The Black Trans Prayer Book edited by J Mase III (he/him) and Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi (she/her) is a book I’m still working through because it can’t be done all at once. This book helps me reckon with the understanding that my leaving has to look different and that leaving home often means returning to it, not where the home has changed but where I do, over and over and over again. I think it’s pretty well-known that black queer people often cannot follow the often white centered belief to “leave home”. As someone who spent half their childhood in the South, there is a disconnect for me when people talk of needing to escape it. : An Oral Historyī.: An Oral History edited by E. If you need to remember you are braver than you give yourself credit for, I really recommend this book. I was terrified for my girls throughout the entire book but in awe of their courage, their action in the face of damn near certain destruction. Sophia is determined not to let her life be dictated by people who don’t even care about her or her people and it is dangerous and lovely and she is my hero. Cinderella is DeadĬinderella is Dead by Kalynn Barron (she/her) is about a young black woman who is love with another black woman and set in a fairy tale land where everyone is pretty much the worst. Skye Falling caught my heart within the first chapter and I cannot spoil it for you but there is so much goodness, so much trying to handle the impossible griefs, and loving in black centered, brown centered, black and brown queer centered communities here and it definitely added sunlight to my heart’s house this past winter. It’s a little tough for me to read books that aren’t young adult because my life is depressing enough without me adding books that don’t have a lot of hope tied to the end of it’s pinky (I know I need to branch out because there are adult fiction books that don’t do this but it’s a pandemic, I’m scared of new things). Skye Falling by Mia McKenzie (she/her) made me laugh so hard and then cry a bucket and you should read it immediately. This book reminds me to stay still and stay open and that feeling isn’t the worst thing I can do when I’m scared, but ignoring the root of feeling could be more detrimental to not just me but those I love too. I hate change (who doesn’t) but sometimes I can get really destructive in the avoiding of it. I return to it when I’m scared of ending, I’m scared of endings, I know I cannot avoid endings. I cannot state how important this book is to me. Two young black girls fall in love as they navigate death, grief, and the universe. The Stars and the Blackness Between Them by Junauda Petrus-Nasah (she/her) is one of the books that allowed me to remember that loving black women is holy, is so much of the reason I am here. The 200 Best Lesbian, Bisexual & Queer Movies Of All TimeĮight Books 1.LGBTQ Television Guide: What To Watch Now.