Arts & Culture :: Books

Spring Books 2023 roundup, part 1

Spring Books 2023 roundup, part 1

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Apr 25, 2023

Book lovers have many reasons to be excited, as it's already promising to be another stellar year for queer books. Presented here, in a series of installments, are just a few examples of the amazing literary delights this season.

Alison Riley's 'Recipe for Disaster'

Alison Riley's 'Recipe for Disaster'

  • by Gregg Shapiro
  • Apr 25, 2023

Alison Riley's "Recipe for Disaster: 40 Superstar Stories of Sustenance and Survival" folds in humorous and heartfelt tales to satisfy almost every appetite.

Craig Seligman's astonishing 'Who Does That Bitch Think She Is? Doris Fish and the Rise of Drag'

Craig Seligman's astonishing 'Who Does That Bitch Think She Is? Doris Fish and the Rise of Drag'

  • by Michael Flanagan
  • Apr 18, 2023

Doris Fish was everywhere in the 1980s. It seemed if she didn't exist someone would have had to invent her. Craig Seligman's "Who Does That Bitch Think She Is? Doris Fish and the Rise of Drag" reminds us that someone did. That someone was Philip Mills.

Fenton Bailey's 'ScreenAge' - World of Wonder producer's pop culture inspirations in new book

Fenton Bailey's 'ScreenAge' - World of Wonder producer's pop culture inspirations in new book

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Apr 18, 2023

Fenton Bailey's 'ScreenAge: How TV Shaped Our Reality From Tammy Faye to RuPaul's Drag Race' consists of three interweaving sections: personal memoir, the role of television in our lives, and the impact of queer pop culture.

What's Enough? Pianist Stephen Hough's new memoir

What's Enough? Pianist Stephen Hough's new memoir

  • by Tim Pfaff
  • Apr 11, 2023

Designated one of the 20 living polymaths, Stephen Hough has, in recent years, added to his discography and busy concert schedule a welter of new musical compositions, and books, including his new memoir.

Yvonne Zipter's 'The Wordless Lullaby of Crickets'

Yvonne Zipter's 'The Wordless Lullaby of Crickets'

  • by Laura Moreno
  • Apr 4, 2023

Author, poet and retired University of Chicago Press manuscript editor Yvonne Zipter has released her captivating new collection of poetry with a penetrating eye for observation and a big heart.

Gerardo Samano Cordova's 'Monstrilio'

Gerardo Samano Cordova's 'Monstrilio'

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Apr 4, 2023

Grief for the death of a child manifests in some horrific ways in queer author Gerardo Samano Cordova's smashing debut, "Monstrilio."

Sasha Velour's 'Big Reveal' - drag artist brings new show to Palace of Fine Arts

Sasha Velour's 'Big Reveal' - drag artist brings new show to Palace of Fine Arts

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • Mar 28, 2023

Drag artist Sasha Velour takes to the stage of the Palace of Fine Arts Theater on April 6 with a new show that's also a celebration of the publication of "The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag," her first book.

Queer books for life: podcast celebrates LGBTQ literature

Queer books for life: podcast celebrates LGBTQ literature

  • by David-Elijah Nahmod
  • Mar 28, 2023

Books with queer themes are the subject of each episode of "This Queer Book Saved My Life," a podcast based out of Minneapolis. In installment after installment, host J. P. Der Boghossian talks to a guest about books that saved their life.

Lucy Jane Bledsoe's 'Tell the Rest'

Lucy Jane Bledsoe's 'Tell the Rest'

  • by Jim Piechota
  • Mar 21, 2023

For the two enthralling queer protagonists in author Lucy Jane Bledsoe's just-published novel, they have lived a life scarred by their time in a Christian conversion camp, each bearing the enduring weight of psychological pain and torment.

Thomas Mallon's 'Up With the Sun'

Thomas Mallon's 'Up With the Sun'

  • by Brian Bromberger
  • Mar 21, 2023

Readers can discover Dick Kallman, a gay miniscule has-been yet fascinating celebrity, in the new novel on his tumultuous life, "Up With the Sun" by Thomas Mallon, perhaps the country's foremost historical fiction writer.

Leslie Absher's 'Spy Daughter, Queer Girl'

Leslie Absher's 'Spy Daughter, Queer Girl'

  • by Laura Moreno
  • Mar 14, 2023

While growing up, Leslie Absher didn't know or years that her father worked for the CIA. She later decided that her life as a spy daughter was also hers to reclaim. The result is an intimate portrait of personal healing.

A family affair: Richard Mirabella's 'Brother & Sister Enter the Forest'

A family affair: Richard Mirabella's 'Brother & Sister Enter the Forest'

  • by Tim Pfaff
  • Mar 14, 2023

The title of Richard Mirabella's debut novel, "Brother & Sister Enter the Forest" promises the sinister, and Mirabella makes good on the promise. The plot sits queasily somewhere between "Hansel and Gretel" and "A Long Day's Journey Into Night."

Supreme Models: Vogue docuseries based on Marcellas Reynolds' book

Supreme Models: Vogue docuseries based on Marcellas Reynolds' book

  • by Cornelius Washington
  • Mar 7, 2023

Marcellas Reynolds' ravishing book, "Supreme Models: Iconic Black Women Who Revolutionized Fashion," is a must-have for true fashion addicts. And so is the Vogue documentary series inspired by his book.