A Reading List for Pride and Beyond
A curated reading list by Kim Tran, Ph.D, Rachel Marcuse and Paloma Figueroa.
One in Every Crowd by Ivan Coyote
Rachel says: One of Vulture's best queer young adult novels,"One in Every Crowd," by Ivan Coyote (of my home country of Canada!) brings a rural perspective to queer storytelling. While I haven't read this short story collection, its curated for teenagers and everything else I've read from them is amazing.
Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera
Paloma says: This is the critically acclaimed debut novel of one of my favorite comic book writers, Gabby Rivera. The story is a modern (and semi autobiographical) take on a young Puerto Rican woman’s coming of age as queer, feminist woman. With so few stories for young queer people of color BY a queer woman of color, the main character Juliet is breath of fresh air whose story is so incredibly relatable, regardless of specific circumstance.
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
Kim says: Audre Lorde was a self described “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet.” Her own words were an understatement. This short volume is a cornerstone of Black Feminism by one of its forebearers. Sister Outsider covers poetry, power, race and what it will take to reach freedom.
Borderlands / La Frontera by Gloria Anzaldúa.
Kim says: Anzaldua forces us to rethink everything we know about borders as a simple line that demarcates us from an “other.” Instead, borders are something that shape our spaces our psyches and how our bodies move in the world. In this political moment, this foundational Chicana feminist text is required reading.
Q & A: Queer in Asian America Edited by David L. Eng and Alice Y Hom
Kim says: Over 20 years after its first printing, Q & A remains a landmark compilation of artists, activists, essayists asking what does it mean to be both queer and Asian? Traversing an entire continent of people, Q & A asks broad yet specific questions about belonging and identity that are still relevant if not even more urgent.
Gender Trouble by Judith Butler
Kim says: It is almost impossible to have a conversation about gender without inadvertently invoking this seminal Queer Studies text. Gender Trouble gave us much of the language we still use to describe the performativity of gender and what it means.
A Broken Bargain for Transgender Workers (PDF )by the Movement Advancement Project
Kim says: Research about the employment disparities for the trans community is rare. In 2013 the Movement Advancement Project published an easily accessible, free and comprehensive study on the reality of the workplace for trans people. Their findings (high rates of unemployment, discrimination and harassment) underscore the necessity of comprehensive changes in the national workplace.