Be honest with me, is February too early in the year to get nostalgic? It’s just that this month is so liminal; it sits in the strange space between two major transitional periods: the start of the new year and Spring. February is just February, too early to look back, too soon to look forward. So, why not transport ourselves to other Februarys?
Can you believe it’s been a year since Brontez Purnell’s 100 Boyfriends dropped? Or Randa Jarrar’s Love Is An Ex-Country? Or Zak Salih’s Let’s Get Back to the Party, which also happened to be the first-ever feature of May We Present…? What if I told you it’s been two years since Brandon Taylor’s Real Life hit the shelves? And five since Melissa Febos’s Abandon Me?!
Countless books have gotten us through previous February’s and countless others will get us through many more, but for now, here are some of the fantastic LGBTQ+ releases to look out for in February 2022.
- Don’t miss writer and perfumer Tanaïs’ autobiographical essay collection, In Sensorium, which uses smell and fragrance as a lens through which to interrogate topics such as war, patriarchy, inherited ancestral trauma, colonialism, and climate change.
- If you couldn’t get through Great Expectation in high school, try Furnace Creek by Joseph Allen Boone, which takes inspiration from Dickens’ novel and sets the iconic coming-of-age story in the American South of the 1960s and 70s.
- It’s never a bad time to read some theory! Check out Marquis Bey’s Black Trans Feminism which complicates traditional understandings of Blackness and gender nonnormativity to foreground the ways black trans feminism can subvert and dismantle.
- I would be remiss not to suggest a romantic read in the month of February so get yourself a copy of Kosoko Jackson’s I’m So (Not) Over You, in which ex-boyfriends Kian and Hudson find themselves back together in a fake relationship that starts to feel increasingly real…
- Speaking of ex’s, put aside your ex’s poorly written love poetry and pick up one (or all) of these poetry collections: BloodFresh by Ebony Stewart, Broken Halves of a Milky Sun by Aaiún Nin, Madness by Gabriel Ojeda-Sague, Stepmotherland by Darrel Alejandro Holnes.
As always, enjoy the treasures, and if our list is missing an author or a book, or if you have a book coming out next month, please email us with the month of your publication date in the subject line.
P.S. Looking for even more books to read? Check out our Bookshop page with handy lists of previous award winners, finalists, authors featured in our May We Present series, and more!
Bio/Memoir
- Girl, Transcending: Becoming the Woman I Was Born to Be by A.J. Clementine, Murdoch Books
- In Sensorium: Notes for My People by Tanaïs, Harper
- Playhouses: Sexuality and Fundamentalism by Sherry Scott, Black Rose Writing
- Please Miss: A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Penis by Grace Lavery, Seal Press
- My Handful of Stars: Coming Out at Age 90 by Kenneth Felts, Bookbaby
Fiction
- The Boy with a Bird in His Chest by Emme Lund, Atria Books
- Dead Collections by Isaac Fellman
- Don’t Cry For Me by Daniel Black, Hanover Square Press
- Furnace Creek by Joseph Allen Boone, Eyewear Publishing
- Getting Clean with Stevie Green by Swan Huntley, Gallery Books
- Kiss and Tell by John Sam Jones, Parthian
- The Upside-Down Tree by Alden Reimonenq, Aubade Publishing
Nonfiction
- Release the Beast: A Drag Queen’s Guide to Life by Bimini Bon Boulash, Viking
- This Monk Wears Heels: Be Who You Are by Kodo Nishimura, Watkins Publishing
- Woodsqueer: Crafting a Sustainable Life in Rural Maine by Gretchen Legler, Trinity University Press
- Queer Data: Using Gender, Sex and Sexuality Data for Action by Kevin Guyan, Bloomsbury Academic
LGBTQ Studies
- Black Trans Feminism by Marquis Bey, Duke University Press
- The Dissidence of Reinaldo Arenas: Queering Literature, Politics, and the Activist Curriculum by Sandro R. Barros, Rafael Ocasio, and Angela L. Willis, University of Florida Press
- The Poetics of Cruising: Queer Visual Culture from Whitman to Grindr by Jack Parlett, University of Minnesota Press
- Queer Whispers: Gay and Lesbian Voices of Irish Fictions by José Carregal, University College Dublin Press
Romance
- Beyond the Blue by T.J. O’Shea, Bella Books
- Boy at the Window by Lauren Melissa Ellzey, Bold Strokes Books
- Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur, Avon
- Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake, Berkeley Books
- Enchanted Autumn by Ursula Klein, Bold Strokes Books
- Her Heart’s Desire by Anne Shade, Bold Strokes Books
- Her Royal Happiness by Lola Keeley, Ylva Publishing
- I’m So (Not) Over You by Kosoko Jackson, Berkeley Books
- Legacy in the Blood by Catherine Maiorisi, Bella Books
- My Secret Valentine by Julie Cannon, Erin Dutton, and Anne Shade, Bold Strokes Books
- Plain English by Rachel Spangler, Bywater Books
- Radiant by Judy Sapphire, Bella Books
- Reading Her by Amanda Radley, Bold Strokes Books
- Two Knights Tango by Tagen Shepard, Bella Books
- The Willing by Lyn Hemphill, Bold Strokes Books
Mystery/Thriller
- Cold by Mariko Tamaki, Roaring Brook Press
- Deadly Secrets by VK Powell, Bold Strokes Books
- Devil’s Chew Toy by Rob Osler, Crooked Lane Books
- Perilous Obsession by Carsen Taite, Bold Strokes Books
- The Verifiers by Jane Pek, Vintage
- Watching Over Her by Ronica Black, Bold Strokes Books
Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror
- Bluebird by Ciel Pierlot, Angry Robot Books
- Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor, Scholastic Press
- Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin, Tor Nightfire
- Three Left Turns to Nowhere by J. Marshall Freeman, Nathan Burgoine, and Jeffrey Ricker, Bold Strokes Books
Young Adult/Children’s Literature
- Boy at the Window by Lauren Melissa Ellzey, Bold Strokes Books
- The Chandler Legacies by Abdi Nazemian, Balzer + Bray / Harperteen
- The CounterclockwiseI Heart by Brian Farrey, Algonquin Young Readers
- Golden Boys by Phil Stamper, Bloomsbury YA
- The MoonStone Girls by Brooke Skipstone, Skipstone Learning
- Once More with Chutzpah by Haley Neil, Bloomsbury YA
- Ophelia After All by Racquel Marie, Feiwel & Friends
- The Visitors by Greg Howard, G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Poetry/Plays
- All the Flowers Kneeling by Paul Tran, Penguin Books
- BloodFresh by Ebony Stewart, Button Poetry
- Broken Halves of a Milky Sun by Aaiún Nin, Astra House
- Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus by Taylor Mac, Theatre Communications Group
- Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Theatre Communications Group
- Headless John the Baptist Hitchhiking by C.T. Salazar, University of Chicago Press
- A Hundred Lovers: Poems by Richie Hoffman, Knopf Publishing Group
- Madness by Gabriel Ojeda-Sague, Nightboat Books
- Of Love and Other Maladies by Douglas Graham Wilson, Wordville
- Pleasure by Angelo Nikolopoulos, Four Way Books
- Stepmotherland by Darrel Alejandro Holnes, University of Notre Dame Press
- Then the War and Selected Poems by Carl Phillips, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux
- Ultramarine by Wayne Koestenbaum, Nightboat Books
Comics/Graphic Novels
- Alice in Leatherland by Iolanda Zanfardino and illustrated by Elisa Romboli, Black Mask Entertainment
- Cheery Cak by Susan Sainsbury, Markosia Enterprises
- Crema by Johnnie Christmas, Dante Luiz, and Ryan Ferrier, Dark Horse Books
Looking for something to read while waiting for February’s reads to be released? No problem, we got you covered!
January’s Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Literature
