As a queer person, I love listening to intimate and personal stories within my community. I celebrate the inspiring tales of overcoming biases and fighting for equity that peer into self-identity with unflinching vigor even in the face of adversity. Below are audiobooks that feature queer memoirs, essays and short stories. All are written and read by the authors and showcase profoundly personal queer voyages we can all learn from.
On Top of Glass is an insightful memoir from figure skating champion Karina Mantaabout her life as a bisexual professional athlete. The audiobook details her fan-favorite performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, becoming the first female figure skater on Team USA to come out as queer, her New York Times essay “I Can’t Hate My Body if I Love Hers,” , and her experience going through high school without meeting another queer person.
“Resolute and hopeful, this memoir swells with emotion. Raw, kind, and close to the heart.”—Kirkus
Visceral and astonishing, Paul Tran’s debut poetry collection investigates intergenerational trauma, sexual violence, and U.S. imperialism to radically alter our understanding of freedom, power, and control. All the Flowers Kneeling revels in rediscovering and reconfiguring the self and ultimately becomes an essential testament to the human capacity for resilience, endurance, and love.
“Inventive and unflinching, this vivid debut is a beautiful declaration of survival.” – AudioFile.
App Kid is the galvanizing story of Michael Sayman’s life as a young Latinowho excelled in the cutthroat world of Silicon Valley and went on to become an inspiration to thousands of kids everywhere by following his own surprising, extraordinary path. Sayman shares his remarkable journey’s highs and lows, successes, and failures in this candid and uplifting memoir.
Burn the Page takes listeners from Danica Roem’s lonely, closeted, and at times operatically tragic childhood to her position as a rising star in the Democratic Party, which she forever changed. Burn the Page is an inspiring manifesto about how it’s possible to set fire to the stories you don’t want to be in anymore, and rewrite your future.
” … this colorful, no-holds-barred account of Roem’s life and political work still delights for its unabashed candor. An inspiring story of self-acceptance and determination.” –Kirkus
Center, Center is an exuberant behind-the-scenes tour of James Whiteside’s life , both on- and offstage. Center, Center is a raunchy, curious, and unapologetic celebration of queerness, self-expression, friendship, sex, creativity, and pushing boundaries that will entertain you, shock you, inspire you, embolden you, and maybe even make you cry.
Part memoir, part sweeping journalistic saga, Diary of a Misfit follows
Casey Parks as she follows the mystery of a stranger’s past, and is forced to reckon with her sexuality, her fraught Southern identity, her tortured yet loving relationship with her mother, and the complicated role of faith in her life.
“Parks’ work of self-investigation is a fascinating, engrossing tale about identity and belonging” —Booklist (starred review)
How can we carry our homes with us? Informed by Yanyi’s experiences of immigration, violent heartbreak, and a bodily transition, Dream of the Divided Field explores the contradictions that accompany shifts from one state of being to another. Tender, serene, and ethereal poems examine a body breaking down and a body that rebuilds in limitless and boundary-shifting ways.
“Yanyi delivers the poems with great feeling that underscores their exploration of the diversity of pleasure and pain in the human experience. “– AudioFile.
A poignant and hilarious memoir from the cultural icon, gay rights activist, and four-time Tony Award-winning actor and playwright, Harvey Fierstein. I Was Better Last Night reveals never-before-told stories of Fierstein’s personal struggles, of sex and romance, and of his fabled career.
“This wonderful audiobook is a special treat for those who know and love actor, writer, and director Harvey Fierstein.’ – AudioFile.
Checkout LGBTQIA+ collections for more audiobooks recommendations.