This document provides an overview of LGBTQ fiction as a genre. It defines LGBTQ fiction as novels that explore the lives and experiences of LGBTQ individuals from their point of view. It discusses the history and classic authors of the genre, breaks the genre into subcategories like literary fiction, genre fiction, and young adult, and provides examples of popular authors and titles in each category. Resources for learning more about LGBTQ fiction and awards are also listed.

1. LGBTQ Fiction
A Readers' Advisory Overview

2. Me
•Leah White
•Readers Services Librarian at
Northbrook Public Library
•@leahlibrarian
•facebook.com/yolaleah
•leahwhite.weebly.com

3. The Plan
•Define
•Appeal and Readers
•History and Classic Authors
•Genre Breakdown
•Resources

4. What is LGBTQ?
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer
http://bit.ly/Yx9tkJ

5. LGBTQ Fiction
• "LGBTQ fiction explores the lives and experiences of
gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender individuals from a
LGBTQ point of view. Novels that fall into this category
may be of any genre and can appeal to readers of all
sexual orientations and gender identities. These stories
do not necessarily identify the author’s sexual
orientation or gender identity but often authors in the
LGBTQ community are included." - from the ARRT
Genre Boot Camp

6. Characteristics
•A gay, lesbian, bi-sexual,
transgender, or queer character
or group perspective must be
represented
•Often explore difficulty living life
as an outsider
•Characters have feelings of
estrangement from friends or
family due to their sexual
orientation or gender identity
http://goo.gl/mTulB

7. That said...
•LGBTQ Fiction is as diverse as its readers
•Sub genres tend to define the
characteristics
http://bit.ly/18HSmf5

8. Appeal
•Readers belonging to the LGBTQ
community identify with the
stories and appreciate the
validation of their experience
•Readers outside of the LGBTQ
community can gain an
understanding of the lives and
cultures of their neighbors.

9. Readers
•As issues of the LGBTQ community become main-stream,
readers of this category continue to grow
•Readers come from all cultural and religious backgrounds,
and various sexual identities
•For example, literary fiction in this genre has been
popular for a long time
•These novels make excellent choices for book discussions
as they often introduce the theme of cultural differences
within society

10. Brief History
Classic Authors
http://bit.ly/12FkXhU

11. Background
•Historically, LGBTQ literature is not new
•Sappho was writing lesbian poetry in 7th century BCE
•Plato wrote about homosexual themes in his work
Symposium in 4th century BCE
•LGBTQ Fiction as we know it today became popular in
the 20th century
•Gained more respect and recognition after the creation
of the Lambda Literary Award in the late 1980s

12. Classic authors & titles
•Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin - a young American
man begins an affair with an Italian bartender in Paris
•Orlando by Virginia Woolf - a young nobleman in
Elizabethan era ends up as a liberated woman in the 1920s
•Maurice by E. M. Forster - a tale of same sex love in 20th
century England, published after his death
•Other classic authors: Christopher Isherwood, Edmund
White, Radclyffe Hall, Larry Kramer, Gore Vidal, Jean Genet,
Djuna Barnes, Nancy Garden

13. Genre Breakdown
The more we know, the better service we can give.
http://bit.ly/10A9s9G

14. Literary Fiction

15. Alan Hollinghurst
•British novelist
•Awards: Man Booker Prize,
Stonewall Book Award, E. M.
Forster Award, Lambda
Literary Award (multiple)
•"Combines the joys of the
traditional tropes of the 19th-
century novel with a
contemporary sensibility
unencumbered by the 19th
century’s social strictures,"
from The Millions interview

16. The Line of Beauty
•Booker winner in 2004
•Nick Guest is a young gay man working
on his thesis on Henry James in the 1980s
when he goes to stay with a wealthy family
•With Thatcher's England as a backdrop,
the novel deals heavily in politics and
sexuality
•Touches on the beginning of the AIDS
Crisis
•Suggest to fans of Colm Toibin, Zadie
Smith, or Ian McEwan

17. Michael Cunningham
•American writer
•Awards: PEN/Faulkner Award for
Fiction, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction,
Whiting Writers' Award, Lambda
Literary Award for Gay Men's Fiction,
Stonewall Book Award-Barbara
Gittings Literature Award
•Best known for The Hours, which
resulted in a Pulitzer Prize and an
award winning film of the same
name

18. The Hours
•Tells three stories in three time periods, all
intertwined by their connection to the
Virginia Woolf novel, Mrs. Dalloway
•One character is Virginia Woolf dealing with
her mental illness; another is a stay-at-
home mother during the 1950s struggling
with her own realization that she is a
lesbian; and finally a current time lesbian
who is throwing a party for her good friend
who is dying of an AIDs related illness
•Suggest to fans of Richard Russo, Annie
Proulx, or Jonathan Franzen

19. Carol Anshaw
•Midwestern author
•Awards: Nominated for the Lambda
Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction. Won
a Carl Sandburg Award, a Ferro-
Grumley Award and Society of Midland
Authors Award
•"She intimately dissects how one event
or choice can alter the trajectory of a
life, how a fork in the road can lead to
wholly unexpected and divergent
outcomes," from NYT review of Carry
the One

20. Carry the One
•When a group of friends accidentally kills
a girl while drunkenly driving home after a
wedding, the lives of the people involved
become inextricably intertwined
•The novel spans 25 years, examine the
effects of the accident on the cast of
characters
•While the book deals with serious topics
and relationships there's also humor and
wit
•Suggest to fans of Lauren Groff, Jennnifer
Haigh, or Tom Perotta

21. Emma Donoghue
•Irish-born author
•Awards: Lambda Literary Award for
Lesbian Fiction, Stonewall Book
Award-Barbara Gittings Literature
Award
•Author of the extremely popular,
Booker prize nominee novel, Room
•"Donoghue displays a ventriloquist’s
uncanny ability to slip in and out of
voices," from the NYT review of Astray

22. Astray
•A collection of short stories on the
theme of emigration
•All are based on actual historical
letters and documents of people
who lived but are now dead
•The stories show Donoghue's skill
with moving between characters of
all genders and sexual orientations
•Suggest to fans of Alice Munro,
Barbara Kingsolver, or Carol Anshaw

23. Leslie Feinberg
•Groundbreaking author and
transgender activist
•Awards: Lambda Literary Award
for Small Press Book Award,
Stonewall Book Award-Barbara
Gittings Literature Award
•Wrote what many consider to be
the first work of fiction about
transgendered women living as
men

24. Stone Butch Blues
•Often mistaken as autobiographical
•First person account of the butch -
femme culture in 1960s America
•Also a coming of age tale of Jess, a
working class butch passing as a man
who works in a factory
•Not an easy read but definitely a must-
read in the genre
•Suggest to fans of Augusten Burroughs,
James Frey, or Emma Donoghue

25. Genre Fiction

26. Ellen Hart
•American Mystery writer
•Awards: Lambda Literary Award for
Lesbian Mystery (several),
Minnesota Award for Best Popular
Fiction, Golden Crown Literary
Award
•Written 28 cozy mysteries and
counting
•Her older mysteries are being
rereleased in trade paperback

27. Jane Lawless series
•Set in Minneapolis
•Jane Lawless is a lesbian restaurateur
and an amateur sleuth
•"Hart never overplays Jane's
lesbianism. It is just a fact of life in this
truly engaging mystery series," from
LJ review of The Cruel Ever After
•Suggest to fans of Diane Mott
Davidson, Joanne Fluke, or other
cozy writers

28. Sarah Waters
•Welsh novelist
•Best known for her historical fiction set in
the Victorian period, featuring lesbian
main characters
•Awards: CWA Ellis Peters Historical
Dagger Award, Lambda Literary Award
for Lesbian Fiction, Stonewall Book
Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award
•Enjoys taking story lines that are
traditionally seen as heterosexual and
exploring them through a lesbian
perspective

29. Fingersmith
•Shortlisted for both the Booker and
Orange Prize, winner of the CWA Ellis
Peters Dagger
• An orphan girl is raised among thieves
and plays a key role in swindling a
wealthy family but finds herself falling in
love with the daughter of the family
•Pacing of a thriller and the authenticity
of a well-researched historical novel
•Suggest to fans of Michel Faber, Diane
Setterfield, or A.S. Byatt

30. Jeanette Winterson
•British writer
•Erotica, Speculative, Literary, Historical
•Awards: E. M. Forster Award, Costa
First Novel Award, Lambda Literary
Award for Lesbian Fiction, British
Academy Television Award for Best
Single Drama
•Her recent memoir, Why Be Happy
When You Could Be Normal, is
enjoying widespread critical acclaim

31. Written on the Body
•A work of literary erotica
•A meditation on love, pleasure,
sexual awakening, and the body
written from a non-gendered
narrator
•The narrator falls in love with a
married woman and begins an affair
•Suggest to readers looking to
explore erotica but not sure where
to start

32. E. Lynn Harris
•American author of Urban Fiction
•Passed away in 2009
•Awards: Lambda Literary Award for
Anthologies
•Best known for his novels about
African American men who are
closeted or on the "down low"
•He authored 10 consecutive books
that made the NYT Bestseller list

33. Invisible Life
•First in a trilogy
•Follows the story of a young black
attorney who realizes he is bisexual but
continues to live his life in the closet
•Started a self published book that Harris
sold out of the back of his car
•During his lifetime he was one of the
best selling African American and gay
authors
•Suggest to fans of Ernest Gaines, Eric
Jerome Dickey, or Urban Fiction

34. Alison Bechdel
•American cartoonist and writer of
graphic novels
•Awards: Lambda Literary Award for
Humor, Stonewall Book Awards - Israel
Fishman Non-Fiction Award, Lambda
Literary Award for Lesbian Biography/
Autobiography, Lambda Literary Award
for Lesbian Memoir/Biography
•Her comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out
For, made her famous in the LGBTQ
community but she found widespread
popularity with her memoir, Funhouse

35. Are You My Mother?
•Bechdel's first memoir documents with
her relationship with her father but this
book explores her relationship with her
mother
•The story intertwines with her
psychoanalysis sessions
•It also explores various literary works,
including the works of Virginia Woolf
•Suggest to readers who are interested in
exploring Graphic Novels but not sure
where to start. Also suggested to fans of
graphic memoirs

36. Triptych by J.M. Frey
•Science Fiction
•Considered one of the best novels of
2011 by Publishers Weekly
•On a future Earth, everything is peaceful
and aliens can integrate peacefully into
society
•A new race that mates in threes stirs up
sexual politics and eventually violent
protests
•Suggest to fans of The Forever War
series by Joe Haldeman

37. A Land Fit For Heroes series
•Epic Fantasy series by Richard K.
Morgan
•"If what you feel has been missing
from your average Tolkien-clone is
hot, gay sex, then this is the book
for you," from a Goodreads review.
•Follows anti-hero Ringil Eskiath in a
violent and unforgiving environment.
•Great read alike for Game of
Thrones fans

38. Fan Fiction
•Many of your patrons are already reading this
•Fan Fiction is fiction written about characters that
already exist in other stories
•Published online, for free
•More recently, fan fiction has been in the spotlight after
stories like Fifty Shades of Grey became popular

39. Slash Fiction
•The term "slash fiction" comes from the slash
distinguishing who the erotica is about - male/male or
female/female
•Rooted in the fan fiction culture but does lead readers to
erotica, making it important to have a basic understanding
•While many writers and readers of slash are straight
women, lesbian and bisexual women are also active in the
culture
•Characters and couplings mirror popular culture

40. http://bit.ly/18JGgCf

41. Young Adult
•Began in the late 1960s with the
publication of I'll Get There. It Better
Be Worth the Trip by John Donovan
•The popularity of authors like David
Levithan has given the genre a
wider readership
•Deal with topics like coming out,
love stories, and often bullying
•Read by both teens and younger
adults

42. Resources
•glbtq: www.glbtq.org, an encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgender, and queer culture
•Rainbow Book Reviews: www.rainbow-reviews.com, reviews
GLBTQ related books and authors - great resource for romance
and erotica
•Read Something Fabulous: http://
readsomethingfabulous.blogspot.com/, excellent review blog for
YA - make sure to check out the Starter Kit
•Popular LGBT on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/shelf/
show/lgbt, great book list for what people are currently reading

43. Resources
•GLBT Literature: jclarkmedia.com/gaybooks/index.html, author
lists, reading group guides, book reviews
•Lambda Literary: www.lambdaliterary.org, reading group guides,
author lists, publisher lists, literary magazines
•Major Awards: Lambda Literary Awards, Stonewall Book Awards
•Other Awards: Dayne Ogilvie Prize (Canadian), Gaylactic
Spectrum Awards (speculative), James Tiptree, Jr. Award
(speculative - focuses on gender), Rainbow List (GLBT Round
Table - covers birth - 18 years of age)

44. All Things Considered
•LGBTQ Fiction is a valid and rich literary genre that
covers many different sub genres
•As LGBTQ issues continue to find more coverage and
equality, this genre will increase in popularity
•These are the basics. Now go learn more!

45. Thank you!
http://leahwhite.weebly.com
http://bit.ly/13slk26