13 essential LGBTQ+ books to accompany your travels

One of the best ways to immerse yourself while exploring a new culture is to dive into a book written by a local LGBTQ+ author.

Mark

Feb 28, 2023 - 19:00

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13 essential LGBTQ+ books to accompany your travels

Man in peacoat reads a book in a quaint coffee shop with hanging vines in the distance

One of the best ways to immerse yourself while exploring a new queer culture is to dive into a book written by a local author. Here are some of our favorite LGBTQ+ books to accompany your journeys.

“My Tender Matador” (Chile)

Man with a backpack sits on an ornate stone ledge overlooking a green river valley in Vietnam.

In the midst of Chile’s dictatorship, a transwoman living in Santiago falls in love with an anarchist who plots to assassinate Pinochet. This book is equally sexy and hysterical, as well as a great insight into queer life in Chile in the 1980s. Queer activist Pedro Lemebel wrote many books, novellas, and poems during their lifetime, but, sadly, only one of his books has been translated into English. If you enjoy this make sure to look out for the recent film by the same name.

“On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” (Vietnam)

A woman reads a book in the doorway of a humble historic red building with a tiled roof on a cobble stone street in Uruguay.

Vietnamese American author Ocean Vuong writes an eloquent, emotional, and vivid novel about his family’s life in Vietnam and as immigrants in Connecticut. Caution, you may ugly cry in public while reading this tear-jerker.

“Cantoras” (Uruguay)

Paddle-boarders paddle towards sunset on the river Spree in Berlin with a bridge resembling a castle, towering cranes, and the famous Berlin TV tower in the background.

Set in the 1970s era of military dictatorships in Uruguay, Carolina de Robertis portrays the ideal beach wonderland of Cabo Polonia, where five queer women find a haven each year to explore their sexuality and their place in Uruguayan society.

“Goodbye to Berlin” (Germany)

Point of view of someone riding a bicycle on the scenic boardwalk of Fire Island, NY

Christopher Isherwood’s masterpiece follows queer creatives in Berlin during the Weimer Republic leading up to the Nazi takeover. This novel was the inspiration for the famous musical and film Cabaret featuring Liza Minelli.

“Dancer from the Dance: A Novel” (USA)

Two men dressed in top hats and trench coats look over a wintery park in Paris France.

Written in 1978, just before the outbreak of AIDS, the novel follows the life of a group of fabulous gay men and socialites living in New York and Fire Island in what many call the height of gay sexual freedom in the US. Author Andrew Holleran poetically reveals the raucous and sometimes dark lives of queer life in this period.

“When We Rise: My Life in the Movement” (USA)

If the name Cleve Jones looks familiar, it’s because he was Harvey Milk’s protege and the creator of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. His memoir begins in the 1970s gay mecca of San Francisco and outlines his contributions to the Gay Liberation Movement. Cleve still lives in the Castro, and if you’re lucky you may run into him at one of the neighborhood watering holes.

“Giovanni’s Room” (France)

Looking down a street in Bogota with brightly colored buildings, people walking, and in the distance a multi-colored skyscraper and green mountains.

Set in 1950s Paris, James Baldwin focuses on the life of an American man living in France and his tumultuous love affair with an Italian bartender named Giovanni.

“Fiebre Tropical” (Colombia)

Man on blue scooter takes a photo of himself in a convex traffic mirror revealing a landscape of lush plant life around a house and concrete fence in Taiwan.

Written in Spanglish, the story is a coming-age novel written about a high school girl and her life between Bogota and Florida. Author Juliàn Delgado Lopera’s hilarious character falls in love with the pastor’s daughter and gets wrapped up in an evangelical youth group to get closer to her crush.

“Crystal Boys” (Taiwan)

A handsome Sri Lankan man looks back at the viewer from the driver's side of a Tuk Tuk.

This is the first ever Chinese novel with a gay theme. This 1988 classic written by Pai Hsien-Yung follows a gang of gay hustlers cast out from their families and living on the streets of Tapei.

“Marriage of a Thousand Lies” (Sri Lanka)

Two men with backpacks, hiking poles, and sweaters descend into the forest at daybreak.

Lucky and her husband are both gay, and although not ideal, it is appeasing their conservative families. Randomly Lucky returns to Sri Lanka to help her grandmother and runs into her old high school flame, who is also about to fall into an arranged marriage. Suddenly, she can’t hold back her feelings, and chaos ensues. Author SJ Sindu tells a story of the complicated web of race, sexual orientation, and tradition in South Asian society.

“Swimming in the Dark” (Poland)

Man soaking in a Japanese Onsen peers into the snowy forest scenery.

Set in 1980s Soviet Poland, Tomasz Jedrowski describes a hidden love affair birthed in the deep forest of Poland between two college comrades. The heartbreaking and introspective story outlines the lengths the duo must endure to survive and not be found out in this era.

“Poems of Penisist” (Japan)

Queer poet Mutsuo Takahashi’s groundbreaking book of homoerotic poems celebrates male homosexuality and desire.

“They Call Me Queer” ( South Africa)

Three friends sit on a ledge of an outdoor plaza talking enjoying lunch and drinking coffee.

A collection of lesbian, gay, transgender, intersex, bi-sexual, asexual, and intersex storytellers and their lives in modern-day South Africa, ranging from their struggles to their queer joy!