Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Introducing our 2011 Summer Intern, Soraya! AND the launch of the GLBTQ Biographies and Memoirs Book Shelf



Hi there! I’m Soraya, this summer’s intern, and I’ll be entering my senior year of high school in September. I’m very excited to be working with “I’m Here, I’m Queer, What the Hell Do I Read?” this summer! As an ally to the GLBTQ community, I think it’s really important to reinforce the fact that there are people who go through the same experiences and that nobody’s alone. We as people tend to lose sight of the fact that many people have stories for us to learn and grow from. I’ll be writing reviews on a wide range of biographies and memoirs from GLBTQ celebrities and activists, so keep your eyes peeled for those! Thanks for reading!


So here's what we've got so far of the still-coming together list of GLBTQ Biographies and Memoirs that Soraya will review this summer:

1) Transition: The Story of How I Became A Man - Chaz Bono
2) Me - Ricky Martin
3) Man in the Middle- John Amaechi
4) The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas- Gertrude Stein
5) Ellen: The Real Story of Ellen Degeneres- Kathleen Tracy
6) Just Kids- Patti Smith
7) Like Me: Confessions of a Heartland Country Singer- Chely Wright
8) The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist and Sexual Renegade- Justin Spring
9) Unbearable Lightness- Portia de Rossi
10) Naked- David Sedaris (he's one of my favorite authors, EVER)
11)The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk- Randy Shilts
12)Deflowered: My Life in the Pansy Division- Jon Ginoli



Do you know about a great GLBTQ Biography or Memoir of great teen interest that Soraya should consider adding to her list? Let us know in comments!

Congratulations to Soraya on getting the internship, and to all of us, because we're going to find out about some great queer non-fiction this summer!

Namaste,
Lee

5 comments:

batchelorboy55 said...

There are quite a few I can think over but not all would appeal to the young adult reader. I wold like to add at least
Ian Roberts Finding out (Australian Rugby player)
Holding the man (Tim Conigrave)
How I learned to snap (Kirk Read)
Breaking the silence (Greg Lougainis)
Little black bastard (Noel Tovey - an Indigenous Australian)
A young man's passage (Julian Clary) and
Say it out loud (Adam Sutton Australian cowboy)
I have others in my own colelction which you can check via the tags on LibraryThing
batchelorboy
aka gsc55

Rie Selavy said...

Queen of the Oddballs by Hillary Carlip would be great for teens interested in pop culture and its (recent) history, as well as those into performance.

ivanova said...

This is awesome! I think Soraya is going to have a fun summer of reading.

Here are my recommendations:

The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You by S. Bear Bergman--more personal essays than memoir, about the transgender experience

The Kid-by Dan Savage--The only adoption memoir I've ever read that had curse words and sex in it, but also a tearjerker. (Not "clean for teens," but amazing.)

A Restricted Country by Joan Nestle--personal essays, a lesbian classic.

Why Can't Sharon Kowalski Come Home by Karen Thomspon--When her life partner was brain injured in an accident, she had to fight for the right to see her because they were "legal strangers."

Family Values by Phyllis Burkes--a lesbian couple makes a baby in post-Milk, ACT UP-era San Francisco

The Me In The Mirror by Connie Panzarino--A disabled lesbian's life journey.

Hit By a Farm by Catherine Friend--city lesbian moves to a sheep farm, this funny memoir is totally a beach read.

Labor of Love by Thomas Beatie--He's famous for being the first man to get pregnant, but this transman's memoir is about so much more than that.

Soraya said...

Thank you all so much for your great suggestions! And of course thank you all for reading. I'm very excited to delve into all of these this summer :-)
-Soraya

Lindy said...

Welcome to My World by Johnny Weir is a good autobiography for teens.
http://lindypratch.blogspot.com/2011/02/welcome-to-my-world-by-johnny-weir.html
Tangles by Sarah Leavitt might have more limited appeal to teens, since the focus of the memoir is Sarah's mother and her illness, but the content is suitable for younger readers.
http://lindypratch.blogspot.com/2010/12/tangles-by-sarah-leavitt.html
Please Don't Kill the Freshman by Zoe Trope is written by a teenager.
http://lindypratch.blogspot.com/2010/06/please-dont-kill-freshman-by-zoe-trope.html
Ariel Schrag's High School Chronicles, written while she was still in school, are fabulous (and edgy).
http://lindypratch.blogspot.com/2010/02/likewise-by-ariel-schrag.html
And I second Rie's suggestion of Queen of the Oddballs.