her feel as though it got more attention from her father than she did.
Bechdel tells the story of her and her father’s relationship in a way that is both unflinching and tender. Bechdel’s father often held her and her brothers at arm’s length, and while we feel Bechdel’s frustrations, we also see her reaching to understand her father. This graphic memoir was adapted into a musical, which was performed at Playhouse Square in 2016, and is being adapted into a movie.
“Nonbinary Bird of Paradise” by Emilia Phillips
This poetry collection published by the University of Akron Press asks us to reimagine well-known mythical, biblical and classical stories. We begin the collection by reimagining Eve as not simply an extension of Adam, but as a queer woman with agency who is dissatisfied with Eden, Adam and God. To combat this, Eve attempts to create a female lover and challenge Adam and God’s power. Phillips also reexamines Shakespeare’s “Othello” and the stories of Io and Jupiter and Daphne and Apollo to give the women more agency.
Though this collection tackles themes like gender, power and identity, there is still quite a bit of humor. In the poem “Gender Reveal Party,” Phillips mocks the over-the-top theatrics of these celebrations. She provides a list of possible things the baby will be, such as “a cigarette after sex!” and “a custody battle!” to show readers how ridiculous it is to identify a baby by its gender before it’s even entered the world.
Throughout the collection, Phillips asks readers to look at the stories many use as warnings or lessons, such as the myth of Narcissus, and redefine them. Doing this not only makes them more relatable for a modern audience but also ensures all characters involved are given more agency regardless of gender.
“Dear Mothman” by Robin Gow
Noah and Lewis are the only two trans boys at their middle school, and their close friendship allows each boy to feel understood. But when Lewis dies in a car crash, Noah feels like he is left with no one who could possibly understand him or the pain he’s going through.
Well… there is one person — or thing. Before Lewis’ death, the friends became obsessed with cryptids, and particularly with Mothman. In an attempt to keep his connection with his best friend, Noah writes letters to Mothman about his grief, the pressure of discovering his gender identity without Noah by his side and everything in between.
This middle grade novel by Robin Gow is written in verse, a style that punctuates Noah’s strong feelings of grief. The language also helps highlight the beauty of Noah’s growth, including his ability to make friends who accept his quirks, like his love for playing pretend despite, perhaps, being too old for it. In addition to being trans, Noah is also neurodivergent and struggles with fears that his new friends will look down on him for his emotional outbursts and unique interests. Even though it’s written for kids aged 10-14, the explorations of identity and the emotions that come with being labeled as different are suitable for all ages.
