An Intro to Disability Lit

Books introducing disability literature to new readers.
Updated September 19, 2022
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Disability visibility : first-person stories from the twenty-first century
Wong, Alice
Paper Book
A groundbreaking collection of first-person writing on the joys and challenges of the modern disability experience- Disability Visibility brings together the voices of activists, authors, lawyers, politicians, artists, and everyday people whose daily lives are, in the words of playwright...
Disfigured : on fairy tales, disability, and making space
Leduc, Amanda
Paper Book
A CBC BOOKS BEST NONFICTION OF 2020 AN ENTROPY MAGAZINE BEST NONFICTION 2020/21 A NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY BOOK OF THE DAY (07/23/2022) Fairy tales shape how we see the world, so what happens when you identify more with the Beast than Beauty? If every disabled...
A face for Picasso : coming of age with Crouzon syndrome
Henley, Ariel
Paper Book
A Schneider Family Book Award Honor Book for Teens "Raw and unflinching . . . A must-read!" --Marieke Nijkamp, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends "[It] cuts to the heart of our bogus ideas of beauty." -Scott Westerfeld,...
Ten steps to Nanette : a memoir situation
Gadsby, Hannah
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Multi-award-winning Hannah Gadsby broke comedy with their show Nanette. Now they take us through the defining moments in their life and their powerful decision to tell the truth--no matter the cost. Don't miss Hannah Gadsby's...
Haben : the deafblind woman who conquered Harvard Law
Girma, Haben
Paper Book
Haben grew up spending summers with her family in the enchanting Eritrean city of Asmara. There, she discovered courage as she faced off against a bull she couldn't see, and found in herself an abiding strength as she absorbed her parents' harrowing experiences during Eritrea's thirty-year war...
Care work : dreaming disability justice
Piepzna-Samarasinha, Leah Lakshmi
Paper Book
Finalist, Judy Grahn Award for Lesbian Nonfiction In their new, long-awaited collection of essays, Lambda Literary Award-winning writer and longtime disability justice activist and performance artist Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha explores the politics and realities of disability...
True biz : a novel
Nović, Sara
Paper Book
" NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER · REESE'S BOOK CLUB PICK · A "tender, beautiful and radiantly outraged" (The New York Times Book Review) novel that follows a year of seismic romantic, political, and familial shifts for a teacher and her students at a boarding school for the deaf,...
The Girl Aquarium
Campbell, Jen.
Paper Book
Jen Campbell's first collection The Girl Aquarium explores the realm of rotten fairy tales, the possession of body and the definition of beauty. Weaving between whispered science and circus, she turns a cracked mirror on society and asks who gets to control the twisted tales hiding in the...
Mean little deaf queer : a memoir
Galloway, Terry.
Paper Book
In 1959, the year Terry Galloway turned nine, the voices of everyone she loved began to disappear. No one yet knew that an experimental antibiotic given to her mother had wreaked havoc on her fetal nervous system, eventually causing her to go deaf. As a self-proclaimed "child freak," she acted out...
Geek love
Dunn, Katherine
Paper Book
A National Book Award Finalist: This 'wonderfully descriptive' novel from an author with a 'tremendous imagination' tells the unforgettable story of the Binewskis, a carny family whose mater- and paterfamilias have bred their own exhibit of human...
The still point of the turning world
Rapp Black, Emily
Paper Book
A room called earth
Ryan, Madeleine (Novelist)
Paper Book
"A resolute deep dive into an inner self, a transcendent character study, and a timely reminder that there's an entire universe inside of everyone we meet. You will be moved." --Matthew Quick, New York Times bestselling author of The Silver Linings Playbook "[N]uanced...
Starling days
Buchanan, Rowan Hisayo
Paper Book
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA NOVEL AWARD'A singular novel from the poetic and painterly mind of Rowan Hisayo Buchanan.' Sharlene Teo, author of Ponti'An exquisite rendering of love, sadness, and misunderstanding . . . I want to share this book with everyone I know.'...
So lucky
Griffith, Nicola
Paper Book
From the author of Hild, a fierce and urgent autobiographical novel about a woman facing down a formidable foe So Lucky is the sharp, surprising new novel by Nicola Griffith--the profoundly personal and emphatically political story of a confident woman forced to...
The eighth girl : a novel
Chung, Maxine Mei-Fung
Paper Book
Optioned by Netflix and a most anticipated book from Bustle, The Rumpus, Electric Literature, and LitHub! An unsettling, seductive psychological thriller about a young woman with multiple personalities, perfect for fans of Caroline Kepnes and Clare Mackintosh ...
Get a life, Chloe Brown : a novel
Hibbert, Talia
Paper Book
"Absolutely charming... a flawless balance of humor, heat, sweetness, and depth, and I loved every page." - Helen Hoang, USA Today bestselling author of The Bride Test USA TODAY BESTSELLER A witty, hilarious romantic comedy about a woman who's tired of being "boring"...
The bride test
Hoang, Helen
Paper Book
Khai Diep has no feelings. Well he can't feel big emotions like love. He thinks he's defective. His mum knows that his autism means he just processes emotions differently, and goes to Vietnam to find him a wife. As a mixed race girl living in Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place,...
Wonder
Palacio, R. J.
Paper Book
'My name is August. I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.' Auggie wants to be an ordinary ten-year-old. He does ordinary things - eating ice cream, playing on his Xbox. He feels ordinary - inside. But ordinary kids don't...
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Haddon, Mark
Paper Book
NATIONAL BESTSELLER * A modern classic--both poignant and funny--about a boy with autism who sets out to solve the murder of a neighbor's dog and discovers unexpected truths about himself and the world. "Disorienting and reorienting the reader to devastating effect.......
Sitting pretty : the view from my ordinary resilient disabled body
Taussig, Rebekah
Paper Book
A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most. Growing up as a paralyzed girl...

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