May’s Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Literature

Author: Edit Team

June 2, 2022

It’s two days past May and you know what that means–every title on this Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Literature list is on shelves now! If you supported a queer or trans author by pre-ordering their book, you could even have a May 31 release in your hot little hand today.

This is a juicy cohort of books, from the secrets of Washington D.C. to the suffragettes, to the untold “bad” gays, hidden homosexual histories are storming the shelves. Even ducks are getting their time in the queer sun.

Memoirs that reflect on parent-child relationships or transforming into yourself, and a surplus of dark, light, and twisty stories just entered the world. There’s alligators and shadowy friendship, second chances with a crush, familiar songs (reinvented) to sing along to, and dozens of other ways to be transported.

Lambda Retreat Faculty and Poets Joy Ladin & TC Tolbert both have new collections out now.

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!

Would you like your upcoming title considered for a future Most Anticipated list? Email editor@lambdaliterary.org to let us know–be sure to include the publication date for your new release, title, author, genre, and Bookshop.org link if available.

Bio/Memoir

Brace for Impact by Gabe Montesanti, Dial Press
Don’t You Dare: Uncovering Lost Love by Gayla Turner
Ma and Me: A Memoir by Putsata Reang, MCD
Magic Season: A Son’s Story by Wade Rouse, Hanover Square Press
This Body I Wore by Diana Goetsch, FSG

Fiction

Boys Come First Aaron Foley, Belt Publishing
Galen’s Legacy Henry Alley, Rattling Good Yarns Press
Rainbow Rainbow: Stories by Lydia Conklin, Catapult
SINKHOLE by Davida G. Breier, University of New Orleans Press
Virgil Kills by Ronaldo V. Wilson, Nightboat Books
We Had to Remove This Post by Hanna Vervoets, Harper
What We Do in the Dark by Michelle Hart, Riverhead Books
Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour, Flatiron Books
You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi, Atria Books

Nonfiction

The Book of Non-Binary Joy: Embracing the Power of You by Ben Pechey, Sam Prentice, Jessica Kingsley Publishers
From Gay to Z: A Queer Comendium by Justin Sayre, Chronicle Books
The Lesbian Detective Novel: an annotated bibliography by Megan Casey, Krymesolverz Press
On Autumn Lake: Collected Essays by Douglas Crase, Nightboat Books
This Has Always Been a War: The Radicalization of a Working Class Queer by Lori Fox, Arsenal Pulp Press
TRAILED: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders Kathryn Miles, Algonquin Books
The Women’s House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison Hugh Ryan, Bold Type Books

LGBTQ Studies

Bad Gays: A Homosexual History by Huw Lemmey and Ben Miller, Verso
The Lives of Jessie Sampter: Queer, Disabled, Zionist by Sarah Imhoff, Duke University Press
Public Faces, Secret Lives: A Queer History of the Women’s Suffrage Movement by Wendy L. Rouse, NYU Press
Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington by James Kirchik, Henry Holt & Company
Sexed Up: How Society Sexualizes Us, and How We Can Fight Back by Julia Serano, Seal Press
Sex Is as Sex Does: Governing Transgender Identity by Paisley Currah, NYU Press
We Can Do Better Than This: 35 Voices On the Future of LGBTQ+ Rights by Beth Ditto, Own Jones, Olly Alexander and more, Vintage

Romance

A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall, Forever
A Long Way to Fall by Elle Spencer, Bold Strokes Books
Café Con Lychee by Emery Lee, Quill Tree Books
Chef’s Kiss by TJ Alexander, Atria Books
Forever by Kris Bryant, Bold Strokes Books
If I Don’t Ask by E.J. Noyes, Bold Strokes Books
Inherit the Lightning by Bud Gundy, Bold Strokes Books
Magnetic North by Marie Bassette, Bold Strokes Books
Never Been Kissed by Timothy Janovsky, Sourcebooks Casablanca
Perfect Rivalry by Radclyffe, Bold Strokes Books
Something to Talk About by Ronica Black, Bold Strokes Books

Mystery/Thriller

Barnabas Bopwright Saves the City by J. Marshall Freeman, Bold Strokes Books
Going to Beautiful by Anthony Bidulka, Stonehouse Publishing
Magic, Lies, and Deadly Pies by Misha Popp, Crooked Lane Books
The Second Cut by Louise Welsh, Canongate Books
Seeing Strangers by Sebastian J. Plata, Agora Books
With a Minor in Murder by Karis Walsh, Bold Strokes Books

Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror

Burn Down, Rise Up by Vincent Tirado, Sourcebooks
El Nuevo Mundo Brian Yapko, Rebel Satori Press
The Fae Keeper by H.E. Edgmon Inkyard Press
The Girl Who Outgrew The World by Zoje Stage, Lethe Books
Her Majesty’s Royal Coven Juno Dawson, Penguin Random House
The Hourglass Throne by K.D. Edwards, Pyr
Lost in the Archive by E. Saxey, Lethe Books
Persephone’s Mare by Iza Moreau, Black Bay Books
Siren Queen by Nghi Vo, Tordotcom
An Unreliable Magic by Rin Chupeco, Sourcebooks Fire

Young Adult Literature

All Signs Point to Yes by g. haron davis, Cam Montgomery, and more, Inkyard Press
Fight + Flight by Jules Machias, Quill Tree Books
If You Change Your Mind by Robby Weber, Inkyard Press
I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston, Macmillan
The Lesbiana’s Guide to Catholic School by Sonora Reyes, Balzer & Bray
Man O’War by Cory McCarthy, Dutton Books for Young Readers
The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester by Maya MacGregor, Astra Young Readers
Out of the Blue by Jason June, HarperTeen
Queer Ducks (and Other Animals): The Natural World of Animal Sexuality by Eliot Schrefer and Jules Zuckerberg, Katherine Tegen Books
Take Your Shot by Riley Scott, Bold Strokes Books

Children’s/Middle Grade Literature

Answers in the Pages by David Levithan
Every Bird a Prince by Jenn Reese, Henry Holt & Company
If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It by Lil Miss Hot Mess and Olga de Dios Ruiz, Running Press Kids
I Want to Be a Nurse When I Grow Up by Nurse Blake and Timmy Bauer
Strong by Rob Kearney and Eric Rosswood, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Twas the Night Before Pride by Joanna McClintick and Juana Medina, Candlewick Press