Celebrate Pride with Audiobooks

Natalie Naudus's lively narration paired with Chen's engaging prose makes for a winning combination in this accessible and nuanced introduction to asexuality. Through the lens of her own experiences and those of other aces, Chen explores the multiplicity of ace identities, the history of the asexual movement, and the many lessons asexuality has to teach about sex, desire,... Read More

This full-cast audio adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s classic comic strip about the messy lives of a group of queer women in the 1980s is absolutely flawless. Jane Lynch grounds the production as the narrator; her witty and dramatic performance sets the tone for each episode. Carrie Brownstein gives a knockout performance as Mo, a self-righteous but well-intentioned lesbian who... Read More

Author and narrator Dr. Kit Heyam's incisive global history of transgender, intersex, and queer experiences, both lived and fictional, encourages listeners to reexamine the past with fresh eyes. Their companionable narration creates space for thoughtful engagement with the cultural, linguistic, and social factors that permeate our contemporary understanding of historical people... Read More

The founder and executive director of OUTWORDS, Mason Funk, introduces and contextualizes each of the more than 70 first-person accounts of liberation, disruption, survival, and other experiences collected by the organization to document LGBTQ+ history. Reaching back to the pre-Stonewall era, the whole offers an intersectional tapestry of causes, gender, sexual orientation,... Read More

Logan Rozos's emotional narration, combined with Callender's messy and painfully relatable characters, makes for an unforgettable listening experience. Felix is a Black, trans, queer teenager attending the summer arts program at his New York City high school. When someone posts old pictures of him--including his deadname--he hatches an elaborate plan to hurt the person he's... Read More

Faderman's comprehensive history of the LGBTQ movement stands as a fascinating, powerful, and impressive audiobook. As narrator for this massive production, Donna Postel delivers a consistent and lively performance throughout more than 30 hours of listening. She has a mature voice with a light rasp to it. The story provides in-depth and wide-ranging research, including... Read More

Ashraf Shirazi reads Lamya H's extraordinary debut memoir with the perfect mix of tenderness and ferocity. Lamya H uses stories and verses from the Quran to reflect on their life as a queer Muslim immigrant. They draw strength and inspiration from the stories of prophets like Maryam and Musa, finding parallels between these celebrated lives and their own. Shirazi's narration is... Read More

Model and activist Geena Rocero shares her story in this poignant and powerful memoir. Her narration is full of life--sometimes buoyantly joyous, sometimes breathless with tension, sometimes playful and tinged with laughter. She recounts her teen years as a pageant queen in the Philippines, her immigration to the U.S., the years she spent closeted while working as a model, and... Read More

Nicky Endres is the perfect narrator for this work of queer nonfiction, first published in 2019 and now available on audio. Thom's essays explore the contradictions and complexities of queer and trans communities and social justice movements. She writes about how communities talk about--and don't talk about--suicide, abuse, conflict, family making, sex work, and more, always... Read More

Narrator Lillian Claire portrays the toughness and tenderness of college freshman Juliet Palante, a self-described "closeted Puerto-Rican baby-dyke from the Bronx." Claire depicts Juliet's mix of fear and courage as she awkwardly comes out to her family and faces her mother's painful rejection. Nevertheless, she's off to Portland, Oregon, for an internship with Harlow Brisbane,... Read More

Torian Brackett's joyful, ebullient narration sets the tone for this YA novel. Queer, Black besties Harrison and Linus have been each other's family for years. When Linus announces that he's moving away from Baltimore, Harrison decides what they need to cement their friendship is one perfect day in the city. What follows is a heartfelt, hilarious, and moving exploration of... Read More

Emily Woo Zeller's melodic narration transports listeners to 1950s San Francisco in this coming-of-age novel about family, first love, and a Chinese-American teenager discovering herself. When Lily sees an ad for a show featuring a male impersonator, she feels a prick of recognition she doesn't fully understand. Soon she's sneaking out for heady nights at the Telegraph Club and... Read More

Author Amelia Possanza's conversational tone welcomes listeners to a topic that ranges from ancient Greece to modern times. She delves into archival records in search of lesbian history while also reflecting on her own. The connections Possanza develops with the complex women she researches are audible, by turns thoughtful, awed, and eager. These women include... Read More

Shaan Dasani gives listeners a fun listen to this contemporary queer sports romance. Former college baseball teammates Gene Ionescu and Luis Estrada are unexpectedly reunited on the Beaverton Beavers, a Triple-A minor league ball club in Oregon. While their initial friction results in discordant game performances, Dasani charts their growing chemistry during extra practices and... Read More

Ines del Castillo's hip conversational tone enlivens this compendium of 50 boundary-breaking LGBTQ+ figures from across history and around the globe. Many names, like Ellen DeGeneres, will be familiar to listeners, but many will be less well known, like the ancient Chinese emperor Wen of Han. Del Castillo's enthusiasm and pride are evident in the short biographies representing... Read More

Graham Halstead's narration creates a window onto LGBTQ history in the U.S. Rainbow Pride flag creator Gilbert Baker's posthumously published memoir, with a foreword by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, shares the events, internal politics, and people behind the now-ubiquitous symbol of the LGBTQ rights movement. Thoughtfully edited fragments are sewn into... Read More

As narrator, journalist Samantha Allen's earnest tones reflect her journey to a deeper understanding and greater appreciation of the reasons that trans people, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and other queer-identified persons build lives in Georgia, Texas, Utah, Indiana, and other red states. She invites listeners to share a road trip through the red states that have shaped... Read More

A lot has changed since this collection of essays and speeches was published more than 20 years ago, but this commemorative audio edition also is a reminder of how much has stayed the same. Black poet and lesbian activist Lorde addresses fundamental issues related to race, gender, sexual orientation, and politics. Robin Eller's narration embodies the quiet sense of urgency and... Read More

Vikas Adam youthfully embodies Jake, a middle-school kid who has just come out to his family as being gay. When Jake's dad, in a friendly, even tone, shows his support by hoisting up an oversized pride flag outside their home, the small neighborhood's response is mixed. When Jake begins to ponder hosting a local pride parade, the bright timbre of his best friend, Jenna, is... Read More

A vibrant chorus of more than 20 voices narrates this accessible anthology focusing on LGBTQ experiences before, during, and after the Stonewall uprising of 1969. Told through a diverse array of first-person narratives, interviews, articles, and more, the anthology creates a kaleidoscopic view of the early Gay Liberation movement. The cast of narrators echoes this variety,... Read More

Tre'vell Anderson gives a spirited and often hilarious performance of their comprehensive history of transgender representation in film and TV. They walk listeners through some of the most iconic moments of on-screen trans visibility, exploring how trans representation has (and hasn't) changed since the advent of moving pictures. With sharp analysis, plenty of jokes, and moving... Read More

Chen Chen narrates his debut poetry collection with tenderness and joy. Demonstrating his keen self-awareness, Chen's performance of these vulnerable yet impactful poems leaves the listener with a renewed belief in life's possibilities. Chen's writing and narration are examples of how an author's masterful performance can reveal the heart of his material and captivate his... Read More

Narrator Janet Metzger is an excellent guide for this history of morality policing and punishment of women in New York City. It may be difficult to believe that women were once locked up for wearing pants or were given brutal pelvic exams upon incarceration. Yet these things and worse occurred at the House of D, as the facility was known. Ryan concentrates mostly, but not... Read More

Franny Choi delivers these hopeful, heartbreaking, beautiful, sorrowful poems with quiet ardor. Her voice is soft and expressive, perfectly capturing the musical yet conversational tone of the whole collection. The poems are about everyday apocalypses and historical apocalypses; small moments of terror and joy; and the paradox of living on this planet, full of so much suffering... Read More

Mark and Kate meet during San Francisco's Pride Week and become instant friends. They're linked by concerns about coming out, and each is drawn to the other's fresh viewpoint. Matthew Brown and Emma Galvin's complementary readings give credence to the characterizations, especially the closeness of the two friends. Galvin depicts Kate's superficial self as secure and slightly... Read More