Buckle up that I am getting historical!

Stonewall riots, have you heard about them? Of course your have! Well, this is one of the many milestones of the queer fight and the reason why Pride is celebrated on the 28 of June!

The 60’s was not a welcoming era for the lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender people. As a matter of fact, in New York City the solicitation of same sex relations and engaging in gay behavior in public was illegal, hence the many raids in gay bars.

So in 1969, New York City police raided a gay club located in Greenwich Village called… Stonewall Inn. The constant raids and restrictions pushed the bar patrons and neighborhood residents to riot against the police who roughly hauled employees and patrons out of the bar. This raid lead to six days of protests and violent clashes with law enforcement. The Stonewall Riots served as a catalyst for the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

Stonewall is an important rock in the foundation of rights and equality for the queer, and The Stonewall Book Award is a set of three literary awards that annually recognize “exceptional merit relating to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender experience,” and we have a few books who have won this award! Check below the list and try some of them this month!

The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar

Five years after a suspicious fire killed his ornithologist mother, a closeted Syrian American trans boy sheds his birth name and searches for a new one. He has been unable to paint since his mother’s ghost has begun to visit him each evening. He spends his days cooped up in their apartment, avoiding his neighborhood masjid, his estranged sister, and even his best friend.

Not only this story focuses on the identity definition of the main character, but also deals with grief and isolation. The whole process of embracing oneself is not an easy process and definitely not one to do it by oneself.

Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis

A genre-defining novel and De Robertis’s masterpiece, Cantoras is a breathtaking portrait of queer love, community, forgotten history, and the strength of the human spirit. At once timeless and groundbreaking, Cantoras is a tale about the fire in all our souls and those who make it burn.

Representing Latin@s!!! Cantoras is the story of 5 Uruguayan women who sing and found a cove that they set as their sanctuary in a time where homosexuality was a dangerous transgression. Definitely, this is a great story for representation and to learn more.

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makka

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico’s funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico’s little sister.

Sometimes, I feel that the AIDs epidemic is a historical moment that many people have forgotten and that don’t keep it close home. I have read books that make reference to this epidemic and even watching Pose broke my heart at how many friends and partners were dying and were stigmatized. Totally worth buying and reading.

If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo

Amanda Hardy is the new girl in school. Like anyone else, all she wants is to make friends and fit in. But Amanda is keeping a secret, and she’s determined not to get too close to anyone. But when she meets Grant, Amanda can’t help but start to let him into her life. As they spend more time together, she realizes just how much she is losing by guarding her heart. She finds herself yearning to share with Grant everything about herself, including her past. But Amanda’s terrified that once she tells him the truth because the secret that Amanda’s been keeping? It’s that at her old school, she used to be Andrew.

I read this book a while back and was my first story about transgender people and from a transgender author, and it was totally sweet and shocking (because I could feel her fear of being discovered, and I couldn’t even imagine how difficult must be to be unable to fully life your truth) (Check our full review here)

Little & Lion by Brandy Colber

When Suzette comes home to Los Angeles from her boarding school in New England, she isn’t sure if she’ll ever want to go back. LA is where her friends and family are (along with her crush, Emil). And her stepbrother, Lionel, who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, needs her emotional support.

But as she settles into her old life, Suzette finds herself falling for someone new…the same girl her brother is in love with. When Lionel’s disorder spirals out of control, Suzette is forced to confront her past mistakes and find a way to help her brother before he hurts himself – or worse.

I love the representation and the multiple elements of the story from Suzette’s sexual orientation to how she has to cope with her brothers disorder. Family, sexuality, and identity!

Hopefully, you will find something interesting from this list! These books have been awarded the Stonewall award so they are certified to blow your mind and move your hearts! Also, as a fun fact, one year later from the Stonewall Riots happened, the America’s first gay pride parade ever took place in New York City! ;D

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Have you try any of these