Pride Month Special: 8 LGBTQ+ Books On Audible You Must Listen

Pride Month is a worldwide celebration of the LGBTQ+ community, to acknowledge and understand their struggles and to support them. With the growing awareness around the LGBTQA+ community, many are keen on knowing what it is all about. Many are curious to learn about the community. What could be a better way to add to the festival if not by books? Books help us not to just understand and explore better, but also to empathise better and feel emotions. 

And what is the easier way to do it if not by Audible books? Audible can be your friend. This pride month we have curated a list of books to listen to on audible. Be it an ally or community member, everyone can add it to its listening list!  If you are hassled with a hectic schedule or fail to focus well on reading books, you no more have to miss out on amazing stories. We have got you covered!  you can now look for LGBTQ books on Audible and give listen to our best picks.

LGBTQ Books On Audible

1. How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones:

This coming-of-the-age memoir by Saeed Jones is about a black gay man in 1990s Texas. It depicts his fights in times which was less accepting for queer people to even come out and more oppressive to the people of coloured community. The novel is a self-discovery journey and the author's fight to make his space in society, with his vehement family, and his travel across countries which talks about humans swimming lengths in search of their identities and themselves. Hearing someone's story in their voice makes it more powerful.

2. The Women's House Of Detention by Hugh Ryan:

This book by historian Hugh Ryan talks about the forgotten prison "House Of D" in New York City from 1929-1974 and the plight of women and transmasculine people imprisoned in it. This book claims that people were held for the charges of being poor, failing to fit in gender norms, being outcasts, etc that have been accused by many prisoners to harass them. This book sheds light on this unsung history. It is rare to find historical literature on queer people, getting a book with real-life stories and the plight of queers is like a diamond found in a pud that you must not miss. 

3. Vagabonds! by Eloghosa Osunde: 

This contemporary novel by author Eloghosa Osunde is set in Nigeria, a country where Vagabonds are the people whose existence is outlawed as they fall into poor, migrants, defy to live through gender norms, or are footloose. This novel is a fictional story intertwining the lives of men, women, and non-binary people living in a society where homosexuality is an offence by law and is a punishable crime. The book highlights the homophobic legislation of Nigerian laws that believes Homosexuality is a danger to the culture and faith. Yet this fiction novel ends on a happy note. Read and know yourself. 

4, Long Live The Tribe Of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden:

This memoir in essays narrated by writer T Kira Madden is her own story of growing up as an abandoned biracial teen child of a dysfunctional family of a Chinese-Hawaiian mother and a white father who left his family but not truly. Growing up with parents with Substance addictions in Florida along with unfolding other disparities of the dark side of life from white collar crimes, racism, classicism, as well as boiling desires of her own as a queer woman. Through these tensions, Madden finds the meaning of family, blood, and bonds as she finds friendship and budding love in fatherless girls. This non-fiction novel is a eulogy cum love letter wrapped with forgiveness, trauma, learning-unlearning, families and friendships, and a beautiful story of a woman fighting through life. 

5. How To Be A Girl by Marlo Mack:

Many books talk about a queer person's life and their perspectives, but we rarely find books that give a parent's narrative. We were lucky enough to stumble upon this moving memoir book by Marlo Mack who is a mother of a transgendered daughter. This book not only unfolds and gives a wider spectrum to gender identities but also zooms in on the evolution of a parent if they choose to be along with the journey of their child. 

6. Tomboy Survival Guide by Ivan Coyote:

This is again a self-narrated memoir by author Ivan Coyote which accumulates different real-life stories from growing up days in Canada. Mostly labelled as a butch, Coyote explored gender identity on deeper layers, confirming identity beyond binary genders. This collection of stories is informative as well as revealing with comical punches which could be of help to anyone struggling to identify under gender norms or specified gender spectrums. 

7. Not Like Other Dads by Sean Szeps:

How many men do you know who wish to be as loving as a mother? It is rare to find a man who wishes to love as greatly as a mother. This frank and funny memoir by Sean Szeps talks about how since childhood when he was 4, he fell in love and was inspired by the motherly teapot character of Beauty and the Beast, Mrs Potts. The only problem that led to becoming a mother was he was not even a woman. This book talks about outdated marriage and adoption laws, internalised homophobia, gay parenting, and his battles with family drama and depression. He goes through all this to become a father of two boys and a girl with twin kids. Know his journey of how he did it all. 

8. If I Was Your Girl by Meredith Russo: 

This fiction novel by Meredith Russo narrated by Samia Mounts is the story of Amanda Hardy, a new girl in a high school. She lives with her dad who has been distant after her divorce and they have started life in a new place. But that is just not enough. Amanda keeps a secret that no one shall know about. But she starts losing her guard as she meets a love interest. She wants to tell him everything from her past to reality but fears that her love interest won't be able to look past it once he gets to know her true self. As Amanda's secret is at stake, Amanda and the boy are in great trouble. How it ends, you might have to find out. This groundbreaking novel is just not a quest for acceptance and rooting for the love we all crave but is a heart-wrenching story that weighs more than it could be said.

You can find more LGBTQ books on Audible, but before that consider these. 

Suggested Reading: Pride Month 2023: 5 Books That Explore LGBTQ Teen And Young Adult Life