In this ethnography, journalist June Thomas takes us to six environments where queer women have found safety, community, and fulfillment: the lesbian bar, the softball field, the rural commune, the sex toy boutique, the vacation spot, and the feminist bookstore. Thomas interviews figureheads of the lesbian and women-loving-women community, combining their perspectives with archival resources and anecdotal memories of her own. The result is a nostalgic portrait of an era before widespread inclusivity initiatives, where camaraderie and collectivity was hard won. In these stories, which pioneering lesbian cartoonist and social critic Alison Bechdel calls “riveting” and “indispensable,” a lost map is redrawn. Buy it here.

Alice Winn’s debut novel winds the clock back to the height of World War I, where boys on the cusp of manhood are swept up in the international conflict. On the English homefront, best friends Henry Gaunt and Sidney Ellwood live in a bucolic paradise, but yearn for battlefield action. Henry is the first to enlist, and does so partially to get away from his confusing feelings for Sidney. It doesn’t help matters when Sidney joins up right beside him, amid a raft of their glory-seeking classmates. But the fight is nothing like the boys imagined, and heartbreak looms large over the trenches of Europe. A Washington Post, NPR, and New Yorker best book of 2023, In Memoriam also garnered favorable reviews from the New York Times and best-selling historical fiction author Maggie O’Farrell (Hamnet, The Marriage Portrait).

Candy Darling was at once an icon, an iconoclast, and a woman ahead of her time, and this new biography by Cynthia Carr proves that the legendary trans “It Girl” still has the power to make heads turn. A muse to Andy Warhol who came to epitomize the late 1960s and early 1970s art scene in New York, Darling came from humble beginnings and led a tumultuous life as one of the very few visible trans women in American culture at the time. Her life was cut short at 29 after a battle with lymphoma, but she was immortalized by the likes of Warhol, the Velvet Underground, the Rolling Stones, and now in the pages of this highly lauded biography, which also includes 16 pages of photographs that capture her haunting beauty.

A is for allies, B is for belonging, C is for celebrate, and of course, P is for pride. This picture book, from the publisher behind the ABCs of Black History, is a great way to introduce your early reader to the important moments and foundational tenets of LGBTQ+ history. With 26 pages of rhyming verse from acclaimed poet Seema Yasmin and colorful, engaging illustrations by Lucy Kirke, this little volume is a warm, informative, and charming way to introduce an inquisitive mind to the richness of the queer story in America and around the world. Don’t miss shout-outs to trailblazers like Josephine Baker, James Baldwin, and George Takei.

This time-jumping debut novel has already garnered high praise from Shondaland, the Jewish Book Council, and the New York Times, which lauded its “queer sensibility and…deep understanding of Modern Orthodox Jewish tradition.” Shiva Margolin, a young woman in the middle of grieving her father’s death and the end of her first queer relationship, takes the opportunity to travel to Ropshitz, Poland, to explore her family’s mysterious history. Meanwhile, in 18th century Ropshitz, a badchan (a Yiddish holy fool) receives a visit from a mysterious stranger. In a story that weaves together past and present, mirth and sorrow, history and folklore, there’s no way you won’t come away moved by City of Laughter.

The first thing Danny Ramadan acknowledges in his earth-shattering book is that “[w]riting this memoir is a betrayal.” Up until Crooked Teeth, Ramadan has trafficked mainly in fiction, but his decision to excavate a painful, harrowing past has made for one of the most gripping memoirs of the year. From Damascus to Cairo to Beirut to Canada, the author has struggled with shifting political sands (including the 2011 Arab Spring protests) and a constant search to find safety and community with fellow LGBTQ+ people in the Middle East. It’s a story that pulls no punches, but also spares no opportunity for celebration and overwhelming love. It’s a complicated picture, but one where Ramadan emerges triumphant.

This torrid romance homes in on Cyn Tha Starr, a music producer and romantic cat about town, and her best friend and muse Juleesa, aka Jucee, a stripclub dancer. A recent fling of Cyn’s winds up bringing Jucee and Cyn closer than they’ve ever been—which comes with its usual litany of complications. Can they keep their lives in order while exploring a friendship with benefits, or will it all fall to pieces? Or could it turn into love? From the author of D’Vaughan and Kris Plan A Wedding (“Triumphantly Black, queer and contemporary,” according to the New York Times) comes a new sizzling summer read.

In 2001, young Gordon leaves his Minnesota home for New York City in search of a strong queer community. As a broke newcomer, he quickly picks up a gig walking dogs, which is how he meets Phillip and Nicola, a well-heeled Manhattan couple. The boundaries of employer and employee begin to blur and distort, and our striving antihero winds up eschewing his morals for a chance at the beautiful life. Named a Most Anticipated Book by Time and Bloomberg, as well as a RuPaul’s book club pick for June, In Tongues is called an “elegy for every gay reader rejected by a parent” by the New York Times. Think a lurid Brideshead Revisited, shot through with a queasy nostalgia for something you didn’t really miss.

Another recent addition to the burgeoning graphic memoir genre, Mylo Choy’s poignant autobiography pairs charming black-and-white illustrations with a meditation on bodies and the freedom afforded by physical exertion. The author, a nonbinary individual, has a complicated experience with their body, but they know one thing for sure: it was born to run. Running helps them grow as a person, become stronger, and learn to care for themselves. Not your average sports memoir, Choy’s reflections reveal a practiced and nuanced balance between vulnerability and strength, growth and fear.

Created by two longtime travel journalists, this travel guide combines practical tips and fun suggestions to help LGBTQ+ travelers make the most of their vacations. Featured locations include hidden gems and historically inclusive communities like Ojai, Calif., and Eureka Springs, Ark. You can also check out itineraries to more exotic locales, like the beaches of Curaçao and the meadows of England’s Cotswolds, as well as curated lists of the best haunted, boozy, or romantic spots around. Don’t forget to check out all the tips and tricks related to local customs and traditions, because it’s best to travel safe, smart, and in style.

It’s fall 1999, and Nesbit Nuñez has just discovered something really disturbing hidden in the woods: the half-eaten corpse of his town’s star quarterback, who’s secretly a witch—and Nesbit’s boyfriend. Nesbit and the rest of his coven are ready for revenge, and they vow to find whoever was responsible for slaying one of their own, but they have no idea who their friend was contending with, or what’s in store for them. Named a favorite new young adult read by Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist, Now, Conjurers will give you the creeps, make you laugh out loud, and maybe even shed a tear.

Not a YA fan, but still want a macabre tale of the occult? Thirst is for you. Yuszczuk’s novel begins with a vampire’s arrival in the New World, leaving behind her European homeland and all its bloody revelry. It’s the 19th century and yellow fever runs rampant in Argentina, her new home. Survival, even for the undead, is of utmost importance. Needless to say, she succeeds, only to meet a human woman in present-day Argentina and fall in love. Cited by the New York Times for her “lush, lyrical” revival of the vampire novel, Yuszczuk (and translator Heather Cleary) have cleared the path for a new feminist era of vampire fic with this sophomore novel.