Celebrating Pride Month!
Welcome to the Pride Month Virtual Book Display! Enjoy a book safely at home during the novel coronavirus pandemic to celebrate Pride!
Students, staff, and faculty may request that a print book from the University of Iowa Libraries be mailed to their residence. To make the request, sign into InfoHawk+ using your HawkID, find the book, and choose "Request Physical Item." You can find more books than listed here in InfoHawk+ by searching on keywords such as gays, lesbians, transgender, biography, fiction, essays, history, or literature. If you would like assistance, contact Laurie Neuerburg (laurie-neuerburg@uiowa.edu).
Some books below have known trigger warnings which are listed; for other books the trigger warnings are unknown.
UI Pride 2020 offers Pride at Home kits containing fun activities to do at home!
The UI Libraries supports anti-racism and amplifying the voices of marginalized people.
Biographies
Karamo by ISBN: 9781982111977Publication Date: 2019-03-05An insightful, candid, and inspiring memoir from Karamo Brown--Queer Eye's beloved culture expert--as he shares his story for the first time, exploring how the challenges in his own life have allowed him to forever transform the lives of those in need.
Brown, White, Black by ISBN: 9781250133557Publication Date: 2019-02-05Intimate and honest essays on motherhood, marriage, love, and acceptance Brown White Black is a portrait of Nishta J. Mehra's family: her wife, who is white; her adopted child, Shiv, who is black; and their experiences dealing with America's rigid ideas of race, gender, and sexuality. Her clear-eyed and incisive writing on her family's daily struggle to make space for themselves amid racial intolerance and stereotypes personalizes some of America's most fraught issues.
Sissy by ISBN: 9780735218826Publication Date: 2019-03-05Through revisiting their childhood and calling out the stereotypes that each of us have faced, Jacob Tobia invites us to rethink what we know about gender and offers a blueprint for a world free from gender-based trauma.
Graphic Novels
My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by ISBN: 9781626926035Publication Date: 2017-06-06My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness is an honest and heartfelt look at one young woman's exploration of her sexuality, mental well-being, and growing up in our modern age. Told using expressive artwork that invokes both laughter and tears, this moving and highly entertaining single volume depicts not only the artist's burgeoning sexuality, but many other personal aspects of her life that will resonate with readers.
A + E 4ever by ISBN: 9781590213902Publication Date: 2011-09-01Asher Machnik is a teenage boy cursed with a beautiful androgynous face. Guys punch him, girls slag him and by high school he's developed an intense fear of being touched. Art remains his only escape from an otherwise emotionally empty life. Eulalie Mason is the lonely, tough-talking dyke from school who befriends Ash. The only one to see and accept all of his sides as a loner, a fellow artist and a best friend, she's starting to wonder if ash is ever going to see all of her.
On a Sunbeam by ISBN: 9781250178145Publication Date: 2018-10-02Two timelines. Second chances. One love. A ragtag crew travels to the deepest reaches of space, rebuilding beautiful, broken structures to piece the past together. Two girls meet in boarding school and fall deeply in love--only to learn the pain of loss. With interwoven timelines and stunning art, award-winning graphic novelist Tillie Walden creates an inventive world, breathtaking romance, and an epic quest for love.
Fiction
Carry On by ISBN: 9781250049551Publication Date: 2015-10-06Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who's ever been chosen. That's what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he's probably right. Half the time, Simon can't even make his wand work, and the other half, he starts something on fire. His mentor's avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there's a magic-eating monster running around, wearing Simon's face.
Call Me by Your Name by ISBN: 9780374299217Publication Date: 2007-01-23Call Me by Your Name is the story of a sudden and powerful romance that blossoms between an adolescent boy and a summer guest at his parents' cliff-side mansion on the Italian Riviera.
I'll Give You the Sun by ISBN: 9780803734968Publication Date: 2014-09-16Jude and her twin brother, Noah, are incredibly close. At thirteen, isolated Noah draws constantly and is falling in love with the charismatic boy next door, while daredevil Jude cliff-dives and wears red-red lipstick and does the talking for both of them. But three years later, Jude and Noah are barely speaking. Something has happened to wreck the twins in different and dramatic ways . . . until Jude meets a cocky, broken, beautiful boy, as well as someone else; an even more unpredictable new force in her life..
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by ISBN: 9780062348678Publication Date: 2015-04-07Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now change-averse Simon has to find a way to step out of his comfort zone before he's pushed out--without alienating his friends, compromising himself, or fumbling a shot at happiness with the most confusing, adorable guy he's never met.
Like a Love Story by ISBN: 9780062839367Publication Date: 2019-06-04It's 1989 in New York City, and for three teens, the world is changing. Reza is an Iranian boy who has just moved to the city with his mother to live with his stepfather and stepbrother. He's terrified that someone will guess the truth he can barely acknowledge about himself. This is a bighearted, sprawling epic about friendship and love and the revolutionary act of living life to the fullest in the face of impossible odds.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by ISBN: 9781442408920Publication Date: 2012-02-21Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship--the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be. Please note that this book depicts: homophobia, transphobia, violence.
If I Was Your Girl by ISBN: 9781250078407Publication Date: 2016-05-03Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she's determined not to get too close to anyone. It's that at her old school, she used to be Andrew. Will the truth cost Amanda her new life, and her new love? Please note that this book depicts: sexual assault, suicide attempt.
We Are the Ants by ISBN: 9781481449632Publication Date: 2016-01-19Henry Denton has spent years being periodically abducted by aliens. Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Only he isn't sure he wants to. Weighing the pain and the joy that surrounds him, Henry is left with the ultimate choice: push the button and save the planet and everyone on it...or let the world--and his pain--be destroyed forever. Please note that this book depicts: suicide, bullying, PTSD, death.
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit by ISBN: 0871131633Publication Date: 1994-01-11This is the story of Jeanette, adopted and brought up by her mother as one of God’s elect. Zealous and passionate, she seems seems destined for life as a missionary, but then she falls for one of her converts. At sixteen, Jeanette decides to leave the church, her home and her family, for the young woman she loves.
We Are Okay by ISBN: 9780525425892Publication Date: 2017-02-14Until you leave with only your phone, your wallet, and a picture of your mother. Marin hasn't spoken to anyone from her old life since the day she left everything behind. No one knows the truth about those final weeks. Not even her best friend Mabel. But even thousands of miles away from the California coast, at college in New York, Marin still feels the pull of the life and tragedy she's tried to outrun. Now, months later, alone in an emptied dorm for winter break, Marin waits. Mabel is coming to visit and Marin will be forced to face everything that's been left unsaid and finally confront the loneliness that has made a home in her heart. Please note that this book depicts: depression, drowning, grief, suicide.
Less by ISBN: 9780316316125Publication Date: 2017-07-18Who says you can't run away from your problems? You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: your boyfriend of the past nine years is engaged to someone else. You can't say yes--it would be too awkward--and you can't say no--it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world. QUESTION: How do you arrange to skip town? ANSWER: You accept them all.
Nonfiction
We Are Everywhere by ISBN: 9780399581816Publication Date: 2019-05-07Through the lens of pride, protest, and progress, We Are Everywhere is a visual record and celebration of LGBTQ+ identity, life, modern history, and the queer liberation movement. Tracing queer history from the early 20th century before the 1969 Stonewall riots to today, this beautifully packaged book contains thousands of photos and pieces of ephemera with detailed captions that tell the story of the fight for LGBTQ+ civil rights.
Sister Outsider by ISBN: 0895941414Publication Date: 1984-06-01The leader of contemporary feminist theory discusses such issues as racism, self-acceptance, and mother- and woman-hood.
Real Queer America by ISBN: 9780316516037Publication Date: 2019-03-05In Real Queer America, Allen takes us on a cross-country road-trip stretching all the way from Provo, Utah to the Rio Grande Valley to the Bible Belt to the Deep South. Capturing profound cultural shifts underway in unexpected places and revealing a national network of chosen family fighting for a better world, Real Queer America is a treasure trove of uplifting stories and a much-needed source of hope and inspiration in these divided times.
Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold by ISBN: 9781138785847Publication Date: 2014-05-27Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold traces the evolution of the lesbian community in Buffalo, New York from the mid-1930s up to the early 1960s. Drawing upon the oral histories of 45 women, it is the first comprehensive history of a working-class lesbian community. These poignant and complex stories show how black and white working-class lesbians, although living under oppressive circumstances, nevertheless became powerful agents of historical change.
Whipping Girl by ISBN: 9780786747917Publication Date: 2009-05-20A provocative manifesto, Whipping Girl tells the powerful story of Julia Serano, a transsexual woman whose supremely intelligent writing reflects her diverse background as a lesbian transgender activist and professional biologist. In addition to debunking popular misconceptions about transsexuality, Serano makes the case that today's feminists and transgender activist must work to embrace and empower femininity -- in all of its wondrous forms.
The Letter Q by ISBN: 9780545399326Publication Date: 2012-05-01In this anthology, sixty-three award-winning authors such as Michael Cunningham, Amy Bloom, Jacqueline Woodson, Gregory Maguire, David Levithan, and Armistead Maupin make imaginative journeys into their pasts, telling their younger selves what they would have liked to know then about their lives as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transgender people.
Iowa Zines and Magazines
- Queer in the Corn BeltQueer in the Corn Belt: Healthcare Edition is a new zine produced by librarians, diversity workers, health science professionals, and LGBTQ+ community members in Iowa with the goal of sparking conversations about curbing the disparity in access to affirming healthcare and quality information for LGBTQ+ people. The inaugural issue focuses on LGBTQ+ health initiatives, stories, and resources across the state.
- GoGuideCovers the local LGBTQ+ community