This post comes from our French intern, R. Follow them at @Libre _R. (Check out their other blog posts.)
If you need to know why I’m so excited, head over to the end of my introductory blog post. I was over the moon when I came to work one day and saw the beautiful display we have on the second floor.
Having displays and sections for us in bookstores (or anywhere) is not something you’d see in France. This might surprise you, but you’re way ahead of us regarding that. Yes, we had same-sex marriage a few years before you (let’s not talk about the alarming rise of homophobic assaults that year), but that’s about it. My community is almost invisible 364 days a year (we have one day for Pride parade). Moreso, knowledge or even awareness of transgender people and/or issues is abysmal.
I’ve already said that my book weakness is LGBTQ characters – I’ll read almost anything for representation. But as I mulled over what books I could propose for the display, I raised my standards. Nothing where we are sidelined, nothing where our condition dooms us. It’s our month, let’s make it happy.
Period pieces that manage to have a happy ending despite their context: Maurice by E.M. Forster, The Charioteer by Mary Renault, The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith.
Introducing our stories to the youth: George by Alex Gino, Ash by Malinda Lo (YA SF/F in general is really great for us).
Beautiful love poetry: Crush by Richard Siken, The Complete Works of Sappho.
A manga, an inspiring activist, R-rated political fantasy that puts Game of Thrones to shame, the most ancient and epic (though tragic) gay romance… Of course that’s only my own two cents and my own tastes (and I haven’t cited all the works I proposed either), so come see the other wonderful works chosen by our booksellers!
And publishers: there’s still work to do! Let’s hear more from the T in LGBTQ, and all those other people who don’t fit labels!
I’m leaving this amazing bookstore soon. This is probably the last you’ll read of me, so I just want to say: It’s been great, au revoir y’all!
BookPeople 