Explore every episode of the podcast This Queer Book Saved My Life
Dive into the complete episode list for This Queer Book Saved My Life. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.
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Title
Pub. Date
Duration
Confessions of the Fox with Ilana Masad and Jordy Rosenberg
22 juil. 2025
00:43:36
Where are all the queer people in history?
Today we meet Ilana Masad and we’re talking about the queer book that saved her life: Confessions of the Fox by Jordy Rosenberg. And Jordy joins us!
Ilana Masad is a writer of fiction, nonfiction, and criticism. Their work has appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times, LA Times, Washington Post, NPR, The Atlantic, StoryQuartlerly, Catapult, Buzzfeed, Joyland, The Account, and many more. She is the author of the novel All My Mother’s Lovers and the forthcoming Beings.
Jordy Rosenberg is the author of the novels Confessions of the Fox and Night Night Fawn, as well as a scholarly monograph about 18th-century religious enthusiasts. Confessions was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, a Lambda Literary Award, among many other awards. Jordy is a professor in the Department of English and Associated MFA Faculty in the Program for Poets and Writers at The University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
In Confessions of the Fox, Jack Sheppard and Edgeworth Bess were the most notorious thieves, jailbreakers, and lovers of eighteenth-century London. Yet no one knows the true story. Their confessions have never been found. Until now. Reeling from heartbreak, a scholar named Dr. Voth discovers a long-lost manuscript—a gender-defying exposé of Jack and Bess’s adventures. But is it autobiography or a hoax? As Dr. Voth is drawn deeper into Jack and Bess’s tale of underworld resistance and gender transformation, it becomes clear that their fates are intertwined—and only a miracle will save them all.
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
The Gaily Show: Men-Who-Read Book Club, Plus Pride Booklists
15 juil. 2025
00:45:49
A new episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life drops next week on July 22nd! In our off weeks, we air a recent episode of The Gaily Show which John hosts. The Gaily Show is the only daily LGBTQ progressive news and talk radio show in the country airing in Minneapolis (AM950-KTNF) and Chicago (WCPT 820).
In this episode, Men-Who-Read is a Twin Cities book club for Gay, Bi, and Straight men who love reading non-fiction books, want to read more, and meet like-minded men in person. Founder Paul Cram and member Andrew Donager join us to discuss how this book club’s growth, its annual book challenges, and how its queer and allied readers create community through literature. Learn more here: https://paulcramactor.com/home-twin-cities-book-club-for-men/ Abigail Dillon from the Metropolitan Library Service Agency will share LGBTQ Latinx books for kids, teens, and adults for you to add to your Pride reading list. Check out all of MELSA’s LGBTQ book recommendations here: https://www.melsa.org/pride-booklist/.
Host/Founder: John Parker (learn more about my name change) Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Production and Distribution Support: Brett Johnson, AM950 Marketing/Advertising Support: Chad Larson, Laura Hedlund, Jennifer Ogren, AM950 Accounting and Creative Support: Gordy Erickson
Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality with Paul Cram
08 juil. 2025
00:44:19
Is there any theology in the religion that I grew up in that is meaningful? Or is it just hate with a halo?
Today we meet Paul Cram and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality by John Boswell.
Described as “Honest, a little quirky,” Paul is a Twin Cities-based character actor, book lover, and multimedia designer. For over 15 years, he has been performing in films and onstage. He’s shared the screen with Woody Harrelson, Cillian Murphy, and Susan Sarandon. He stars in the upcoming film Anniversary, directed by Jim Cole. For the short film To Myself he was nominated for Best Actor at Z-Fest. A voracious reader, Paul launched the monthly “Men-Who-Read” nonfiction book club in 2019 which now has over 85 book lovers. Paul serves as the chair of Education and Outreach with SAG-AFTRA Twin Cities Local.
John Boswell's landmark book Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality is credited with launching the field of gay and lesbian studies. Winner of the National Book Award, this study of Christianity's history of homosexuality in the early West revealed the Church's radically different relationship to its gay members, including priests, bishops, and even saints. There is a documentary of Boswell and his work called Not A Tame Lion. You can watch it for free on Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/723518/not-a-tame-lion
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Uncle Bobby's Wedding with Brendan Gillett and Sarah S. Brannen
24 juin 2025
00:47:48
The book that showed you what a positive queer future could be. And then literally came true.
Today we meet Brendan Gillett and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: Uncle Bobby's Wedding by Sarah S. Brannen. And Sarah joins us for the conversation!
Brendan is a high school English teacher in Brooklyn, New York. He works with English language learners to create poetry, picture books, cooking blogs, and literary analysis essays in every language they know. When he's not teaching, he's writing his own queer stories, poetry, and research essays about queer history. He lives with his illustrator husband and their cat, Pigeon.
Sarah S. Brannen is the illustrator of the Robert F. Sibert Honor book Summertime Sleepers and the author of Uncle Bobby's Wedding, named one of the 100 best children's books of the last 100 years by Booktrust. Sarah has written and illustrated A Perfect Day, Madame Martine, and Madame Martine Breaks the Rules. Miles Comes Home, a companion book to Uncle Bobby's Wedding, came out last November. And her forthcoming book Lolly on the Ice is now available to pre-order.
In Uncle Bobby's Wedding, when Uncle Bobby announces that he and "his friend" Jamie are getting married everyone is happy -- except Chloe. After a magical day with Uncle Bobby and his boyfriend, Jamie, Chloe realizes she's not losing an uncle, but gaining one.
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
The Priory of the Orange Tree with Arden Harris, Emily Autenrieth, and Samantha Shannon
10 juin 2025
00:49:26
This book sparked a five-year long career and life journey.
In a first for us, we have two guests today! They are Arden Harris and Emily Autenrieth. We’re talking about the queer book that saved their lives: The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon and she joins us for the conversation!
Arden Harris is the buyer and lead bookseller for A Seat at the Table Books, an aspiring writer, and overall bookstore cryptid. They’re often found hiding in the shelves or crafting with their partner and four cats.
Emily Autenrieth is the founder and owner of A Seat at the Table Books. Emily saw a need in the community for a space where people of all ages and identities could be themselves and learn about others. With eir spouse Ryan's support, Emily opened a pop-up and online bookstore out of the family's home in January 2020. After getting a lease on a former float spa in April 2021, Emily and Ryan opened the brick-and-mortar store that November. They have been featured by ABC10 as business of the year for 2022!
Samantha Shannon is an award-winning and bestselling fantasy author. She studied English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford. Her novel The Priory of the Orange Tree has sold over a million copies in English worldwide. At the age of 21, she published The Bone Season, the internationally bestselling first installment in a seven-book series of fantasy novels. The Dark Mirror, the fifth installment in the Bone Season series, just came out this past February.
Special Limited Series
This episode is part of a special limited series of episodes featuring only guests who are owners or staff at LGBTQ bookstores. Airing April-June 2025, these episodes will feature six bookstores across the United States and United Kingdom.
Today's bookstore A Seat at the Table Books is a family-owned bookstore in Elk Grove, CA, that fosters community through representation in our curated book selection, eco-friendly coffee, and mission-driven events. They strive to be a third space that is safe and affirming for all identities.
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker (learn more about my name change) Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
I was hungry for language. And stories. And how to tell our stories. That's what this book gave me. But let's not make a Bible out of it.
Today we meet Kris Kleindienst and we’re talking about the queer book that saved her life: Diving Into The Wreck by Adrienne Rich.
Kris is a 72-year old queer lesbian writer, bookseller, and activist. She owns Left Bank Books, a 56-year old progressive bookstore in St. Louis, Missouri. Kris edited a collection of activist essays titled This Is What Lesbian Looks Like: Dyke Activists Take on The 21st Century, published by Firebrand Press and winner of a Lambda Literary Award. She was a gold medal winning and 4-time participant in The Gay Games (also the co-founder of Team St. Louis). She has won multiple awards locally, regionally and nationally for my work with Left Bank Books. She is at work on a memoir about growing up in the 50s-60s with a Lesbian mother. Fun fact: She once got high with Armistead Maupin.
Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971–1972 was Adrienne Rich's seventh book of poetry, an anthology of poems described as provocative and which co-won the 1974 National Book Award for Poetry with Allen Ginsberg's The Fall of America. Adrienne Rich (1929-2012) was an award-winning poet and essayist.
Special Limited Series
This episode is part of a special limited series of episodes featuring only guests who are owners or staff at LGBTQ bookstores. Airing April-June 2025, these episodes will feature six bookstores across the United States and United Kingdom.
Today's guest owns Left Bank Books. Opened in 1969 by a group of graduate students at Washington University who wanted to create a place where one could find all kinds of literature, Left Bank Books is the oldest and largest independently-owned full-line bookstore in St. Louis, Missouri. Open seven days a week, Left Bank Books offers a full-line of new and used books, gifts, cards, toys and services. Learn more and get shopping: left-bank.com
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker (learn more about my name change) Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
What would it feel like for other people to love me if they were to truly see me and truly know me as I am right now?
Today we meet Esmé and we’re talking about the queer book that saved their life: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. And Martha joins us for the conversation!
Esmé has been slinging radical books at Firestorm since 2019. They wear multiple hats including communications, event facilitation, and offsite sales. When she doesn't have her nose in a gay book, Esmé sings in a doom metal band and snuggles with the shop dog, an ancient dachshund named Julius Caesar Salad, as much as caninely possible.
Martha Wells has written many novels, including the bestselling and award-winning Murderbot Diaries series, which was adapted into an Apple Original TV series debuting May 16, 2025. She also authored Witch King,City of Bones, The Wizard Hunters,Wheel of the Infinite, and the Nebula-nominated The Death of the Necromancer, as well as YA fantasy novels, short stories, and nonfiction.
In All Systems Red, the first book in TheMurderbot Diaries, a team of scientists are conducting surface tests on a distant planet, shadowed by their Company-supplied SecUnit that has hacked its own governor module. Scornful of humans, all it really wants is to be left alone long enough to figure out who it is. But when a neighboring mission goes dark, it's up to the scientists and their Murderbot to get to the truth.
Special Limited Series
This episode is part of a special limited series of episodes featuring only guests who are owners or staff at LGBTQ bookstores. Airing April-June 2025, these episodes will feature six bookstores across the United States and United Kingdom.
Today's guest is a bookseller at Firestorm Books, a collectively-owned radical bookstore and not-for-profit event space in Asheville, North Carolina. Since 2008 Firestorm Books has supported grassroots movements in Southern Appalachia while developing a workplace on the basis of cooperation, empowerment and equity.
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker (learn more about my name change) Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Something That May Shock and Discredit You with Christina Neuwirth and Daniel M. Lavery
29 avr. 2025
00:43:21
What would it happen if I allowed my thoughts about my gender become known to me?
Today we meet Dr. Christina Neuwirth and we’re talking about the queer book that saved their life: Something That May Shock and Discredit You by Daniel M. Lavery. And Daniel joins us for the conversation!
Dr. Christina Neuwirth is a writer, researcher and bookseller based in Edinburgh. Their 2018 novella Amphibian was shortlisted for Scotland’s National Book Awards. Their writing has been published in Gutter Magazine and The Skinny. At Lighthouse Bookshop, Christina runs the Bread & Roses Prize for Radical Publishing.
Daniel M. Lavery is the “Dear Prudence” advice columnist at Slate, the cofounder of The Toast, and the New York Times bestselling author of Texts From Jane Eyre and The Merry Spinster. In 2024, he published his debut novel Women's Hotel.
From a thoughtful analysis of the beauty of William Shatner to a sinister reimagining of HGTV’s House Hunters, and featuring figures as varied as Anne of Green Gables, Columbo, and the cast of Mean Girls, Something That May Shock and Discredit You is a hilarious and emotionally exhilarating compendium that combines personal history with cultural history to make you see yourself and those around you entirely anew.
Special Limited Series
This episode is part of a special limited series of episodes featuring only guests who are owners or staff at LGBTQ bookstores. Airing April-June 2025, these episodes will feature six bookstores across the United States and United Kingdom.
Today's guest is a bookseller at Lighthouse Bookshop, a queer-owned and woman-led independent community bookshop. It is an unapologetically activist, intersectional, feminist, antiracist, lgbtq+ community space. In 2020 it was nominated Scotland’s Best Independent Bookshop.
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker (learn more about my name change) Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Dare Truth or Promise with Stephanie Beardslee and Paula Boock
15 avr. 2025
00:47:22
I was 8,000 miles from home asking is it ok to be gay? That's when I wandered into a shop found this book.
Today we meet Stephanie Beardslee and we’re talking about the queer book that saved her life: Dare Truth or Promise by Paula Boock. And Paula joins us for the conversation!
Stephanie Beardslee is the owner of Wolf & Wyld’s Queer Bookstore, an online and pop-up bookstore based in Manitou Springs, Colorado. She is a Front Range (of Colorado) native that is really hacked off that the Pikes Peak Region doesn’t have a queer bookstore and is busy making the change she wants to see in the world. Her alter-ego slings books in the nearby Libraryland and has the pleasure of serving the county’s patrons via the bookmobile.
Paula Boock (she/her) is an award-winning New Zealand scriptwriter, producer and author. Her screen credits include story lining and writing on the The Strip, the internationally acclaimed drama series The Insiders Guide to Happiness and its 7-part prequel The Insiders Guide to Love. She won the 2003 AFTA Best Drama Script (with Kathryn Burnett) for The Strip. She has written five young adult novels and was a publisher and founding partner of Longacre Press.
In Dare Truth or Promise, self-assured Louie is gearing up for another successful year in high school. In the meantime Willa, who was kicked out of her last school, wants to be left alone. But each girl unexpectedly finds that plans mean nothing when it comes to love. Louie discovers acceptance, faith, and identity are not what they had seemed. And Willa finds herself suddenly willing to take another chance.
Special Limited Series
This episode is part of a special limited series of episodes featuring only guests who are owners or staff at LGBTQ bookstores. Airing April-June 2025, these episodes will feature six bookstores across the United States and United Kingdom.
Today's guest owns Wolf and Wyld's Queer Bookstore an independent online & pop-up bookstore based in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Wolf and Wyld's specializes in LGBTQ+ books. You can shop online at: wolfandwyld.com
Buy Paula's book at Wolf and Wyld's Queer Bookstore
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker (learn more about my name change) Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Mostly Dead Things with Casey Holland and Kristen Arnett
01 avr. 2025
00:45:26
How was I going to reshape my life into something new after this fundamental part of me had been buried?
Today we meet Casey Holland and we’re talking about the queer book that saved her life: Mostly Dead Things by Kristen Arnett. And Kristen joins us for the conversation!
Casey is one of the owners of Wayfaring Booksellers, a queer bookstore in MI. She's worked in bookstores for the last six years and is a lover of all things spooky and weird. When she's not slinging books, you can find her spending time with her cat, Nemo, whose hobbies include hunting Casey for sport.
Kristen Arnett is the queer Floridian author of With Teeth: A Novel which was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and the bestselling novel Mostly Dead Things. She just published STOP ME IF YOU’VE HEARD THIS ONE, about a lesbian birthday party clown.
Mostly Dead Things tells the story of Jessa-Lynn Morton. In the wake of her father's suicide, Jessa has stepped up to manage his failing taxidermy business while the rest of the Morton family crumbles.
Special Limited Series
This episode is part of a special limited series of episodes featuring only guests who are owners or staff at LGBTQ bookstores. Airing April-June 2025, these episodes will feature six bookstores across the United States and United Kingdom.
Today's guest owns Wayfaring Booksellers, a queer/women-owned bookstore in Lansing, MI. Their mission is to celebrate and amplify queer books and stories while uplifting the LGBTQIA+ community. Visit them at 1023 S. Washington Avenue inside the REO Town Marketplace and at wayfaringbooksellers.com. Bluesky: @wayfaringbooks.bsky.social
A professionally recognized credit, gain access to Associate Producer meetings to guide our podcast into the future! patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker (learn more about my name change) Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
The Once and Future King with Max Yeshaye Brumberg-Kraus
18 mars 2025
00:53:01
How do you get out of a spiral of shame and guilt and try to make the world a better place?
Today we meet Max Yeshaye Brumberg-Kraus and we’re talking about the queer book that saved their life: The Once and Future King by T.H. White.
Max studied classics and theatre at Beloit College, received their MA in Theology and the Arts from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. They are the author of The(y)ology: Mythopoetics for Queer/Trans Liberation with Punctum Press and the collection of poems Visions of Divine Love with AC Books, which brings together Julian of Norwich with Divine the Drag Queen. Their work explores memory, historiography, gender/sexuality, and myth through embodied practices.
Terence Hanbury "Tim" White was an English writer. He is best known for his Arthurian novels, which were published together in 1958 as The Once and Future King. One of his best known is the first of the series, The Sword in the Stone, which was published as a stand-alone book in 1938. Despite leading a single and very private life, Sylvia Townsend Warner argued in her definitive 1967 biography of white that he was gay.
The Once and Future King retells the saga of King Arthur, a fantasy classic as legendary as Excalibur and Camelot, and a poignant story of adventure, romance, and magic that has enchanted readers for generations.
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker (learn more about my name change) Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
When a queer book elevates our own expectations of ourselves and moves us to honor ourselves by saying: we deserve something more.
Today we meet Blair Fell and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: The Persian Boy by Mary Renault.
Blair Fell’s television work includes Queer as Folk, and the Emmy Award–winning California Connected. He’s written dozens of plays including the award-winning plays Naked Will and the downtown cult miniseries Burning Habits. He’s a two-time winner of the prestigious Doris Lippman Prize in Creative Writing from the City College of New York. His first novel The Sign For Home was long-listed by the Center For Fiction’s First Book Award. His upcoming novel Disco Witches of Fire Island comes out May 6, 2025.
Mary Renault was a British lesbian writer famed for her historically precise novels of the ancient world, including The Last of the Wine (1956), Fire From Heaven (1969), and The Persian Boy (1972). US publishers initially refused to publish her novel The Charioteer due to its positive portrayal of homosexuality and its happy ending. It was eventually published in 1959 and was a bestseller.
The Persian Boy traces the last years of Alexander’s life through the eyes of his lover, Bagoas. Abducted and gelded as a boy, Bagoas was sold as a courtesan to King Darius of Persia, but found freedom with Alexander after the Macedon army conquered his homeland. Their relationship sustains Alexander as he weathers assassination plots. After Alexander’s mysterious death, we are left wondering if this Persian boy understood the great warrior better than anyone.
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: John Parker Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
A new episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life drops next week on March 5! In our off weeks, we air a recent episode of The Gaily Show which J.P. hosts for AM950 Radio. The Gaily Show is one of the only daily LGBTQ news and talk shows in the country.
In this episode, author and teacher Belo Miguel Cipriani brings students from his writing courses at Metro State University in St. Paul, MN to read their work and talk about that queer writing life.
Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Production and Distribution Support: Brett Johnson, AM950 Marketing/Advertising Support: Chad Larson, Laura Hedlund, Jennifer Ogren, AM950 Accounting and Creative Support: Gordy Erickson
The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You with Seth Anderson-Matz and S. Bear Bergman
18 févr. 2025
00:50:35
Ok, I've started to embody my transness. Now what?
Today we meet Seth Anderson-Matz and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You by S. Bear Bergman. And Bear joins us for the conversation!
Seth Anderson-Matz is a queer & trans community organizer and minister. He has lived and worked in the Twin Cities area all his life, and currently resides in South Minneapolis with his wife (Jenn), one big dog (Roxie), one tiny dog (Saul), and one weird cat (Lucy).
S. Bear Bergman is the author of nine books, founder of Flamingo Rampant press, and frequent consultant in equity and inclusion to business and government. Bear began his work in equity at the age of 15, as a founding member of the first ever Gay/Straight Alliance and has continued to help organizations and institutions move further along the pathways to justice ever since.
Alternately unsettling and affirming, devastating and delicious, The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You is a collection of essays on gender and identity that is irrevocably honest and endlessly illuminating. With humor and grace, these essays deal with issues from women's spaces to the old boys' network, from gay male bathhouses to lesbian potlucks, from being a child to preparing to have one. It offers unique perspectives on issues that challenge, complicate, and confound the "official stories" about how gender and sexuality work.
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits
Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
When you find the book that gives you the resilience, strength, and willingness to be yourself.
Today we meet Louisa Hext and we’re talking about the queer book that saved her life: Ruby Fruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown.
Louisa is a transformational coach, speaker, and mediator with over 30 years of experience helping individuals and families navigate forgiveness, healing, and personal growth. Drawing from her research and nearly 13 years as the curator of a highly regarded traveling photographic exhibition on forgiveness, Louisa has been privileged to guide countless individuals through profound emotional healing. Her coaching practice is built on empathy, deep curiosity, and a non-judgmental approach, creating a safe space for her clients to explore their unique stories and unlock their potential for growth and transformation.
Ruby Fruit Jungle is a ground-breaking coming-of-age novel from one of America's most distinctive voices. It is a transformative work which tells the story of Molly Bolt, an adopted daughter of a Southern couple who boldly forges her own queer path in America.
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
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Credits
Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
History Is All You Left Me with Edwin Santos Lepiz and Adam Silvera
21 janv. 2025
00:46:38
How do I keep going when my one support person isn't there for me anymore?
Today we meet Edwin Santos Lepiz and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: History Is All You Left Me by Adam Silvera. And Adam joins us for the conversation!
Edwin is a gay first-generation Mexican-American graduate student at the University of Utah College of Social Work. Edwin is pursuing a Master of Social Work degree to pursue work at the intersection of language justice and suicide prevention utilizing stories such as those found in today's book as a tool to meet this goal.
Adam Silvera is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of They Both Die at the End, The First to Die at the End, More Happy Than Not, History Is All You Left Me, the Infinity Cycle trilogy, and the What If It's Us duology with Becky Albertalli. His novels have received many starred reviews. He previously worked in children’s publishing and bookselling.
History Is All You Left Me is a novel in which Griffin's first love and ex-boyfriend, Theo, dies in a drowning accident. Even though Theo had moved to California for college, Griffin never doubted Theo would come back to him when the time was right. But now, the future he's been imagining for himself has gone far off course. The only person who truly understands his heartache is Theo's new boyfriend, Jackson. Griffin's losing himself in his obsessive compulsions and destructive choices, and the secrets he's been keeping are tearing him apart. If Griffin is ever to rebuild his future, he must first confront his history, every last heartbreaking piece in the puzzle of his life.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Is the loss of innocence the beginning of compassion and wisdom?
Today we meet Dean Backus and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh.
Dean is a playwright, essayist, screenwriter, journalist, filmmaker, and high school English teacher. He is the author of Darts and Flowers and the forthcoming The Deep End of the Pool.
Harriet the Spy is a timeless YA classic by queer author Louise Fitzhugh. In it, Harriet M. Welsch is a spy. In her notebook, she writes down everything she knows about everyone, even her classmates and her best friends. Then Harriet loses track of her notebook, and it ends up in the wrong hands. Before she can stop them, her friends have read the always truthful, sometimes awful things she's written about each of them. Will Harriet find a way to put her life and her friendships back together?
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
7 Minutes in Book Heaven with Lev AC Rosen and Rough Pages
17 déc. 2024
00:10:02
We have a special Christmas episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life dropping next week!
Today, Once Upon a Crime Books presents 7 Minutes in Book Heaven, the podcast where we interview LGBTQ authors about the new books they have coming out for us to love and cuddle up with.
Once Upon a Crime Books is an independent bookstore specializing in mystery fiction. Located in Uptown Minneapolis, you can shop in their store Monday through Saturday 11am – 5:30pm. Or, visit their website! There, you can browse all of their books, from new releases to classic mysteries. Visit them online: onceuponacrimebooks.com
In this new episode, Once Upon a Crime Books introduces us to Lev AC Rosen and his new novel: Rough Pages which is available to buy in in-store or on their website.
Lev Rosen writes books for people of all ages, including the Evander Mills series, which began with the Macavity Award winning Lavender House (Best Book of the Year from Buzzfeed, Library Journal, and others) and continues with The Bell in the Fog, (Publisher’s Weekly Editor’s Choice). The second Tennessee Russo adventure, the fourth Evander Mills mystery, and another YA rom-com will all be out in 2025. He lives in NYC with his husband and a very small cat. You can find him online at LevACRosen.com and @LevACRosen
How do you go on in life after losing a child who is still alive?
Today, Chloé Caldwell returns to the podcast! But this time, we talk about the queer book that saved her life: Love Me Tender by Constance Debré.
Chloé is the author of the national bestseller, Women (Harper Perennial, 2024). Chloé’s next book, Trying, is forthcoming from Graywolf, on August 5th, 2025. She is also the author of the books I’ll Tell You In Person (2016), The Red Zone (2022), and Legs Get Led Astray (2012).
Love Me Tender is a novel of lesbian identity and motherhood, and the societal pressures that place them in opposition.The daughter of an illustrious French family whose members include a former Prime Minister, a model, and a journalist, Constance Debré abandoned her marriage and legal career in 2015 to write full-time and begin a relationship with a woman. In Love Me Tender, Debré goes on to further describe the consequences of that life-changing decision.
Listen to our previous episode featuring Chloé, where guest Mia Arias Tsang discussed how Chloé's book Women saved her life: thisqueerbook.com/women/
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
7 Minutes in Book Heaven with Leslie Karst and Molten Death
03 déc. 2024
00:10:57
We have a new episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life coming up December 10!
Today, Once Upon a Crime Books presents 7 Minutes in Book Heaven, the podcast where we interview LGBTQ authors about the new books they have coming out for us to love and cuddle up with.
Once Upon a Crime Books is an independent bookstore specializing in mystery fiction. Located in Uptown Minneapolis, you can shop in their store Monday through Saturday 11am – 5:30pm. Or, visit their website! There, you can browse all of their books, from new releases to classic mysteries.
In this new episode, Once Upon a Crime Books introduces us to Leslie Karst and her new novel: Molten Death which is available to buy in paperback in-store, or on their website, and it is also available as a digital audio book.
Leslie Karst is the author of the Lefty Award-nominated Sally Solari culinary mysteries, as well as the memoir, Justice is Served: A Tale of Scallops, the Law, and Cooking for RBG. It was during her career as a research and appellate attorney in Santa Cruz, California, that she rediscovered her youthful passion for food and cooking, at which point she again returned to school to earn a culinary arts degree. Now retired from the law, in addition to writing, she and her wife and their Jack Russell mix split their time between Hilo, Hawai'i and Santa Cruz, California.
I don't know who I was fooling by bringing this book to school with me and being like, "I am not gay."
Today we meet Haley Steinhilber and we’re talking about the queer book that saved their life: Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden.
Haley Steinhilber is a public historian and host of Q4Q: The Queer Personals Podcast.
In Annie On My Mind, when Liza Winthrop meets Annie Kenyon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she knows there is something special between them. But Liza never knew falling in love could be so wonderful . . . or so confusing. The 25th Anniversary Edition features a full-length interview with the author. Ms. Garden answers such revealing questions as how she knew she was gay, why she wrote the book, censorship, and the book's impact on readers - then and now.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
7 Minutes in Book Heaven with John Copenhaver and Hall of Mirrors
19 nov. 2024
00:11:02
Today, Once Upon a Crime Books presents 7 Minutes in Book Heaven, the podcast where we interview LGBTQ authors about the new books they have coming out for us to love and cuddle up with.
Once Upon a Crime Books is an independent bookstore specializing in mystery fiction. Located in Uptown Minneapolis, you can shop in their store Monday through Saturday 11am – 5:30pm. Or, visit their website! There, you can browse all of their books, from new releases to classic mysteries.
In this new episode, Once Upon a Crime Books introduces us to John Copenhaver and his new novel: Hall of Mirrors which is available to buy in paperback in-store, or on their website, and it is also available as a digital audio book.
John Copenhaver won the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery for Dodging and Burning and the Lambda Literary Award for Best Mystery for The Savage Kind. He is a co-founder of Queer Crime Writers, a board member of Mystery Writers of America, and co-hosts the House of Mystery Radio Show. He teaches in the University of Nebraska Omaha’s Low-Residency MFA program and at VCU. His new novel, Hall of Mirrors, is the sequel to The Savage Kind.
I Will Greet The Sun Again with René Zadoorian and Khashayar J. Khabushani
12 nov. 2024
00:37:09
This is a level of "relate" that I hadn't read in other books.
Today we meet René Zadoorian and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: I Will Greet The Sun Again by Khashayar J. Khabushani. And Khashayar joins us for the conversation!
René Zadoorian, is an Armenian writer with a degree in creative writing from California State University, Northridge. He was born in Tehran, Iran, and now resides in Los Angeles. He is a reader for Fahmidan and Orca, A Literary Journal. His short stories and film photography have been published in various magazines including WireWorm, Fruitslice, and elsewhere.
Khashayar J. Khabushani spent time in Iran during his childhood before returning to Los Angeles. He studied philosophy at California State University, Northridge and completed his MFA at Columbia University. This is his first novel.
A stunning, tender novel of identity and belonging, I Will Greet the Sun Again tells the story of a young man lost in his own family, his own country, and his own skin. Staring down the brutality of being a queer kid and a Muslim in America, Khashayar J. Khabushani transforms personal and national pain into an unforgettable and beautifully rendered exploration of youth, love, family--and the stories that make us who we are.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
This book gave me an understanding of the queer community that I hadn’t found anywhere else.
Today we meet David Reddish and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: Angels in America by Tony Kushner.
Self proclaimed uber-geek David Reddish is the award-winning author of Sex, Drugs & Superheroes trilogy. The third novel in the series, The Wrath of Comic-Con, came out earlier in 2024. His novel The Passion of St. Sergius & St. Bacchus celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. David is also a noted entertainment journalist having written for such publications as MovieWeb, ScreenRant, Queerty, and Playboy.
One of the most honored American plays in history, Angels in America was awarded two Tony Awards for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was made into an Emmy Award-winning HBO film directed by Mike Nichols. This two-part epic, subtitled "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes," has received hundreds of performances worldwide in more than twenty-six languages.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Who am I going to be and what is my life going to look like?
Today we meet Samantha Mann and we’re talking about the queer book that saved her life: The Hours by Michael Cunningham.
Samantha writes essays & articles exploring culture, mental health, motherhood, & LGBTQ issues. Her work has been featured in The Cut, Vogue, Elle, TODAY, Romper, and more. Her forthcoming collection, Dyke Delusion, debuts June 2025.
The Hours tells the story of three women: Virginia Woolf, beginning to write Mrs. Dalloway as she recuperates in a London suburb with her husband in 1923; Clarissa Vaughan, beloved friend of an acclaimed poet dying from AIDS, who in modern-day New York is planning a party in his honor; and Laura Brown, in a 1949 Los Angeles suburb, who slowly begins to feel the constraints of a perfect family and home. By the end of the novel, these three stories intertwine in remarkable ways, and finally come together in an act of subtle and haunting grace.
Shout out to Alyy Patel For more information about Alyy Patel and the Queer South Asian Women's Network visit: qsawnetwork.com.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Am I the only one who feels this crazy about what's happening to me right now?
Today we meet Mia Arias Tsang and we’re talking about the book that saved her life: Women by Chloé Caldwell. And Chloé joins us for the conversation!
Mia is a writer, freelance editor, and former biologist based in Queens, NYC. She has conducted extensive research in evolutionary virology and epigenetics, and has studied with writers such as Chloé Caldwell, Sarah Stillman, Michael Cunningham, and Susan Choi.
Chloé is the author of the national bestseller, Women (Harper Perennial, 2024). Chloé’s next book, Trying, is forthcoming from Graywolf, on August 5th, 2025. She is also the author of the books I’ll Tell You In Person (2016), The Red Zone (2022), and Legs Get Led Astray (2012).
In Women, a young writer moves from the country to the city and falls in love with another woman for the very first time. With startling clarity and breathtaking tenderness, Chloé Caldwell writes the story of a love in reverse: of nights spent drunkenly hurling a phone against a brick wall; of early mornings hungover in bed, curled up together; of emails and poems exchanged at breakneck speed.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
Is it possible that my family, my mother, could ever accept me?
Today we meet Eric Marcus and we’re talking about the book that saved his life: Consenting Adult by Laura Z. Hobson.
Eric Marcus is the author of a dozen books, including two editions of Making Gay History (the original 1992 edition is entitled Making History), Why Suicide?, and Breaking the Surface, the #1 New York Times bestselling autobiography of Olympic diving champion Greg Louganis. Eric is also the co-producer of Those Who Were There, a podcast drawn from the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies. He is the founder and chair emeritus of the Stonewall 50 Consortium and is a founding board member of the American LGBTQ+ Museum.
In Consenting Adult, Tessa Lynn considers herself independent and progressive, a liberated woman of the 1960s. And yet, when she receives a letter from her youngest son, Jeff, informing her that he is gay, Tessa is distraught. At a time when homosexuality is regarded as a mental illness, she struggles with how best to be a parent to a gay son—and how to protect her family from the prejudices of the era. Elegant and subtly drawn, Consenting Adult is a stunning tribute to familial bonds, and a sympathetic portrait of a mother whose best intentions are often clouded by the stereotypes of her time.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Permission to use the theme to Making Gay History provided by Eric Marcus. The theme was composed by Fritz Meyers.
Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson
The Gaily Show: Lover of Men, The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln
10 sept. 2024
00:18:41
A new episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life drops next week on September 17! In our off weeks, we air the most recent episode of The Gaily Show which J.P. hosts for AM950 Radio.
Today, the director of the new documentary Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln is here. Also joining me are two historical experts from the film. It debuted in theaters on September 6. Check your local listings for showtimes and or for when it is streaming.
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Production and Distribution Support: Brett Johnson, AM950 Marketing/Advertising Support: Chad Larson, Laura Hedlund, Jennifer Ogren, AM950 Accounting and Creative Support: Gordy Erickson
Exile is not a choice that anyone wants to make. It’s something we come to through necessity.
Today we meet seeley quest and we’re talking about the book that saved hir life: Exile and Pride by Eli Clare. And Eli joins us for the conversation!
Seeley Quest (sie/hir) is a trans disabled environmentalist, working in literary and body-based composition, curation and facilitation.
Eli Clare (he/they): white, disabled, and genderqueer, Eli lives near Lake Champlain in unceded Abenaki territory (also known as Vermont). He is the author of Brilliant Imperfection: Grappling with Cure and Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and Liberation. Their next book, a mixed genre volume titled Unfurl, will be released in July, 2025.
In Exile and Pride, Eli Clare’s revelatory writing about his experiences as a white disabled genderqueer activist/writer unspools the multiple histories from which our sense of self unfolds. Their essays weave together memoir, history, and political thinking to explore meanings and experiences of home.
Connect with Seeley and Eli Seeley's website and newsletter: questletters.net
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
This book isn’t about celebrity. It’s about queer heritage. And passing it on.
Today we meet Brent Love and we’re talking about the book that saved his life: Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile.
Brent Love is the author of the memoir Leap which debuted in June 2024. He is also the host/producer of the podcasts Hope Works: A Surrogacy and You and Me and Everyone We Know. Brent currently resides in Hawaii with his family.
In Broken Horses, Brandi Carlile takes readers through the events of her life that shaped her very raw art--from her start at a local singing competition where she performed Elton John's "Honky Cat" in a bedazzled white polyester suit, to her first break opening for Dave Matthews Band, to many sleepless tours over fifteen years and six studio albums, all while raising two children with her wife, Catherine Shepherd.
Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand with Robin Jeffrey
06 août 2024
00:39:16
No queer person is an island. Even if we start off that way.
Today we meet Robin Jeffrey and we’re talking about the book that saved her life: Stars In My Pocket Like Grains of Sand by Samuel R. Delaney.
Robin Jeffrey is the author of the series of classic murder mysteries with scifi-twists, The Cadence Turing Mysteries and the paranormal romance series The Night. A former academic librarian, she holds a B.A. in English Language and Literature from the University of Washington and a M.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of Kentucky. Robin currently resides in the Pacific Northwest.
Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand is a science fiction masterpiece, an essay on the inexplicability of sexual attractiveness, and an examination of interstellar politics among far-flung worlds. First published in 1984, the novel's central issues―technology, globalization, gender, sexuality, and multiculturalism―have only become more pressing with the passage of time.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
7 Minutes in Book Heaven with Katrina Monroe and Through The Midnight Door
30 juil. 2024
00:11:59
Today, Once Upon a Crime Books presents 7 Minutes in Book Heaven, the podcast where we interview LGBTQ authors about the new books they have coming out for us to love and cuddle up with. Visit them online: onceuponacrimebooks.com
Once Upon a Crime Books is an independent bookstore specializing in mystery fiction. Located in Uptown Minneapolis, you can shop in their store Monday through Saturday 11am – 5:30pm. Or, visit their website! There, you can browse all of their books, from new releases to classic mysteries.
In this new episode, Once Upon a Crime Books introduces us to Katrina Monroe and her new novel: Through The Midnight Door which is available to buy in paperback in-store, or on their website, and it is also available as a digital audio book.
Katrina Monroe is the author of They Drown Our Daughters, Graveyard of Lost Children, and Through the Midnight Door. She lives in Minnesota with her wife, two children, and Eddie, the ghost who haunts their bedroom closets.
The Clothesline Swing with Mike Z. and Danny Ramadan
23 juil. 2024
00:42:40
You love your parents because they’re your parents. But would you if they weren’t? This and other queer stories from the Middle East to Canada.
Today we meet Mike Z. and we’re talking about the book that saved his life: The Clothesline Swing by Danny Ramadan. And Danny joins us for the conversation!
Mike Z. lives in Lebanon and works in art therapy.
Danny Ramadan is a Lambda-award winning Syrian-Canadian author. His novels, The Clothesline Swing and The Foghorn Echoes continue to receive accolades. His is the author of the award-winning children’s books The Salma Series. Ramadan has raised over $350,000 for LGBTQ+ refugees. His memoir, Crooked Teeth, came out May 2024. He lives in Vancouver with his husband and two dogs.
The Clothesline Swing is a journey through the troublesome aftermath of the Arab Spring. A former Syrian refugee himself, Ramadan unveils an enthralling tale of courage that weaves through the mountains of Syria, the valleys of Lebanon, the encircling seas of Turkey, the heat of Egypt and finally, the hope of a new home in Canada.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
A new episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life drops next week on July 23rd! In our off weeks, we air the most recent episode of The Gaily Show which J.P. hosts for AM950 Radio.
Today, Jennie Garner and Andrew Frisbie join us from North Liberty Library to talk about book bans, how to support public libraries, and libraries as spaces for belonging and connection.
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Production and Distribution Support: Brett Johnson, AM950 Marketing/Advertising Support: Chad Larson, Laura Hedlund, Jennifer Ogren, AM950 Accounting and Creative Support: Gordy Erickson
When the adults in your life are this reckless and dangerous, what do you do?
Today we meet Rex Ogle and we’re talking about the book that saved his life: Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs.
Rex Ogle is an award-winning author and the writer of nearly a hundred children’s books, comics, graphic novels, and memoirs—most notably Free Lunch, which won the ALA/YALSA award for Excellence in Non-Fiction. He has written under several pseudonyms, including Trey King and Honest Lee, but is currently focused on reimagining classic literature as modern or fantastical graphic novels as REY TERCIERO, under which he penned bestselling Meg, Jo, Beth, & Amy, as well as Northranger, nominated for both a Harvey and GLAAD Media Award.
Running with Scissors is the true story of a boy whose mother (a poet with delusions of Anne Sexton) gave him away to be raised by her psychiatrist, a dead-ringer for Santa and a lunatic in the bargain. Suddenly, at age twelve, Augusten Burroughs found himself living in a dilapidated Victorian in perfect squalor. The doctor's bizarre family, a few patients, and a pedophile living in the backyard shed completed the tableau. Here, there were no rules, there was no school. The Christmas tree stayed up until summer, and Valium was eaten like Pez. And when things got dull, there was always the vintage electroshock therapy machine under the stairs.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
After reading about the characters in this book, I made it my mission to have their kind of life for myself.
Today we meet David Ciminello and we’re talking about the book that saved his life: More Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin.
David Ciminello is a Lambda Literary Fellow and author of The Queen of Steeplechase Park. As an actor, David guest starred on Seinfeld (“The Barber”), Murder She Wrote, Matlock, and Kojak. His original screenplay Bruno was made into a motion picture directed by Shirley MacLaine and stars Kathy Bates, Gary Sinese, and Jennifer Tilly.
In More Tales of theCity, the tenants of 28 Barbary Lane have fled their cozy nest for adventures far afield. Mary Ann Singleton finds love at sea with a forgetful stranger, Mona Ramsey discovers her doppelgänger in a desert whorehouse, and Michael Tolliver bumps into his favorite gynecologist in a Mexican bar. Meanwhile, their venerable landlady takes the biggest journey of all--without ever leaving home.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
Paul Takes The Form of a Mortal Girl with Saraid de Silva and Andrea Lawlor
11 juin 2024
00:49:23
This book made me think about how my relationship to myself is lifelong.
Today, we meet Saraid de Silva and we’re talking about the book that saved her life: Paul Takes The Form of a Mortal Girl by Andrea Lawlor. And Andrea joins us for the conversation!
Saraid de Silva is the author of Amma and is a screen writer on the TV series Shortland Street.
Andrea Lawlor teaches writing at Mount Holyoke College and has received the Whiting Award for Fiction. Their publications include a chapbook, Position Papers.
Paul Takes The Form of a Mortal Girl takes place in 1993 and follows Paul Polydoris who tends bar at the only gay club in a university town thrumming with politics and partying. He studies queer theory, has a dyke best friend, makes zines, and is a flaneur with a rich dating life. But Paul’s also got a secret: he’s a shapeshifter. Oscillating wildly from Riot Grrrl to leather cub, Paul transforms his body and his gender at will as he crossed the country––a journey and adventure through the deep queer archives of struggle and pleasure.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
A deep dive into LGBTQ book bans with two of the nation's leading researchers.
Today, we are joined by Sabrina Baêta and Tasslyn Magnusson. They are leading researchers in the United States on LGBTQ book bans in our schools. They led efforts to research and write the new 2024 PEN America report Banned in the USA: Narrating the Crisis.
Here is part of the official description: "This report provides data, alongside a comprehensive narrative of the censorship crisis affecting public schools. It shows the nuance of the current moment and damage that occurs when stories—compassionate, reflective, educational, and entertaining—are restricted or removed on the basis of fear, intimidation, or bigotry."
Our Bookshop Buy banned books! Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
When I read his work, I feel like he is a close friend that I lost. That’s how much he resonates with me.
Today we meet Kim Hines and we’re talking about the book that saved her life: The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin.
Kim Hines is a playwright, actor, director, and author. Her plays have been produced across the United States, including tours at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Kim has performed at many theaters including the Illusion Theater, Penumbra Theater, and the Guthrie Theatre. She was a founding member of Mixed Blood Theater. Kim has directed at theaters across the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and at Cornell University in New York, University of Northern Iowa, and Kansas University. Her YA novel Wingo Fly was published in 2020.
The Fire Next Time was a 1963 national bestseller. It galvanized the United States, giving passionate voice to the civil rights movement. Both a evocation of James Baldwin's early life in Harlem and an examination of racial injustice, this book is intensely personal and provocative. It is written as two "letters" on the occasion of the centennial of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
7 Minutes in Book Heaven with Jessie Chandler and Shanghai Murder
21 mai 2024
00:09:36
Today, Once Upon a Crime Books presents 7 Minutes in Book Heaven, the podcast where we interview LGBTQ authors about the new books they have coming out for us to love and cuddle up with.
Once Upon a Crime Books is an independent bookstore specializing in mystery fiction. Located in Uptown Minneapolis, you can shop in their store Monday through Saturday 11am – 5:30pm. Or, visit their website! There, you can browse all of their books, from new releases to classic mysteries.
In this new episode, Once Upon a Crime Books introduces us to Jessie Chandler and her new novel: Shanghai Murder which is available to buy in paperback in-store, or on their website, and it is also available as a digital audio book.
Jessie Chandler is the author of seven novels, including the humorously suspenseful Shay O’Hanlon Caper Series. Her crime fiction has garnered a Lambda Literary finalist nod, three Golden Crown Literary Awards, three USA Book Awards, and an Independent Publisher Book Award.
Seriously though. When you're life is hyphenated, how do you put it altogether to live the life you want?
Today we meet Natalie Cruz and we’re talking about the book that saved her life: We Are All Armenian edited by Aram Mrjoian and featuring eighteen essayists.
Natalie lives in Philly, is the managing editor of the Queer Armenian Library, teaches Art History at Camden County College, and is a PhD candidate at Temple University.
We Are All Armenian brings together established and emerging Armenian authors to reflect on the complications of Armenian ethnic identity today. These personal essays elevate diasporic voices that have been historically silenced inside and outside of their communities, including queer, multiracial, and multiethnic writers. The eighteen contributors to this contemporary anthology explore issues of displacement, assimilation, inheritance, and broader definitions of home.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Queer Armenian Library Bookmark the Queer Armenian Library to view the art curation Natalie will provide: queerarmenianlibrary.com
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Permission to use a clip from Literary Lights provided by the International Armenian Literary Alliance Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
They say what matters most is love. But for a lot of us...that’s not what matters most.
Today we meet Jake Mier and we’re talking about the book that saved their life: Loveless by Alice Oseman.
Jake lives in the Twin Cities and works in restorative justice.
Loveless is the funny, honest, messy, completely relatable story of Georgia, who doesn't understand why she can't crush and kiss and make out like her friends do. She's surrounded by the narrative that dating + sex = love. It's not until she gets to college that she discovers the A range of the LGBTQIA+ spectrum -- coming to understand herself as asexual/aromantic. Disrupting the narrative that she's been told since birth isn't easy -- there are many mistakes along the way to inviting people into a newly found articulation of an always-known part of your identity.
Jake's Ace/Aro Book Recommendations Let's Talk About Love by Claire Kann The City of Spires (series) by Claudie Arseneualt Elatsoe and A Snake Falls To Earth by Darcy Little Badger
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
To purchase Loveless visit: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781338751932
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can't buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1
That moment when you meet kindred queer spirits in podcasting.
Today we have a special cross-pollination episode with the Queer Spirit podcast. The Queer Spirit podcast has conversations with embodied artists, practitioners and activists who care for, enliven and empower our 2SLGBTQ+ communities to thrive + flourish. Their hosts are Nick Venegoni, MA (he>they) and TanyaMarck Oviedo (they/them).
Nick is a holistic psychotherapist based on unceded Ohlone territory (San Francisco, CA), where he supports queer folks to heal from trauma and anxiety, to create more joyful lives and fulfilling relationships. Nick’s primary spiritual practices these days include Earth based wisdom, Buddhist Psychology, Mindfulness meditation, and sound healing.
TanyaMarck is an intuitive + trauma informed practitioner, guide, mentor, educator, witch, and medicine person who identifies as a queer, non-binary, native indigenous being of color, and person in recovery. Their healing arts practice (Vamonos) and home are based out of Tongva + Kizh and Chumash lands (Long Beach, CA).
Connect with Queer Spirit website: queerhealingjourneys.com/podcast instagram: @holisticqueerhealing facebook: facebook.com/queerhealingjourneys
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can't buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1
Love Lives Here with Archie Arnold and Rowan Jetté Knox
16 avr. 2024
00:51:58
All the love in our queer families.
Today we meet Archie Arnold and we’re talking about the book that saved his life: Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family by Rowan Jetté Knox.
Archie is a grant writer working at a community college in Minnesota. His career in grants and fundraising spans twenty years.
Rowan Jetté Knox is an author, speaker and human rights advocate. His work in LGBTQ2S+ inclusion and mental health awareness has sparked change worldwide. was humbled to be inducted into the 2021 Order of Ottawa for his advocacy of transgender, gender-creative, and non-binary youth.
Love Lives Here: A Story of Thriving in a Transgender Family is an inspirational story of accepting and embracing two trans people in a family--a family who shows what's possible when you "lead with love.". Told with remarkable candor and humor, and full of insight into the challenges faced by trans people, Love Lives Here is a beautiful story of transition, frustration, support, acceptance, and, of course, love.
Content warning: This episode contains brief mentions of interpersonal violence and suicide.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
As gay kids we have to get through so much that we end up not remembering a lot of our childhoods.
Today we meet K Jason Bryan and we’re talking about the book that saved his life: Becoming A Man: Half A Life Story by Paul Monette.
Jason is a Sr Client Consultant for corporate insurance, and used to chair his company’s LGBT & Allies ERG. He is a former member of the Governors Board at the Human Rights Campaign. He also served as the Membership Director at Quorum, Minnesota's LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce.
Becoming A Man: Half A Life Story won the National Book Award and the LAMBDA Literary Award. Paul Monette was haunted, and finally saved, by a dream, "The thing I'd never even seen: two men in love and laughing." This searingly honest, witty, and humane merging of memoir and manifesto has become the definitive coming out story--and a classic of the coming-of-age genre.
Hear more Romanovsky and Phillips! website: romanovskyandphillips.com Featured song in this episode: "When Heterosexism Strikes" from their album Be Political, Not Polite (1991)
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Permission to use a clip from "When Heterosexism Strikes" provided by Romanovsky and Phillips Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
Swinging on the Garden Gate with Sandy Hope and Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew
19 mars 2024
00:47:48
No one ever told me that I could be divine. That my sexuality was a gift.
Today we meet Sandy Hope and we’re talking about the book that saved her life: Swinging on the Garden Gate by Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew. And Elizabeth joins us for the conversation!
Sandy is a licensed mental health counselor whose practice focuses Internal Family Systems theory. She works with people around sexuality, spirituality, couples therapy, and people who struggle with eating disorders.
Elizabeth is an author, writing coach, spiritual director, and co-founder of the Eye of the Heart Center.
Swinging on the Garden Gate: A Memoir of Bisexuality and Spirit describes a period of time in award-winning writer and teacher Elizabeth Jarrett Andrew's life when she came to know bisexuality as an embodied manifestation of divinity. Andrew not only reconciles her United Methodist faith with her sexuality but realizes that her body is holy, her sexuality is holy, and the word she carried within her has always been holy.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryant and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
Quatrefoil Library Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can't buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1
Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim with Jacob Budenz
05 mars 2024
00:43:59
Everyone calls me ma'am on the phone. I love it.
Today we meet Jacob Budenz and we’re talking about the book that saved their life: Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris.
Jacob is a true multi-hyphenate: musician, author, performance artist, director, and witch. Jacob published their new book Tea Leaves in 2023 and is the front person for the band Moth Broth.
Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim is an essay collection where David Sedaris lifts the corner of ordinary life, revealing the absurdity teeming below its surface. His world is alive with obscure desires and hidden motives -- a world where forgiveness is automatic and an argument can be the highest form of love.
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryant and David Rephan, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Permission to use clips from the tracks Baba Yaga and Fairy Queen performed by Moth Broth provided by Jacob Budenz. Audio clip from Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim read by David Sedaris is used here under the Fair Use doctrine for the purposes of literary commentary and criticism. Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
When a closeted queer kid meets his fairy godfather what does he wish for?
Today we meet Ricardo Galaviz and we’re talking about the book that saved his life: Am I Blue? by Bruce Coville. And Bruce joins us for the conversation!
Ricardo (all pronouns) is the Associate Director of the Milwaukee LGBT Center.
Bruce (he/him) is the author of over 100 books including My Teacher is an Alien, Into the Land of Unicorns, and Jeremy Hatcher, Dragon Hatcher.
Am I Blue? Coming Out From The Silence is an anthology of short stories edited by Marion Dane Bauer and the title comes from the Bruce's short story Am I Blue? in which a fairy godfather offers a young queer kid three wishes.
Read more! The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a fantastic article about this episode. Many thanks to Amy Schwabe!
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our LGBT podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
A tomboy who wants to be Perry Mason (and has a crush on Della) included this book on job applications.
Today we meet Jean M. Gustafson and we’re talking about the book that saved her life: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.
Jean M. Gustafson is a seasoned attorney who specializes in various branches of law, including employment law, elder law, criminal and family law. She is licensed in the states of Minnesota, South Dakota, Utah and Federal Court of the District of Minnesota. She has also received training in Basic Mediation. Jean is a firm believer in mediation and she has seen it obtain better results for her clients than adversarial court battles. She is currently highly involved in the Minnesota bar association serving as a diverse attorney in two affinity bars, Elder Law Education committee member and former chair of the Elder Law Institute Planning Committee.
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is a gripping, heart-wrenching, and wholly remarkable tale of coming-of-age in a South poisoned by virulent prejudice, it views a world of great beauty and savage inequities through the eyes of a young girl, as her father--a crusading local lawyer--risks everything to defend a black man unjustly accused of a terrible crime.
Connect with Jean website: guslaw.net email: jean@guslaw.net
Our Bookshop Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook
Become an Associate Producer! Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard. Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music
I share with you about The Banned Book Club and then I sit down with the head of the project: John Bracken who is the Executive Director of The Digital Public Library of America.
Credits Host/Founder: J.P. Der Boghossian Executive Producer: Jim Pounds Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, Natalie Cruz, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Nicole Olila, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, and Gary Nygaard Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson Music and SFX credits: visit thiqueerbook.com/music