Book Riot Managing Editor Vanessa Diaz is a writer and former bookseller from San Diego, CA whose Spanish is even faster than her English. When not reading or writing, she enjoys dreaming up travel itineraries and drinking entirely too much tea. She is a regular co-host on the All the Books podcast who especially loves mysteries, gothic lit, mythology/folklore, and all things witchy. Vanessa can be found on Instagram at @BuenosDiazSD or taking pictures of pretty trees in Portland, OR, where she now resides.
I recently read So Many Stars, an oral history edited by Caro De Robertis compiling the stories of queer elders of color. The book grew out of an oral history project led by author Jacqueline Woodson (Another Brooklyn, Brown Girl Dreaming) during De Robertis’ time as an inaugural Baldwin-Emerson fellow. That project, I See My Light Shining, brought together 10 writers to record interviews with elders of color from across the country. De Robertis’ focus was on BIPOC queer and trans authors on the West Coast, and the more they listened and learned from the elders, the more inspired they were to weave these stories into book form. The result is one of my favorite books I’ve read this year.
As I often do when I consume a piece of media that I love, I went off in search of all the info I could get on So Many Stars. I found several fascinating interviews with Caro De Robertis, including one by PEN America where they were asked if they had a particular audience in mind when putting this history together. Their response was everything I have ever wanted to say about the importance of reading diversely, but especially about LGBTQIA+ lit: “I do believe this book is for everyone and anyone who cares about the full spectrum of what it means to be human and alive.”
In the spirit of Caro De Robertis’ wise words, I’ve highlighted some queer Latine books of all flavors to try and capture the full spectrum of the human experience. Below you’ll find an early work of Chicana lesbian lit; a memoir-in-essays born from a Grindr blog; a sapphic foodie novella set during the holidays, spine-tingling stories that defy classification, and more.
Queer Latine Books
Gulf Dreams by Emma Pérez
It’s wonderful to see so much queer lit on shelves these days, but it’s important to also recognize the works that broke through back when queer books were much harder to come by. This seminal work by Emma Pérez, considered one of the first Chicana lesbian novels in print, is about a Chicana who came of age in a racist, rural Texas town, now reflecting on the obsessive love she harbored for a childhood friend. This powerful story explores passion and betrayal, vengeance and desire, and the legacy of colonialism, and reckons with abuse, misogyny, and sexual violence in the Chicano/a* community.
*I deferred to the use of Chicano/a per the publisher copy here.
Latine Lit
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So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color edited by Caro De Robertis
This was my first time (shame! I know!) reading Caro De Robertis, the Uruguayan American author of Cantoras and The Palace of Eros and award-winning translator of Latin American literature. This collection of testimonies from queer elders of color about self-discovery, activism, resistance, and survival is such an essential read, a necessary record of so much lived experience and hard-won progress. It is a love letter to queer history and an inspiring, hilarious, heartbreaking, and gorgeous reminder to treasure the wisdom of those who’ve witnessed history, helped shape it, and given us the space to imagine a future where we’re all free. I had to pause to reflect several times, especially in the passages about found family and liberation. This is phenomenal on audio and brought me to tears!
¡Hola Papi!: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons by John Paul Brammer
“¡Hola Papi!,” as JP Brammer tells it, started off as a joke: “What if ‘Dear Abby’ was a gay Mexican man on Grindr?” He set out to craft a satirical take on the advice column and wound up with a legit and wildly popular column instead. This memoir-in-essays begins with Brammer’s experience growing up biracial and closeted in rural Oklahoma, following him through his rise as an unexpected Grinder icon. True story: I laughed so hard reading this that I threw my head back in one of my trademark bruja cackles, ramming my dome right into the corner of a kitchen cabinet. I drew blood and saw stars, but kept on laughing!
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado
Machado’s writing does what it does with no regard for genre boundaries or convention, and it’s why I love her so much. This collection, which has the nerve to be her debut, explores women’s hunger, desire, and the violence imposed on their bodies. There’s the unsettling tale of a woman refusing her husband’s relentless requests to remove the green ribbon around her neck, or the one about the woman who gets her stomach stapled only to be haunted in the aftermath. Then there’s the novella that reimagines episodes of Law & Order: SVU, aptly titled, “Especially Heinous.” This books is queer and weird and dark and unlike anything I’ve ever read.
Mangoes and Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera
I stay salty about the fact that we don’t have very many Latine holiday romances. My kingdom for a meet-cute at a posada, some instalove over steaming cups of champurrado, maybe some sexy times over Nochebuena! (That’s a noche(bien)buena, amirite? slaps knee in elder millennial). We do have a few pretty great ones, though, and Adriana Herrera’s sapphic foodie grumpy/sunshine novella is both sexy and sweet. An up-and-coming pastry chef and a stellar home cook are paired together for a baking competition in Scotland. Two Dominicas and one bed = a recipe for sapphic holiday fun.
See also: An Island Princess Starts a Scandal, which I promise I will stop talking about… maybe
A Lot Like Adios by Alexis Daria
A Lot Like Adios gives us two bisexual leads: Michelle, a commitment-phobic marketing executive, and Gabe, the co-owner of a buzzy celebrity gym in LA and Michelle’s childhood best friend. The pair are thrown together in the Bronx when Michelle is hired to do the marketing for Gabe’s new gym location, which would be great if Gabe hadn’t disappeared from Mich’s life 13 years ago. Michelle is determined to keep Gabe at arm’s length, but as they get to work on the campaign, the temptation to get to work en la cama grows stronger. I wonder what will happen!
This is the second book in the now concluded Primas of Power series, all of which can be read as standalones.
How We Named the Stars by Andrés N. Ordorica
I read the synopsis for this book and thought, “welp, saca el Kleenex.” Daniel is a first-generation Mexican-American college student on scholarship at an elite East Coast university struggling under the weight of his family’s expectations. But that load begins to feel lighter as he gets to know his roommate, Sam, and their relationship evolves from friendship to something more tender and intimate. Then tragedy strikes and Daniel is consumed by grief, returning home to Chihuahua, Mexico for the summer. A few family secrets are revealed during his stay, including one about the late uncle for whom Daniel was named. The love, the heartache, the journey to acceptance… this is one of those books that breaks your heart and puts it back together again.
With that, I wish everyone a very Happy Pride and encourage y’all to make queer books a regular part of your reading. Go sign up for Our Queerest Shelves if you haven’t already, where we share new queer books, queer book news, and recommendations for every reader under the rainbow. In the meantime, check out the books editor Erica Ezeifedi is reading for Pride (and beyond) here, and curl up with these cozy, comforting queer graphic novels.
The following comes to you from the Editorial Desk.
It’s Pride Month, and while we celebrate queer literature here all year long, we go especially rainbow bold in June. This week, we’re excited to take a look at the favorite queer books of beloved queer authors.
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It’s Pride month, which is the perfect excuse to buy and read a bunch of queer books. One method I really enjoy for finding new books is to take the recommendations of my favorite authors. Carmen Maria Machado hasn’t led me astray yet. Unfortunately, I don’t have these authors on speed dial, but luckily, they usually have shared their recommendations publicly.
Below I’ve put together queer book recommendations from 11 beloved queer authors. Some are from interviews where they discussed their favorite books, and others are book blurbs. Both the authors’ works and the books they recommend cover a wide spectrum of genres and formats, including graphic novels, literary fiction, poetry, biographies, horror, sci-fi, YA fantasy, and more, so there’s something for every kind of reader.
Akwaeke Emezi recommends…
Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde
“Some of the most spectacular writing I’ve ever encountered in my life… Vagabonds! brought me to tears because it gave me a world in which my country could be home again.”
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English (US) · 