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Nonfiction by LGBT+ Authors of Color
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Nonfiction books, memoirs, and autobiographies by authors of color in the LGBT+ community
Updated June 16, 2023
Milwaukee County Federated Library System
Wauwatosa Public Library
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Abandon me : memoirs
Febos, Melissa
Paper Book
Named One of the Best Books of the year by:Esquire, Refinery29, LitHub, BookRiot, Medium, Electric Literature, The Brooklyn Rail, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Largehearted Boy, The Coil and The Cut.Winner of the Lambda Literary Jeanne...
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All boys aren't blue a memoir-manifesto
Johnson, George M.
Ebook
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Bad feminist : essays
Gay, Roxane
Paper Book
"Roxane Gay is so great at weaving the intimate and personal with what is most bewildering and upsetting at this moment in culture. She is always looking, always thinking, always passionate, always careful, always right there." -- Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be...
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Black boy out of time : a memoir
Ziyad, Hari
Paper Book
An eloquent, restless, and enlightening memoir by one of the most thought-provoking journalists today about growing up Black and queer in America, reuniting with the past, and coming of age their own way. One of nineteen children in a blended family, Hari Ziyad was raised by a Hindu...
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The Black period : on personhood, race, and origin
Geter, Hafizah
Paper Book
Acclaimed poet Hafizah Augustus Geter reclaims her origin story in this "lyrical memoir" (The New Yorker)--combining biting criticism and haunting visuals. "Hafizah Augustus Geter is a genuine artist, not bound by genre or form. Her only loyalty is the harrowing beauty...
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Borderlands = La frontera
Anzaldúa, Gloria.
Paper Book
Experimental, inventive, provocative and above all visionary, Gloria Anzaldua's work is widely recognized among scholars of Chicano/Latino, Gay and Lesbian, Women's, Postcolonial, Ethnic and Cultural Studies as a foundational elaboration of the politics and poetics of cultural hybridity. Both...
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I can't date Jesus : love, sex, family, race, and other reasons I've put my faith in Beyoncé
Arceneaux, Michael
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Featured as One of Summer's most anticipated reads by the Los Angeles Times, Vogue, Vulture, Entertainment Weekly, ELLE, Buzzfeed, and Bitch Media. From the author of I Don't Want to Die...
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Care work : dreaming disability justice
Piepzna-Samarasinha, Leah Lakshmi
Paper Book
Lambda Literary Award winning poet and essayist and long-time disability justice advocate Leah Piepzna-Samarasinha writes passionately and personally about disability justice in her latest book of essays. Discussing subjects such as the creation of care webs, collective access, and radically...
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Dear Senthuran : a Black spirit memoir
Emezi, Akwaeke
Paper Book
FEATURED ON THE COVER OF TIME MAGAZINE AS A 2021 NEXT GENERATION LEADER "A once-in-a-generation voice." - Vulture "One of our greatest living writers." - Shondaland A full-throated and provocative memoir in letters from the New York Times bestselling...
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The fire next time
Baldwin, James
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * The book that galvanized the nation, gave voice to the emerging civil rights movementin the 1960s--and still lights the way to understanding race in America today. * "The finest essay I've ever read." --Ta-Nehisi Coates At once a powerful evocation of James...
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I have always been me : a memoir
Brady-Davis, Precious
Paper Book
A powerful memoir of independence, releasing the past, and living the dream by award-winning trans advocate Precious Brady-Davis. Precious Brady-Davis remembers the sense of being singular and grappling with "otherness." Born into traumatic circumstances, Davis was brought up in the...
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Here for it : or, how to save your soul in America : essays
Thomas, R. Eric
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * Read with Jenna Book Club Pick as Featured on Today * From the creator of Elle's "Eric Reads the News," a heartfelt and hilarious memoir-in-essays about growing up seeing the world differently, finding unexpected hope, and experiencing every...
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How we fight for our lives : a memoir
Jones, Saeed
Paper Book
From award-winning poet Saeed Jones, How We Fight for Our Lives--winner of the Kirkus Prize and the Stonewall Book Award--is a "moving, bracingly honest memoir" (The New York Times Book Review) written at the crossroads of sex, race, and power. One of the best...
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I'm in Seattle, where are you? : a memoir
Kaz?r, Murta?
Paper Book
Longlisted for the PEN Translation Prize. An award-winning Iraqi writer creates a new world for himself in Seattle in search of lost love. As the US occupation of Iraq rages, novelist Mortada Gzar, a student at the University of Baghdad, has a chance encounter with...
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In the dream house a memoir
Machado, Carmen Maria
Ebook
A revolutionary memoir about domestic abuse by the award-winning author of Her Body and Other Parties In the Dream House is Carmen Maria Machado's engrossing and wildly innovative account of a relationship gone bad, and a bold dissection of the mechanisms and...
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Long live the tribe of fatherless girls : a memoir
Madden, T Kira
Paper Book
"The book I wish I'd had growing up." -Chanel Miller, author of Know My Name Best Books of 2019: Esquire O, The Oprah Magazine Variety Lit Hub Book Riot Electric Literature Autostraddle Finalist: NBCC John Leonard First...
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Mean
Gurba, Myriam
Paper Book
True crime, memoir, and ghost story, Mean is the bold and hilarious tale of Myriam Gurba's coming of age as a queer, mixed-race Chicana. Blending radical formal fluidity and caustic humor, Gurba takes on sexual violence, small towns, and race, turning what might be tragic into...
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Quietly hostile : essays
Irby, Samantha
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * A GLAMOUR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR * A hilarious new essay collection from Samantha Irby "engages readers with her characteristic combination of laugh-out-loud moments, heartfelt passages and plenty of awkward experiences.... Quietly Hostile will...
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Redefining realness : my path to womanhood, identity, love & so much more
Mock, Janet
Paper Book
In 2011, Marie Claire magazine published a profile of Janet Mock in which she publicly stepped forward for the first time as a trans woman. Since then, Mock has gone from covering the red carpet for People.com to advocating for all those who live within the shadows of society. Redefining Realness...
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Sister outsider essays and speeches
Lorde, Audre.
Ebook
Presenting the essential writings of black lesbian poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider celebrates an influential voice in twentieth-century literature. "[Lorde's] works will be important to those truly interested in growing up sensitive,...
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Unbecoming : a memoir of disobedience
Bhagwati, Anuradha Kristina
Paper Book
A raw, unflinching memoir by a former US Marine Captain chronicling her journey from dutiful daughter of immigrants to radical activist effecting historic policy reform. After a lifetime of buckling to the demands of her strict Indian parents, Anuradha Bhagwati abandons grad...
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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...
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When they call you a terrorist : a Black Lives Matter memoir
Khan-Cullors, Patrisse
Paper Book
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. New York Times Editor's Pick. Library Journal Best Books of 2019. TIME Magazine's "Best Memoirs of 2018 So Far." O, Oprah's Magazine's "10 Titles to Pick Up Now." Politics &...
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Zami, a new spelling of my name
Lorde, Audre.
Paper Book
Zami: A Carriacou name for women who work together as friends and lovers "Zami is a fast-moving chronicle. From the author's vivid childhood memories in Harlem to her coming of age in the late 1950s, the nature of Audre Lorde's work is cyclical. It especially relates the...
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