Celebrate Pride 2024 With These 39 Best New LGBTQI+ Books

Show your pride, your support and your good taste with these 39 new LGBTQI+ books. You can celebrate Pride Month by going to parades and parties, displaying a flag, telling those you love that you support them and in a hundred other ways. But book lovers know June is also the perfect time to explore great new books by and about the LGBTQI+ community.

It wasn’t always that way. Decades ago, you’d struggle to find any new books to celebrate come Pride Month. Today? Today, you struggle to figure out which great new books to include in a roundup. Here you’ll find great new literature, works of history, books for kids (!) and teens, graphic novels, sex positive books for every orientation, romances in all shapes and sizes, sci-fi and fantasy and on and on.

So let’s get reading. At the head of the Parade is….

Celebrate Pride 2024 With These 39 Best New LGBTQI+ Books

1. Mona of the Manor by Armistead Maupin
2. My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two by Emil Ferris
3. Oye by Melissa Mogollon

For 50 years, Armistead Maupin has chronicled life in Tales of the City. What a treat to find him still in top form as he brings Mona to merry olde England in Mona of the Manor.

The two-part graphic novel My Favorite Thing Is Monsters is easily one of the most acclaimed works of the year, as well as the rare comic book to cross over to mainstream success a la Maus and Fun Home. Author Emil Ferris captures the life of a ten year old girl obsessed with horror movies in a bold visual style, as well as keen empathy for the perspective of a child figuring out the world around her…and herself.

Melissa Mogollon has a blast with a teenage Colombian American girl rooming with her grandmother when she’d rather be out flirting with girls. It's all told via an extended phone conversation between our hero Luciana and her older sister Mari.

Mona of the Manor by Armistead Maupin ($28.99; Harper) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

My Favorite Thing Is Monsters Book Two by Emil Ferris ($44.99; Fantagraphics) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Oye by Melissa Mogollon ($29; Hogarth) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

4. Starring Joan Crawford by Samuel Garza Bernstein
5. Hollywood Pride by Alonso Duralde
6. With Love, Mommie Dearest by A. Ashley Hoff

Two new books chronicle actor Joan Crawford, a queer icon for a thousand different reasons. Starring Joan Crawford looks at her career and her meaning, at why Crawford continues to resonate. With Love, Mommie Dearest focuses on the movie starring Faye Dunaway, a biopic about Crawford’s parenting skills, or lack thereof. It’s called an “unintentional” camp classic, but any movie trying to be a camp classic inevitably fails, so that’s redundant. Both books have fun while offering the goods.

But why settle for just one iconic star? Turner Classic Movies oversees a string of movie-related books and the latest is Hollywood Pride by esteemed film critic and writer Alonso Duralde. It’s a coffee-table worthy celebration of queer cinema chock full of great movie stills. But it’s also a seriously fun survey of movies both coded (Rock Hudson, anyone?) and openly gay from early silents up to Brokeback Mountain and the diverse movies of today. Every film and star you can think of is both included and given their due. Duralde gets you streaming movies you’ve never seen or haven’t watched in years, armed with new insights and context that make this far more than just a fun work to browse in. But you will have fun browsing it, too!

Starring Joan Crawford by Samuel Garza Bernstein ($45; Applause) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Hollywood Pride by Alonso Duralde ($40; Running Press Adult) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

With Love, Mommie Dearest by A. Ashley Hoff ($19.99; Chicago Review Press) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

7. Now, Conjurers by Freddie Kölsch
8. The Z Word by Lindsay King Miller
9. Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella

If you're a horror fan, in the old days you had to watch films like A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge just to enjoy some coded queerness. Nowadays you’ll find some of the best works in every medium and genre cover a rainbow of possibilities. Horror fiction–even ones geared towards teens–show how far we’ve come.

Now, Conjurers finds a coven of queer teens taking on a demon. They’re not hunted because they’re queer; they just are queer. If MTV still did great TV, this would be perfect for them. The Z Word features our bisexual hero Wendy struggling to deal with a breakup, which isn’t easy when your ex is dating all your friends and the zombie apocalypse is happening. And even the title Bored Gay Werewolf will jolt older queer folk. They must happily adjust to a world of Euphoria and Heartstoppers on TV and books about a gay werewolf who offs guys that ghost him on dating apps in this hilarious novel that lots of teens (gay and straight) will read just because it’s so dang funny and not worry for a moment about brandishing the cover.

Now, Conjurers by Freddie Kölsch ($19.99; Union Square & Co.) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

The Z Word by Lindsay King Miller ($16.99; Quirk Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Bored Gay Werewolf by Tony Santorella ($24.99; Atlantic Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

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10. Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring by Brad Gooch
11. The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul
12. Another Word For Love by Carvell Wallace

Writer Brad Gooch’s career goes from strength to strength. Not many people can move from working as a model to turning out quickie bios on Hall & Oates and Billy Idol to substantive works of fiction, memoir and acclaimed biographies of poet Frank O’Hara and writer Flannery O’Connor. Now Gooch proves the perfect author to capture the all-too-brief career of artist Keith Haring and the turbulent, exciting times they both lived through.

No one knows RuPaul better than RuPaul and their new memoir The House of Hidden Meanings is both revealing and fiercely inspirational.

Journalist Carvell Wallace isn’t well known like Haring and RuPaul. But his memoir Another Word For Love shows the struggles and triumphs of growing up queer and Black in America. It should prove just as powerful and resonant for readers as the journeys of those icons.

Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring by Brad Gooch ($40; Harper) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

The House of Hidden Meanings by RuPaul ($29.99; Dey Street Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Another Word For Love by Carvell Wallace ($28; MCD) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

13. The Bump by Sidney Karger
14. You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian
15. The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley

Why so serious? Let’s have a little fun. Sidney Karger follows up his hit novel Best Men with a comedic road trip about two guys headed to LA for the birth of their surrogate baby, with all the bumps along the way one could hope for.

Cat Sebastian delivers another terrific period romance in her Mid-Century NYC series, this time focusing on a closeted baseball player in 1960 New York and the equally closeted reporter assigned to profile him.

Steven Rowley takes The Guncle Abroad in a heartfelt continuation of the adventures of gay uncle Patrick O’Hara and his bond with Patrick's niece and nephew. This time the kids are not so thrilled with their dad’s new fiance. So Patrick shepherds them to the wedding in Italy while struggling with his own issues over a stalled acting career, a threateningly cool “launt” (lesbian aunt) and a nonexistent love life.

The Bump by Sidney Karger ($18; Berkley) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian ($18.99; Avon) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley ($29; G.P. Putnam’s Sons) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

16. The Other Olympians by Michael Waters

You may instinctively feel transgender people deserve respect and equal rights in all areas of society. You may know the panic over queer and transgender and nonbinary athletes competing in sports is just prejudice pretending to be about justice. But your eyes will be opened by Michael Waters’ work of history The Other Olympians. It documents the story of transgender and intersex athletes, especially those who made worldwide headlines in the 1930s when a brave handful claimed their true gender and their desire to continue competing, but as men (in the cases of two people, one a world-famous sprinter and the other a runner). Instead of progress, they faced backlash, along with an International Olympic Committee determined to ignore the atrocities of Nazi Germany so the 1936 Olympics would run smoothly. The result? Almost one hundred years of the IOC policing and demonizing gender.  It’s a prejudice born of anti-queer hatred and even anti-female (women shouldn’t be “athletic” since it’s not feminine). Waters tells the story with intelligence and clarity. 

The Other Olympians by Michael Waters ($30; Farrar, Straus and Giroux) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

17. Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg
18. A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland
19. Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang

Three more works of literary fiction likely to be on many lists of the best books of the year–not just the best LGBTQI+ books of the year, but the best, period. Housemates is enjoying the most attention so far. It’s a road trip story of two queer roomies who bond over their love of art (Leah is a writer and Bernie a photographer) while striving to honor the legacy of Bernie’s mentor and college professor.

Author Rose Sutherland offers a modern sapphic updating of the selkie wife folk tale that’s already scoring with readers and those critics smart enough to seek it out.

Cinema Love travels from rural China to Chinatown in New York City with a story transcending decades. In Jiaming Tang’s novel, love and friendship are inextricably intertwined for a closeted man and the woman he marries as they emigrate to America. It too is universally admired by critics.

Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg ($29; Hogarth) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

A Sweet Sting of Salt by Rose Sutherland ($18; Dell) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Cinema Love by Jiaming Tang ($28; Dutton) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

20. The Song of Achilles: Folio Edition by Madeline Miller

Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles is a modern classic, a novel that retold one of the enduring tales of Western civilization and rocked people’s worlds simply by focusing in on the story that was always there in The Iliad–the love between Achilles and Patroclus. (Her follow-up Circe is equally terrific.) Here the Folio Society delivers a coffee-table worthy edition of the book complete with gorgeous artwork by Julie Dillon that echoes the classical world. Mary Renault would be very proud (and very jealous of the artwork).

20. The Song of Achilles: Folio Edition by Madeline Miller; illustrated by Julie Dillon ($90; Folio Society) Buy now on FolioSociety.com

21. The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag
22. The Science of Ghosts by Lilah Sturges; illustrated by El Garing
23. Homebody by Theo Parish

Three terrific graphic novels (ok, comic books! Embrace your identity, people!) about queer, trans and nonbinary people. Wow.

The Deep Dark shows Magdalena Hererra’s very complicated life: fooling around with a closeted girl in a relationship, care giver for her grandmother, high school senior and part-time worker with a full-time load of responsibilities. And that doesn’t even include the fantastical secret lurking in her basement that drains Magdalena of power each and every night….

The supernatural is also front and center in The Science of Ghosts. In it, transgender parapsychologist Joy is turned inside out by the challenges of an unhappy ex-wife, unsolved murders and adjusting to a new relationship in her post-transition life, Dealing with ghosts? That’s the easy part.

Theo Parish’s Homebody is a tender memoir about their journey of discovery: the right haircut, the right pride, the right way to understand their sexuality and the lightbulb moment of the right word–nonbinary–that captures who they are.

The Deep Dark by Molly Knox Ostertag ($16.99; Graphix) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

The Science of Ghosts by Lilah Sturges; illustrated by El Garing ($23.99; Legendary Comics) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Homebody by Theo Parish ($26.99; HarperAlley) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

24. The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron
25. Rough Trade by Katrina Carrasco
26. The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden

The lives of queer people in the past aren’t just a chance to keep perspective on how far we’ve come. They also illuminate the universal nature of romance and identity and the struggle for self-acceptance, whatever date is on the calendar.

The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye is a thrilling tale of piracy and the queer woman of color finding herself onboard the buccaneering ship of Blackhand, the one place in the world where she might be accepted for all of who she is…and it’s based on a true story.

Rough Trade–great title!– is set in the Washington Territory of the late 1800s. Again, a life of crime provides freedom and acceptance of a sort for Alma and her opium-smuggling crew. Until men start dying, Alma’s old flame Bess (a one-time Pinkerton agent) shows up and one of Alma’s men starts sleeping with a new guy in town that starts asking one too many questions.

We only head back to the 1960s of the Dutch countryside in The Safekeep. But it feels worlds away as Isabel struggles with an attraction to her brother’s exhausting and annoying new girlfriend. Crime plays a role again! Petty thievery around their house leads to a startling revelation in this simmering, sexy work.

The Ballad of Jacquotte Delahaye by Briony Cameron ($28.99; Atria Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Rough Trade by Katrina Carrasco ($28; MCD) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden ($28.99; Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

27. DIY: The Wonderfully Weird History and Science of Masturbation by Erik Sprankle PsyD
28. Butt Seriously by Dr. Evan Goldstein

It’s not just Dr. Ruth. The queer community has long openly discussed sexuality and health in blunt and practical terms. For one reason, during the AIDS era it was a matter of life and death for many gay men and their stalwart friends in the lesbian community. Ever since, topics and ideas and practices often pop up in queer culture and then go mainstream. Yet people still blush over the most basic of subjects. Here are two books written for everyone that tackle such matters with humor and science. Even their titles–DIY for a book about masturbation and Butt Seriously for a book about anal health– let you know it’s okay to giggle. But it’s not okay to be ill-informed about your body and the latest consensus on what is healthy and smart when caring for it and–yes–enjoying it.

DIY: The Wonderfully Weird History and Science of Masturbation by Erik Sprankle PsyD ($17.99; Union Square & Co.) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Butt Seriously by Dr. Evan Goldstein ($21.99; Balance) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

29. Don’t Want You Like A Best Friend by Emma R. Alban
30. Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun
31. Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings

Three romances for the women in your life…and the women and men who just love good stories.

Don’t Want You Like A Best Friend crosses Bridgerton with The Parent Trap in a queer Victorian romance that marks a very promising debut for Emma R. Alban. It's only a pity Hayley Mills couldn't make a cameo.

Author Alison Cochrun is also a relative newcomer, but her third novel proves those first successes weren’t beginner’s luck. In Here We Go Again, two one-time best friends now in their 30s and spinning their wheels in life are forced into a cross country road trip with their beloved English teacher who only has months to live. Cue the montage of humor, heartbreak and a happy ending (I hope!).

Opposites attract in Late Bloomer when two women both claim they are the rightful owners of the Thistle and Bloom Farms. If you believe they’ll start working together to put the ailing North Carolina flower farm back on its feet and yet disagree on practically everything about how to do so and try and fight off their growing attraction to each other, well, congratulations! You’ve been paying attention.

Don’t Want You Like A Best Friend by Emma R. Alban ($18.99; Avon) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Here We Go Again by Alison Cochrun ($17.99; Atria Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings ($18; Griffin) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Related: Author Kate DiCamillo on the Book That Changed Her Life and Other Favorites

32. The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang
33. The Mars House by Natasha Pulley
34. Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow

In The Emperor and the Endless Palace, two men fated to be with each other are reincarnated over and over again throughout the centuries as they struggle to come together and stay together, the universe be damned. Think Kim Stanley Robinson's marvelous The Years of Rice and Salt. 

The Mars House is a sci-fi novel about a male ballet dancer struggling to survive on a terraformed Mars when he is forced into an arranged marriage with a female politician.  She scores political points by demonizing immigrant Earthpeople…like our hero. Author Natasha Pulley toys with gender norms and unexpected queer romance in this novel with obvious real world implications, the sort of commentary the best sci-fi offers time and again.

Rebecca Fraimow has a blast with the queer con artist at the heart of Lady Eve’s Last Con. You know how it goes: a man abandons your little sister so you pose as a debutante on an interstellar cruise ship so you can break his heart…and steal half his fortune. What you don’t expect is to fall in love with the mark’s brilliant and sexy older sister. Besides, we must give a shout out to any work about con artists that nods to Preston Sturges. Well done, Fraimow!

The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang ($28.99; MIRA) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

The Mars House by Natasha Pulley ($32.9; Bloomsbury Publishing) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Lady Eve’s Last Con by Rebecca Fraimow ($16.99; Solaris) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

35. The Last Boyfriends Rules for Revenge by Matthew Hubbard
36. The Worst Perfect Moment by Shivaun Plozza
37. The Breakup Lists by Adib Khorram
38. Thirsty by Jas Hammonds

For most of history, queer kids rarely existed in literature–much less, literature geared towards teens–and if they did the characters were invariably coded or cliches or tragic or all three at once. So four Young Adult books with teens of all types remain a treasure not to be taken lightly. Life isn’t any easier for teens, but at least they’re not freighted with doom.

In The Last Boyfriends Rules for Revenge, three gay kids in small town Alabama (!) plot revenge against their uncool ex-boyfriends…and spark rebellion in their community.

The Worst Perfect Moment offers a glimpse of the afterlife when Tegan Masters must work through some issues before moving on from a limbo of sorts. Unfortunately, she has to do so while stuck in a rundown New Jersey hotel where Tegan spent the worst weekend of her life. Back when she was still alive, of course.

In The Breakup Lists, the high school drama department provides all sorts of drama for stage manager Jackson Ghasnavi, who is definitely not crushing on the swim team captain Liam when said Liam becomes the leading man of the school’s new production.

School isn’t easy just because you can be out. (You have watched Heartstopper and Euphoria, haven’t you?) In the compelling thriller Thirsty, Blake and her girlfriend Ella really, really want to join the secret sorority the Serena Society. So not a good idea, but you try telling them. Kids just don’t listen!

The Last Boyfriends Rules for Revenge by Matthew Hubbard ($19.99 Delacorte Press) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

The Worst Perfect Moment by Shivaun Plozza ($19.99; Holiday House) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

The Breakup Lists by Adib Khorram ($19.99; Dial Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

Thirsty by Jas Hammonds ($19.99; Roaring Brook Press) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

39. Pretty Ugly by David Sedaris; illustrated by Ian Falconer

Two titans of queer literature partnered on this picture book before the untimely death of Ian Falconer. Happily, humorist and memoirist David Sedaris and Falconer (the creator of Olivia) deliver a Shrek-like treat with Pretty Ugly, a wickedly funny ode to not fitting in which kids and adults will equally enjoy. A perfect gift for your kids or nieces and nephews or any child in your life and let’s be honest, for yourself. No home is complete without a small library of picture book classics because you never know when the young and the young at heart will turn up.

Pretty Ugly by David Sedaris; illustrated by Ian Falconer ($18.99; TOON Books) Buy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop.org

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