Happy Pride Month, fellow readers! To kick off our month-long celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, we wanted to share some of our favorite quotes from some LGBTQ authors.
We’re extremely excited to kick off our Pride Month celebration and shine a light on marginalized writers and activists who deserve to have their voices advocating for compassion and acceptance heard. We are thrilled to be able to use our platform to amplify the voices of members of the LGBTQ+ community.
1. James Baldwin
James Baldwin is an acclaimed author, poet, essayist, playwright, and activist. His award-winning novels include If Beale Street Could Talk, Go Tell It on the Mountain, and Nobody Knows My Name. His thoughtful, eloquent, and passionate writing tackles race in America, politics, and sexuality. Baldwin was an outspoken observer of race relations in America and the categorization of sexuality. He believed sexuality was fluid, rather than divided into categories.
2. Alice Walker
Alice Walker is a novelist, short story writer, poet, and social activist. She’s best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple, which depicts the lives of African American women and their companionship, resiliency, bravery, and friendship. Her other famous works include In Search of Our Mothers’ Gardens, Everyday Use, and The Temple of My Familiar.
3. Garrard Conley
Garrard Conley is best known for his autobiography, Boy Erased: A Memoir, which was adapted into a film in 2018. Boy Erased recounts Conley’s childhood as part of a fundamentalist family in Arkansas that enrolled him in conversion therapy. Conley writes of how he found the strength to break out of the community and search for his true self, as well as forgiveness. He’s also an LGBTQ+ activist and the creator and producer of the podcast UnErased, which explores the history of conversion therapy in America.
4. Rita Mae Brown
Rita Mae Brown isn’t just the author of bestselling books, she’s also an Emmy-nominated screenwriter and poet! Brown is the author of the coming-of-age novel Rubyfruit Jungle and Sneaky Pie Brown series. She was an active member of civil rights campaigns and is still an advocate for LGBTG+ and women’s rights.
5. Jeanette Winterson
Jeanette Winterson’s bestselling novels explore sexual identity and gender polarities. Her first novel, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, explores the relationship between a young lesbian and her adoptive mother and won the Whitbread Award for that year’s best first novel. Winterson’s other novels include Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?, Sexing the Cherry, and Frankissstein.
6. Kacen Callender
Kacen Callender is best known for their award-winning and bestselling novels for children, teens, and adults. Callender’s debut novel, Hurricane Child, won the Stonewall Book Award and Lambda Literary Award. Their other novels include King and the Dragonflies, Felix Ever After, and This Is Kind of an Epic Love Story.
7. Patricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith is best known for her psychological thriller novels like The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Price of Salt, Strangers on a Train, and The Blunderer. Several of her works have been adapted into films and won awards, including the Edgar Allan Poe Award from the Mystery Writers of America and the Silver Dagger Award from the Crime Writers’ Association.
8. David Sedaris
David Sedaris is best known for his books and collection of personal essays like Me Talk Pretty One Day, Naked, and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, and Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls. Sedaris’ work has earned him three Grammy Awards including Best Spoken Word and Best Comedy Album.
Again, happy Pride Month, and make sure to keep checking Bookstr’s site and social media pages for more Pride Month and LGBTQ+ content!