Rainbow Reads for Adults

Recommended books by and about 2SLGBTQQIA+ people.

Updated May 8, 2025
W
Winnipeg Public Library
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.

1

Householders
Cayley, Kate
Paper Book
A 2022 Firecracker Award for Fiction Finalist * A CBC Books and Quill & Quire Anticipated Fall Book * A Lambda Literary Most Anticipated LGBTQIA+ Title * A 49th Shelf Book of the Year 2021 Linked short stories about families, nascent queers, and self-deluded utopians...
Canadian author.

2

A history of my brief body
Belcourt, Billy-Ray
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE HUBERT EVANS NON-FICTION PRIZE FINALIST FOR THE JIM DEVA PRIZE FOR WRITING THAT PROVOKES FINALIST FOR THE GOVERNOR GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR NON-FICTION FINALIST FOR THE LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FOR GAY MEMOIR/BIOGRAPHY NATIONAL BESTSELLER ...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

3

Polar vortex
Mootoo, Shani
Paper Book
Finalist for the 2020 Scotiabank Giller Prize Some secrets never die... Priya and Alexandra have moved from the city to a picturesque countryside town. What Alex doesn't know is that in moving, Priya is running from her past--from a fraught relationship with an old friend, Prakash,...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

4

My government means to kill me
Newson, Rasheed
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER · A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK · A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITOR'S CHOICE · 2023 LAMBDA LITERARY PRIZE FOR GAY FICTION FINALIST The debut novel from television WRITER/PRODUCER OF THE CHI, NARCOS, and...
Also available in eBook format.

5

We have always been here : a queer Muslim memoir
Habib, Samra
Paper Book
Samra Habib has spent most of her life searching for the safety to be herself. The men in her life wanted to police her, the women had only shown her the example of pious obedience, and her body was a problem to be solved. A triumphant memoir of forgiveness and family, both chosen and not, We Have...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

6

Jonny Appleseed : a novel
Whitehead, Joshua (Writer)
Paper Book
'You're gonna need a rock and a whole lotta medicine' is a mantra that Jonny Appleseed, a young Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer, repeats to himself in this vivid and utterly compelling novel. Off the reserve and trying to find ways to live and love in the big city, Jonny becomes a cybersex worker who...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author

7

Jonny Appleseed
Whitehead, Joshua (Writer)
Paper Book
'You're gonna need a rock and a whole lotta medicine' is a mantra that Jonny Appleseed, a young Two-Spirit/Indigiqueer, repeats to himself in this vivid and utterly compelling novel. Off the reserve and trying to find ways to live and love in the big city, Jonny becomes a cybersex worker who...

Travailleur du cybersexe, Jonny doit rentrer a la reserve dans une semaine pour assister aux funerailles de son beau-pere. Pendant ces sept jours, Jonny se raconte : enfance, amitie, amour, sexe, alcool, maquillage, musique, fantomes, espoirs. Le fil des liens familiaux se retisse avec sa mere, sa kokum, ses tantes et oncles. Surgit tout un monde de tendresse.

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

Auteur canadien.

8

Orlando
Woolf, Virginia
Paper Book
Orlando has always been an outsider . . . His longing for passion, adventure and fulfilment takes him out of his own time. Chasing a dream through the centuries, he bounds from Elizabethan England and imperial Turkey to the modern world. Will he find happiness with the exotic Russian Princess Sasha?...
Also available in eBook format.

9

Rebent sinner
Coyote, Ivan E.
Paper Book
Ivan Coyote is one of North America's preeminent storytellers and performers. In their latest, Ivan takes on the patriarchy and the political, as well as the intimate and the personal in these beguiling and revealing stories of what it means to be trans and non-binary today, at a time in their life...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

10

Mamaskatch : a Cree coming of age
McLeod, Darrel J.
Paper Book
Growing up in the tiny village of Smith, Alberta, Darrel J. McLeod was surrounded by his Cree family's history. In shifting and unpredictable stories, his mother, Bertha, shared narratives of their culture, their family and the cruelty that she and her sisters endured in residential school....

Also available in DAISY and eBook formats.

Canadian author.

11

Mamaskatch
McLeod, Darrel J.
Paper Book
Growing up in the tiny village of Smith, Alberta, Darrel J. McLeod was surrounded by his Cree family's history. In shifting and unpredictable stories, his mother, Bertha, shared narratives of their culture, their family and the cruelty that she and her sisters endured in residential school....

Dans les aromes de la tisane a la menthe sauvage et du ragoot d'orignal, Bertha, la mere de Darrel J. McLeod, lui transmet la fierte de la culture et du mysticisme de leurs ancetres cris. Elle lui legue aussi une part du lourd fardeau des traumatismes de sa jeunesse, passee dans les pensionnats catholiques d'Alberta ou on l'avait envoyee de force.

Aussi disponible en format numerique.

Auteur canadien.

12

High school
Quin, Sara
Paper Book
First loves, first songs, and the drugs and reckless high school exploits that fueled them--meet music icons Tegan and Sara as you've never known them before in this intimate and raw account of their formative years. High School is the revelatory and unique coming-of-age...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian authors.

13

This one looks like a boy : my gender journey to life as a man
Shenher, Lorimer
Paper Book
Inspiring and honest, this unique memoir of gender transition and coming-of-age proves it's never too late to find your true identity. Since he was a small child, Lorimer Shenher knew something for certain: he was a boy. The problem was, he was growing up in a girl's body. In this...
Also available in eAudiobook format.

14

I'm So Glad We Had This Time Together: A Memoir
Vellekoop, Maurice
Paper Book
WINNER OF THE TORONTO BOOK AWARD "An utter treat among graphic novels. This beautiful, honest coming-of-age tale is a standout in its quality.... One of the best books so far this year." --Toronto Star For fans of Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, I'm So Glad...

Also available in eBook format.

Canadian author.

15

Crooked teeth a queer Syrian refugee memoir
Ramadan, Ahmad Danny.
Paper Book
FINALIST FOR THE GOVERNER GENERAL'S LITERARY AWARD FOR NON-FICTION SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2025 EVERGREEN AWARD AN AUDIBLE BEST BOOK OF 2024 A queer Syrian refugee reckons with a life spent out of place. "Writing this memoir is a betrayal...

Also available in eBook and eAudiobook formats.

Canadian author.

16

Woodworking a novel
St. James, Emily.
Paper Book
"Big-hearted and hilarious, an ode to authenticity and a must-read in our current times." --Shelby Van Pelt, New York Times bestselling author of Remarkably Bright Creatures "Writing a funny book is hard. Writing a convincing takedown of one of America's most...

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.