Read (Queer) Banned Books

All Boys Aren't Blue

A Memoir-Manifesto

By: George M. Johnson
Narrated by: George M. Johnson
Length: 5 hours 11 minutes

This program is read by the author.

In a series of personal essays, prominent journalist and LGBTQIA+ activist George M. Johnson's All Boys Aren't Blue explores his childhood, adolescence, and college years in New Jersey and Virginia.

A New York Times Bestseller!
Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News, Today Show, and MSNBC feature stories

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Melissa (previously published as GEORGE)

By: Alex Gino
Narrated by: Jamie Clayton
Length: 3 hours 16 minutes

“This book, which the author is now calling Melissa’s Story, is tender and wholesome—about a young transgender girl who wants to play Charlotte in her 4th grade production of Charlotte’s Web. Read more

Beyond the Gender Binary

Pocket Change Collective

By: Alok Vaid-Menon
Narrated by: Alok Vaid-Menon
Length: 1 hour 7 minutes

Winner of the 2021 In The Margins Award
 
"When reading this book, all I feel is kindness."-- Sam Smith, Grammy and Oscar award-winning singer and songwriter
 
"Thank God we have Alok. And I'm learning a thing or two myself."--Billy Porter, Emmy award-winning actor, singer, and Broadway theater performer

"Beyond the Gender Binary will give readers... Read more

Last Night at the Telegraph Club

By: Malinda Lo
Narrated by: Emily Woo Zeller
Length: 12 hours 25 minutes

“This coming of age story about a young woman growing up queer in 1950s Chinatown, San Francisco, was brilliant. I loved the rich historical detail, believable characters, exploration of intersectional identities, romance, and sense of place, made even stronger by the excellent narration. Best book I've read in quite some time and highly... Read more

Felix Ever After

By: Kacen Callender
Narrated by: Logan Rozos
Length: 8 hours 23 minutes

A Stonewall Honor Book * A Time Magazine Best YA Book of All TimeFrom Stonewall and Lambda Award–winning author Kacen Callender comes a revelatory YA novel about a transgender teen grappling with identity and self-discovery while falling in love for the first time.Felix Love has never been in love—and, yes, he’s painfully aware of the irony. He... Read more

Call Me by Your Name

A Novel

By: André Aciman
Narrated by: Armie Hammer
Length: 7 hours 43 minutes

“Some books change you, fundamentally alter something about who you are, how you think, how you feel. Whether it's a new feeling, or that they've opened your eyes to a part of yourself that you weren't aware of, I'm not sure, but what I do know is that Call Me By Your Name was, for me, one of those books. Even through the adolescent language and... Read more

Red, White & Royal Blue

A Novel

By: Casey McQuiston
Narrated by: Ramon de Ocampo
Length: 12 hours 15 minutes

“ To everyone who started telling me to read this book a year ago, I’m sorry. You were right - I loved it, unequivocally. The romance was sweet and gentle and real. But the humor put it over the top for me. I needed to laugh like that, desperately. And I did, a lot. A whole lot. But I also cried - because this book is pure, wholesome, and... Read more

Red at the Bone

A Novel

By: Jacqueline Woodson
Narrated by: Jacqueline Woodson, Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Peter Francis James, Shayna Small & Bahni Turpin
Length: 3 hours 52 minutes

“Wow. Don't let the length fool you - this book is overflowing with heart. An incredibly poignant story of teen pregnancy told from multiple perspectives and timelines, coalescing into something that is so much more than the sum of its parts. The narration was superb, lending all the more life to Woodson's characters. Read more

In the Dream House

A Memoir

By: Carmen Maria Machado
Narrated by: Carmen Maria Machado
Length: 5 hours 28 minutes

“In the most inventive memoir I've read, Machado uses narrative tropes in a series of fragments and vignettes to break down the ways in which she, herself, was breaking down in an abusive same-sex relationship. A book about 'archival silence,' about inventing a language to tell a story. Read more

Hunger

A Memoir of (My) Body

By: Roxane Gay
Narrated by: Roxane Gay
Length: 5 hours 57 minutes

“Man oh man. Roxane Gay never fails to disappoint, even if she might disagree. This is a powerful, raw memoir, narrated by the author. Her truth is so relatable, and even when it’s not, Gay’s writing is empathetic. This audiobook was so engrossing, I actively looked for excuses to step away from what I was doing and listen to it. I highly... Read more

Beyond Magenta

Transgender Teens Speak Out

By: Susan Kuklin
Narrated by: Tanya Eby, Nick Podehl, Todd Haberkorn, Roxanne Hernandez, Janina Edwards, Nancy Wu & Marisol Ramirez
Length: 4 hours 35 minutes

A 2015 Stonewall Honor BookA groundbreaking work of LGBT literature takes an honest look at the life, love, and struggles of transgender teens.Author and photographer Susan Kuklin met and interviewed six transgender or gender-neutral young adults and used her considerable skills to represent them thoughtfully and respectfully before, during, and... Read more

Being Jazz

My Life as a (Transgender) Teen

By: Jazz Jennings
Narrated by: Jazz Jennings
Length: 4 hours

Teen advocate and trailblazer Jazz Jennings—named one of “The 25 Most Influential Teens” of the year by Time—shares her very public transgender journey, as she inspires people to accept the differences in others while they embrace their own truths.
 
“[Jazz’s] touching book serves as a rallying cry for understanding and acceptance.”—Bustle
 
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Middlesex

A Novel

By: Jeffrey Eugenides
Narrated by: Kristoffer Tabori
Length: 21 hours 19 minutes

Winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Audie Award for best unabridged fiction, Middlesex marks the fulfillment of a huge talent, named one of America's best young novelists by both Granta and The New Yorker.

In the spring of 1974, Calliope Stephanides, a student at a girls' school, Grosse Pointe, MI, finds herself drawn to a... Read more

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda

By: Becky Albertalli
Narrated by: Michael Crouch
Length: 6 hours 45 minutes

Now a major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox: Love, SimonWilliam C. Morris Award Winner: Best Young Adult Debut of the Year * National Book Award Longlist"A remarkable gift of a novel."—Andrew Smith, author of Grasshopper Jungle"I am so in love with this book."—Nina LaCour, author of Hold Still"Feels timelessly, effortlessly now."—Tim... Read more

Pet

By: Akwaeke Emezi
Narrated by: Christopher Myers
Length: 5 hours 32 minutes

National Book Award Finalist

Stonewall Book Award Winner

"[A] beautiful, genre-expanding debut...Pet is a nesting doll of creative possibilities." (The New York Times)

The award-winning, genre-defying novel by the New York Times best-selling author of The Death of Vivek Oji that explores themes of identity and justice and asks: How do you share the... Read more

Too Bright to See

By: Kyle Lukoff
Narrated by: Jax Jackson & Kyle Lukoff
Length: 4 hours 28 minutes

“This spooky and thoughtful book follows Bug, a soon to be middle schooler. How do you handle your uncle’s death when he’s still haunting your house, and when he seems to have a message for you? How can you “be you” when you don’t know what that means yet? Read more

This Book Is Gay

By: Juno Dawson
Narrated by: Christopher Solimene
Length: 6 hours 47 minutes

Lesbian. Bisexual. Queer. Transgender. Straight. Curious. This book is for everyone, regardless of gender or sexual preference. This book is for anyone who's ever dared to wonder. This book is for you.

There's a long-running joke that, after "coming out," a lesbian, gay guy, bisexual, or trans person should receive a membership card and... Read more

Hurricane Child

By: Kacen Callender
Narrated by: Krystel Roche
Length: 4 hours 37 minutes

Prepare to be swept up by this exquisite novel that reminds us that grief and love can open the world in mystical ways.

Twelve-year-old Caroline is a Hurricane Child, born on Water Island during a storm. Coming into this world during a hurricane is unlucky, and Caroline has had her share of bad luck already. She's hated by everyone in her small... Read more

Cemetery Boys

By: Aiden Thomas
Narrated by: Avi Roque
Length: 13 hours 47 minutes

“"Listening to Cemetery Boys made me smile. A lot. Aiden Thomas presents a story of persistence, mystery, and finding one’s place in the world. Yadriel, a trans, teenage, latinx boy, lives in a family of brujos and brujas. After coming out as trans his family does not know where he fits within their traditions. With the help of his opinionated... Read more

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

By: Stephen Chbosky
Narrated by: Noah Galvin
Length: 6 hours 23 minutes

Read the cult-favorite coming of age story that takes a sometimes heartbreaking, often hysterical, and always honest look at high school in all its glory. Now a major motion picture starring Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a funny, touching, and haunting modern classic.

The critically acclaimed debut novel from... Read more