We asked Kaitlyn Mahoney, owner of Under the Umbrella Bookstore in Salt Lake City, Utah, to recommend 10 audiobooks for Pride Month. “No other bookstore in the area specifically caters to the queer community, providing a safe space for queer folks of all ages to congregate and celebrate their stories,” Under the Umbrella notes on their website. “We share queer stories from around the world and highlight the talents and insights of local and international members of this community.”
How Far the Light Reaches
by Sabrina Imbler
Sabrina’s essays are a gift. Not only are they a glorious narrative about queerness, gender, and race, but you’ll learn so many cool facts about deep sea creatures—and who doesn’t want to learn more about deep sea creatures? This was hands-down my favorite book of 2022, and I will read anything Sabrina writes moving forward.
Elatsoe
by Darcie Little Badger
We love Doctor Little Badger in this house (bookstore)! How wonderful to see friendship prioritized and asexuality respected. Its rich, haunting atmosphere connects Elatsoe’s Lipan Apache heritage and modern knowledge of ghost-calling in a supernatural fantasy that isn’t overly dark or overly trite.
Felix Ever After
by Kacen Callender
This read has all the quintessential messy and wonderful ingredients of a typical high school drama but it centers trans and queer characters of color, and I bet you’ll binge read it as quickly as I did!
Cemetery Boys
by Aiden Thomas
The STORY! The REP! Seriously, so great. Realistic Latinx trans rep? Check. Magical Brujx family? Check. Not-too-mysterious murder mystery? Check. A goofy ghost you’ll fall in love with? Check. Supportive cousins and queer found family? Check, check, check.
Little Thieves
by Margaret Owen
A lesser-known fairy tale retelling but from the perspective of the villain with demisexual rep? Yes, please. This intriguing Germanic fantasy world normalizes queerness, morally gray women, and falling in love with human calculators (you’ll understand once you read it, I promise!).
Mistakes Were Made
by Meryl Wilsner
This is my go-to recommendation for a steamy bisexual Sapphic love story. Literally four minutes in, you’ll experience the first of many scenes that will have you taking notes for later.
Before We Were Trans
by Kit Heyam
How do we talk about our trans and gender variant ancestors when they didn’t have the word transgender to talk about themselves? This fascinating exploration on what it means to be transgender will expand the way that you think about trans and queer history.
Kapaemahu
by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu
Narrated by the author in both English and Hawaiian, this is a beautiful addition to any gender-diverse children’s book collection. It tells the story of four Mahu–people with dual masculine and feminine spirits—who brought healing arts from Tahiti to Hawai’i, and shares the importance of cultural heritage, gender identity, and environmental activism with young folks.
Care Work
by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha
If you are at all interested in disability justice and building accessible communities—whether you are disabled or not, queer or not—this collection of essays by a disabled queer femme of color is a heart-opening and challenging call to action.
Even Though I Knew the End
by C.L. Polk
A gorgeous novella set in magical 1940s Chicago—which is not queer-friendly and where queer love is an act of courage. You’ll only regret that it is so short and you don’t get more of Helen and Edith’s story. This is a lesbian romance for the ages, and you’ll want to read it again and again.
