Black LGBTQ+ people and their contributions are often overlooked. We can all post on social media that Black Lives Matter, but we need to listen as well as speak up. We need to listen not just when black people are talking about racism, but to their experiences and thoughts as a whole. Black people's existence and creativity should never be reduced to one-dimension or be restricted to certain subjects.
Where possible, I've tried to link to The Bookish Type and The Portal Bookshops, Yorkshire-based, queer-owned, independent bookshops. If you happen to know of any local, black-owned bookstores that sell online, please get in touch so we can add to this post!
Literary Fiction
Invisible Life by E. Lynn Harris
The first book in a trilogy following Raymond, a bisexual black man, through his life, relationships, and self-discovery.
Get it from The Bookish Type.
Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin
A novel about David, a gay American man in Paris during the 1960s and his relationships with other men around him, especially an Italian bartender named Giovanni.
Get it from The Bookish Type or The Portal Bookshop.
The Color Purple by Alice Walker
The story of a Celie, young black girl growing up in the rural South, and her experiences of abuse, assault, trauma, love, and relationships.
Get it from The Bookish Type.
Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadine Evaristo
A novel following twelve characters over a hundred years and the way their lives and stories intertwine.
Get it From The Bookish Type or The Portal Bookshop.
Since I Laid My Burden Down by Burnell Brontez
A novel about DeShawn, a queer black man, and his return home to Alabama from San Francisco for his uncle's funeral, which prompts him to think about what it means to be black, male, queer, a son, an uncle, a lover, Southern, punk, and human.
Get it from AbeBooks.
Young Adult Fiction
Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender
This novel follows Felix, a black trans man, and his search for love and revenge after having his dead name and pictures of him pre-transition shared with people at school.
Get it from AbeBooks.
Full Disclosure by Camryn Garrett
A novel about Simone, a young black girl who is HIV+, and her struggles in falling in love while keeping her status secret from everyone else at school.
Get it from The Portal Bookshop.
Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann
After being dumped by her girlfriend for her asexuality, Alice, a biromantic black girl decides she's done with dating, only to find herself falling in love with someone new.
Get it from The Bookish Type.
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
A genre-defying story about Jam, a black transgender girl in an idyllic and accepting town, and the creature that emerges from one of her mother's paintings to hunt monsters, monsters that Jam has been told don't exist anymore.
Get it from The Bookish Type or The Portal Bookshop.
The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus
Told from the perspective of two young black girls falling in love, despite their different backgrounds.
Get it from The Bookish Type.
Poetry Collections
The Black Unicorn by Audre Lorde
A collection of outspokenly feminist poetry which deals with motherhood, strength and vulnerability, lesbianism, race, and power.
Get it from The Portal Bookshop.
Black Queer Hoe by Britteney Black Rose Kapri
A poetic investigation into the differences between sexual freedom and sexualisation, especially when it comes to marginalised people.
Get it from The Bookish Type or The Portal Bookshop.
Build Yourself A Boat by Camonghne Felix
A collection of lyrical meditations on trauma and recovery.
Get it from The Bookish Type.
HoodWitch by Faylita Hicks
A powerful reclamation of power and autonomy for black women and non-binary people.
Get it from AbeBooks.
How To Get Over It by T'ai Freedom Ford
Poems which draw a line through history to the present, dealing with trauma, abuse, culture, legacy, memory, and the ways in which everything is connected.
Get it from The Bookish Type.
Sci-Fi and Fantasy
The Gilda Stories by Jewelle Gomez
After escaping slavery, Gilda, a bisexual black woman, discovers freedom and eternal life in a brothel. This novel follows her over 200 years as a vampire.
Get it from The Bookish Type.
The Summer We Got Free by Mia McKenzie
A story of returning home, family feuds, ostricization, and ghosts with a black, queer woman protagonist.
Get it from AbeBooks.
Lilith's Brood by Octavia E. Butler
Lilith, a black woman, is resurrected centuries after her death. War, aliens, and genetic modifications make up this profoundly surreal investigation into what precisely makes someone a human.
Get it from AbeBooks.
The Root by Na'amen Gobert Tilahun
An urban fantasy novel starring Erik, a queer black man, featuring Gods, sinister government agencies, and hidden magic.
Get it from AbeBooks.
An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon
Aster, a black, queer, autistic woman, is born into slavery on a segregated spaceship searching for the Promised Land, and has to connect the dots between her mother's suicide and a new death upon the ship.
Get it from The Portal Bookshop.
By Tristan Oscar Smith
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