T.J. Klune, New York Times Bestselling author of queer fiction such as "The House in the Cerulean Sea" and "In the Lives of Puppets," recently visited Bend as part of the Season of Nonviolence Speaker Series at Central Oregon Community College. While prejudice of LGBTQ+ authors still persists, it's heartening that Klune could come and talk openly and unabashedly to an enthusiastic audience about his experiences as a queer author, and how his childhood informs the books he writes, engendering millions of passionate readers around the world.
Although we are nearing the end of Pride month, during which bookstores across the nation feature tables full of rainbow-colored books written by LGBTQ+ authors, it's important to remember the importance of reading queer literature year-round. While this open conversation about sexual and gender identity wasn't always possible, queer stories have been part of literary culture since antiquity.
Homosexual love was not just acknowledged but celebrated in Greek culture. Aeschylus's 5th century tragedy, "The Myrmidons," depicts Patroclus and Achilles as lovers many centuries before Madeline Miller's popular queer retelling of "The Iliad," with her novel, "The Song of Achilles." Likewise, the life, sexuality and poetry of Sappho (c.630-570 BC) has long been debated by scholars and beloved by readers as an example of ancient sapphic love.
Since then, the rise and fall of queer literature has fluctuated with the proclivities of the age, but it has never disappeared. Though the Middle Ages were notably a period of cultural stagnation, William Shakespeare's homosexual references in Sonnets 18 and 20 are indicative of the humanism of the Renaissance.
The 19th and 20th centuries ushered in periods where queer society was more visible, but also forced authors to navigate the changing criminalization and decriminalization of LGBTQ+ rights. Many gay, lesbian and bisexual authors have only recently been acknowledged as queer authors, keeping their sexuality suppressed or hidden at various stages during their life, including Langston Hughes, Virginia Woolf, Bayard Rustin, Lorraine Hansberry, Willa Cather, Barbara Jordan, Amy Lowell, Oscar Wilde and E.M. Forster.
The Stonewall riots of 1969 served as a catalyst for the American gay rights movement of the late 20th Century, and LGBTQ authors and their work became ever more visible, publishing some of the greatest works of literature in the century, including, "The Price of Salt" by Patricia Highsmith (1952), "Sister Outsider" by Audre Lorde (1984), "Giovanni's Room" by James Baldwin (1956), "Dykes to Watch Out For" Alison Bechdel (1986), "Diving Into the Wreck" by Adrienne Rich (1973), "28 Barbary Lane" by Armistead Maupin (1990), "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker (1982) and "And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic" by Randy Shilts (1987).
The 21st Century has unfolded with a stunning and diverse cannon of LGBTQ+ literature, and though Pride Month is a lovely way to highlight queer authors and books in our stores, it is by no means the only reason to read diversely. We read queer literature because it is part of the human story, because we seek understanding and connection, because like all great literature, it is the story of history, repression, rebellion, discrimination, inclusivity, societal acceptance, self-awareness, family relationships, and of course, of love.
This century has seen a profusion of powerful LGBTQ+ literature. Below are some of our current favorites.
- "Detransition Baby" by Torrey Peters (2021) - Three women-transgender and cisgender- lives collide after an unexpected pregnancy forces them to confront their deepest desires around gender, motherhood and sex.
- "Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic" by Alison Bechdel (2006) – A graphic memoir about Bechdel's younger self trying to find the courage to come out while grieving her father's death by suicide.
- "Gender Queer: A Memoir" by Maia Kobabe (2019) – An account of their life in modern American as a nonbinary person.
- "The Stonewall Reader" ed. New York Public Library and Jason Baumann (2019) – a review into the LGBTQ+ culture that led to the Stonewall riots in New York City.
- "The Prophets" by Robert Jones, Jr (2021) – A story of the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation.
- "Memorial" by Brian Washington (2020) - A funny and profound story about family in all its strange forms, joyful and hard-won vulnerability and the limits of love.
- "The Lesbiana's Guide to Catholic School" by Sonora Reyes (2022) – Explores the experience of being closeted at a Catholic school.
- "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous" by Ocean Vuong (2019) – A brutally honest exploration of race, class and masculinity.
- "Darius the Great Is Not Okay" by Adib Khorram (2018) – A contemporary story of family, friendship, queerness and mental health.
- "The Deep Dark: A Graphic Novel" by Molly Knox Ostertag (2024) - A tender queer love story and an anthem to overcoming shame and generational trauma.
