LGBTQIA+ Nonfiction bestsellers

Love in a F*cked-Up World

How to Build Relationships, Hook Up, and Raise Hell, Together

By: Dean Spade
Narrated by: Dean Spade
Length: 7 hours 15 minutes

“This is narrated wonderfully by the author, Dean Spade. There's a lot of great stuff in here. I loved the mix of information from different professionals, personal stories, and made-up couples/scenarios to better illustrate a point. There are a few worksheets and tables in this book and they are described well in the audiobook. Libro.fm also... Read more

A Two-Spirit Journey

The Autobiography of a Lesbian Ojibwa-Cree Elder

Critical Studies in Native History: Book #18

By: Ma-Nee Chacaby
Narrated by: Marsha Knight
Length: 11 hours 57 minutes

A Two-Spirit Journey is Ma-Nee Chacaby’s extraordinary account of her life as an Ojibwa-Cree lesbian. From her early, often harrowing memories of life and abuse in a remote Ojibwa community riven by poverty and alcoholism, Chacaby’s story is one of enduring and ultimately overcoming the social, economic, and health legacies of colonialism.... Read more

Ace

What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex

By: Angela Chen
Narrated by: Natalie Naudus
Length: 7 hours 43 minutes

“This book is an eye-opening collection of personal testimonies, research, and history about asexuality, and to a lesser extent, aromanticism. Whether you are new to learning about asexuality or are asexual yourself, by the end of the book you will have a richer and multifaceted understanding of ace identity and experience. Read more

So Many Stars

An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color

By: Caro De Robertis
Length: TBA

From the acclaimed novelist, a first-of-its-kind, deeply personal, and moving oral history of a generation of trans and gender nonconforming elders of color—from leading activists to artists to ordinary citizens—who tell their own stories of breathtaking courage, cultural innovations, and acts of resistance.

So Many Stars knits together the... Read more

Before We Were Trans

A New History of Gender

By: Dr. Kit Heyam
Narrated by: Dr. Kit Heyam
Length: 8 hours 2 minutes

A groundbreaking global history of gender nonconformity  

Today’s narratives about trans people tend to feature individuals with stable gender identities that fit neatly into the categories of male or female. Those stories, while important, fail to account for the complex realities of many trans people’s lives.  
 
Before We Were Trans illuminates... Read more

All Boys Aren't Blue

A Memoir-Manifesto

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

“After listening to this book, I was outraged to learn how widely banned it is across the country - This story needs to be told and shared. Read more

Better Living Through Birding

Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World

By: Christian Cooper
Narrated by: Christian Cooper
Length: 10 hours 25 minutes

Central Park birder Christian Cooper takes us beyond the viral video that shocked a nation and into a world of avian adventures, global excursions, and the unexpected lessons you can learn from a life spent looking up.

"Wondrous . . . captivating.”—Ed Yong, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of An Immense World

Christian Cooper is a self-described... Read more

Why Are People Into That?

A Cultural Investigation of Kink

By: Tina Horn
Narrated by: Tina Horn
Length: 10 hours 2 minutes

From a #1 Apple podcast host, Lambda Literary fellow, and dominatrix comes a sex-positive, judgment-free cultural deep-dive into the world of kink.
 

When celebrated BDSM educator Tina Horn first launched Why Are People Into That?!, publications from Vice to Buzzfeed heralded it as one of the best sex podcasts around. Each episode centered... Read more

Sister Outsider

Essays and Speeches

Crossing Press Feminist

By: Audre Lorde
Narrated by: Robin Eller
Length: 7 hours 31 minutes

Presenting the essential writings of black lesbian poet and feminist writer Audre Lorde, Sister Outsider celebrates an influential voice in twentieth-century literature. In this charged collection of fifteen essays and speeches, Lorde takes on sexism, racism, ageism, homophobia, and class, and propounds social difference as a vehicle for action... Read more

Selected Works of Audre Lorde

By: Audre Lorde
Narrated by: Mia Ellis
Length: 8 hours 11 minutes

A definitive selection of Audre Lorde's "intelligent, fierce, powerful, sensual, provocative, indelible" (Roxane Gay) prose and poetry, for a new generation of listeners.



Self-described "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet" Audre Lorde is an unforgettable voice in twentieth-century literature, and one of the first to center the experiences of... Read more

Cruising Utopia

The Then and There of Queer Futurity 10th Anniversary Edition

By: José Esteban Muñoz
Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
Length: 11 hours 15 minutes

The LGBT agenda for too long has been dominated by pragmatic issues like same-sex marriage and gays in the military. It has been stifled by this myopic focus on the present, which is short-sighted and assimilationist.



Cruising Utopia seeks to break the present stagnancy by cruising ahead. Drawing on the work of Ernst Bloch, José Esteban Muñoz... Read more

Who's Afraid of Gender?

By: Judith Butler
Narrated by: Judith Butler
Length: 11 hours 47 minutes

This program is read by the author.

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by Time, Elle, Kirkus, Literary Hub, The Millions, Electric Literature, and them.

"A profoundly urgent intervention.” —Naomi Klein

"A timely must-read for anyone actively invested in re-imagining collective futurity.” —Claudia Rankine

From a global icon, a bold, essential... Read more

I'm Afraid of Men

By: Vivek Shraya
Narrated by: Vivek Shraya
Length: 1 hour 26 minutes

Named a Best Book by: The Globe and Mail, Indigo, Out Magazine, Audible, CBC, Apple, Quill & Quire, Kirkus Reviews, Brooklyn Public Library, Writers’ Trust of Canada, Autostraddle, Bitch, and BookRiot.

Finalist for the 2019 Lambda Literary Award, Transgender Nonfiction
Nominated for the 2019 Forest of Reading Evergreen Award
Winner of the... Read more

A Trans Man Walks Into a Gay Bar

A Journey of Self (and Sexual) Discovery

By: Harry Nicholas
Narrated by: Ash Palmisciano
Length: 6 hours 5 minutes

LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI PRIZE 2024

'On the bookshelves, there was plenty of stuff on being gay, and much needed, joyous accounts of what it is to be trans, but nothing really that encapsulates what is it to be both - to exist in the hazy terrain between.'

After his relationship with his girlfriend of 5 years ended, Harry realised he was a single... Read more

Dear Cisgender People

A Guide to Trans Allyship and Empathy

By: Kenny Ethan Jones
Narrated by: Kenny Ethan Jones
Length: 6 hours 15 minutes

Conversations on the transgender experience may be becoming more commonplace but the topic is still all too often the subject of fierce debate. But behind the shock headlines, what does it really mean to be trans?
In this powerful, extensively researched, and deeply personal memoir, Kenny Ethan Jones, trans activist and writer, offers an... Read more

Palimpsest

A Memoir

By: Gore Vidal
Narrated by: Jeff Cummings
Length: 18 hours 17 minutes

This explosively entertaining memoir abounds in gossip, satire, historical apercus, and trenchant observations. Vidal’s compelling narrative weaves back and forth in time, providing a whole view of the author’s celebrated life, from his birth in 1925 to today, and features a cast of memorable characters—including the Kennedy family, Marlon... Read more

Transgender History, second edition

The Roots of Today's Revolution

Seal Studies

By: Susan Stryker
Narrated by: Emily Cauldwell
Length: 7 hours 49 minutes

“A highly recommendable book about American transgender history. Read more

Enemy Feminisms

TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation

By: Sophie Lewis
Narrated by: Helen Phillips
Length: 11 hours 14 minutes

In recent years, "white feminism" and girlboss feminism have taken a justified beating. We know that leaning in won't make our jobs any more tolerable and that white women have proven to be, at best, unreliable allies. But in a time of rising fascism, ceaseless attacks on reproductive justice, and violent transphobia, we need to reckon with what... Read more

He/She/They

How We Talk About Gender and Why It Matters

By: Schuyler Bailar
Narrated by: Schuyler Bailar
Length: 11 hours 14 minutes

“In the face of overwhelming anti-trans rhetoric and legislation, trans activist and athlete Bailar (he switched from the female to male Harvard swim at the beginning of his remarkable collegiate career) counters misinformation with this incredible, well-researched (citations included) and compassionate resource (including moving anecdotes from... Read more

The Stonewall Reader

By: New York Public Library
Narrated by: Various
Length: 10 hours 44 minutes

"...a remarkable audio experience that emphasizes the revolutionary power of LGBTQ voices and provides an invaluable record of a community that refuses to be silenced." -AudioFile magazine Earphones Award winner

For the fiftieth anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, an anthology chronicling the tumultuous fight for LGBTQ rights in the 1960s and... Read more

Love and Rage

The Path of Liberation through Anger

By: Lama Rod Owens
Narrated by: Lama Rod Owens
Length: 8 hours 59 minutes

A LOS ANGELES TIMES BESTSELLER
 
In the face of systemic racism and state-sanctioned violence, how can we metabolize our anger into a force for liberation?

White supremacy in the United States has long necessitated that Black rage be suppressed, repressed, or denied, often as a means of survival, a literal matter of life and death. In Love and... Read more

Refusing Compulsory Sexuality

A Black Asexual Lens on Our Sex-Obsessed Culture

By: Sherronda J. Brown
Narrated by: Yu-Li Alice Shen
Length: 6 hours 54 minutes

“Refusing Compulsory Sexuality is such an insightful read for those looking to better understand asexuality and acephobia through a Black Feminist lens. Brown takes readers through social, medical, and cultural applications of how our world functions around sex and heterosexuality and liberatory approaches to decentering both. This book can help... Read more

A Queer History of the United States

ReVisioning History

By: Michael Bronski
Narrated by: Vikas Adams
Length: 10 hours 28 minutes

Winner of a 2012 Stonewall Book Award in nonfiction

The first book to cover the entirety of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender history, from pre-1492 to the present.

In the 1620s, Thomas Morton broke from Plymouth Colony and founded Merrymount, which celebrated same-sex desire, atheism, and interracial marriage. Transgender evangelist Jemima... Read more

Moby Dyke

An Obsessive Quest To Track Down The Last Remaining Lesbian Bars In America

By: Krista Burton
Narrated by: Sarah Beth Pfeifer
Length: 12 hours 13 minutes

“Follow author Krista Burton as she embarks on a pilgrimage to the last remaining lesbian bars in the country. Part memoir, part travel essays, part social history of why lesbian bars are important, this book is both enlightening and delightful (and will make you want to sing Goodbye Earl at your next queer karaoke night). Read more

Transgender 101

A Simple Guide to a Complex Issue

By: Nicholas Teich
Narrated by: John Malone
Length: 5 hours 10 minutes

Talented narrator John Malone does justice to this interesting, highly listenable, and engaging introduction to transgender issues. Written by a social worker, popular educator, and member of the transgender community, this well-rounded resource combines an accessible portrait of transgenderism with a rich history of transgender life and its... Read more

This Book Is Gay

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

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



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

Pretty

A Memoir

By: KB Brookins
Narrated by: KB Brookins
Length: 6 hours 10 minutes

“A deeply important, brave memoir of growing up vast and complex and full of questions in a Texas, Christian community and a nation that made room for none of it. With sharp precision, great poetry, and keen observations, Brookins, a Black queer trans poet, recounts the myriad traumas that accompanied their coming of age, the traps and... Read more

Gender Euphoria

Stories of joy from trans, non-binary and intersex writers

By: Laura Kate Dale
Narrated by: Laura Kate Dale
Length: 8 hours 9 minutes

“Great collection of stories on gender euphoria by trans*, nonbinary, agender and one inter* author. Read more

Beyond the Gender Binary

Pocket Change Collective

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

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

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

Flamboyants

The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I'd Known

By: George M. Johnson
Narrated by: George M. Johnson
Length: 2 hours 23 minutes

““Change ain’t over night but is damn sure necessary.” George M. Johnson brings to life the stories of Black, queer icons of the Harlem Renaissance, shedding light on the deep intersections of race, sexuality, and identity. Through powerful reflections on racism and homophobia in spaces meant for refuge, this book speaks vital truths. A... Read more

A Short History of Trans Misogyny

By: Jules Gill-Peterson
Narrated by: Charli Burrow
Length: 5 hours 54 minutes

"A beautifully written and argued book." —Torrey Peters, author of Detransition, Baby



There is no shortage of voices demanding everyone pay attention to the violence trans women suffer. But one frighteningly basic question seems never to be answered: why does it happen? If men are not inherently evil and trans women do not intrinsically invite... Read more

Eleanor in the Village

By: Jan Jarboe Russell
Narrated by: Samantha Desz
Length: 5 hours 7 minutes

A “riveting and enlightening account” (Bookreporter) of a mostly unknown chapter in the life of Eleanor Roosevelt—when she moved to New York’s Greenwich Village, shed her high-born conformity, and became the progressive leader who pushed for change as America’s First Lady.

Hundreds of books have been written about FDR and Eleanor, both together... Read more

The Book of Pride

LGBTQ Heroes Who Changed the World

By: Mason Funk
Narrated by: Mason Funk, Robin Miles, Eileen Stevens, Kevin R. Free, Charles Constant & Rick Adamson
Length: 10 hours 25 minutes

THE BOOK OF PRIDE captures the true story of the gay rights movement from the 1960s to the present, through richly detailed, stunning interviews with the leaders, activists, and ordinary people who witnessed the movement and made it happen. These individuals fought battles both personal and political, often without the support of family or... Read more

Angels in America

A Gay Fantasia on National Themes

By: Tony Kushner
Narrated by: Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, Susan Brown, Denise Gough, Beth Malone, James McArdle, Lee Pace, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Bobby Cannavale & Edie Falco
Length: 6 hours 52 minutes

Presenting an original audiobook performance of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, starring the cast of the National Theatre's 2018 Broadway revival.

In this production, adapted especially for the listening experience, Andrew Garfield, Nathan Lane, and the entire cast recreate their acclaimed performances from the 2018 Tony Award-winning National... Read more

The Natural Mother of the Child

A Memoir of Nonbinary Parenthood

By: Krys Malcolm Belc
Narrated by: Krys Malcolm Belc
Length: 4 hours 21 minutes

Krys Malcolm Belc has thought a lot about the interplay between parenthood and gender. As a nonbinary, transmasculine parent, giving birth to his son Samson clarified his gender identity. And yet, when his partner Anna adopted Samson, the legal documents listed Belc as the natural mother of the child. By considering how the experiences contained... Read more

None of the Above

Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary

By: Travis Alabanza
Narrated by: Travis Alabanza
Length: 6 hours 44 minutes

In None of the Above: Reflections on Life Beyond the Binary, Travis Alabanza considers seven phrases people have directed at them throughout their life. These phrases—some deceptively innocuous, some deliberately loaded or violent, some celebratory—have fundamentally shaped Alabanza, both for better and for worse. But these phrases also... Read more

Gender Queer

A Memoir

By: Maia Kobabe
Narrated by: Maia Kobabe, Trini Alvarado, Stephen Graybill, Phoebe Kobabe, Jeremy Carlisle Parker & Full Cast
Length: 1 hour 58 minutes

2020 ALA Alex Award Winner
2020 Stonewall — Israel Fishman Non-fiction Award Honor Book

The ground-breaking, bestselling graphic novel is now available on audio.

In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only... Read more

The Deviant's War

The Homosexual vs. the United States of America

By: Eric Cervini
Narrated by: Vikas Adam
Length: 15 hours 34 minutes

“There is tangible power in knowing your history and feeling the love of those who came before you. If you're intimidated by tomes of queer nonfiction or jaded by corporate pride parades this is the perfect book for you. Read more

The LGBTQ + History Book

DK Big Ideas

By: DK
Narrated by: Willow Heath
Length: 15 hours 56 minutes

“What do you know about lgbtq history? Probably not as much as you want. This book is a great starting point to get a bigger picture understanding of lgbtq history. Read more

Real Queer America

LGBT Stories from Red States

By: Samantha Allen
Narrated by: Samantha Allen
Length: 7 hours 26 minutes

LAMBDA LITERARY AWARD FINALIST
A transgender reporter's "powerful, profoundly moving" narrative tour through the surprisingly vibrant queer communities sprouting up in red states (New York Times Book Review), offering a vision of a stronger, more humane America.
Ten years ago, Samantha Allen was a suit-and-tie-wearing Mormon missionary. Now she's... Read more

We Are Not Broken

By: George M Johnson
Narrated by: George M Johnson
Length: 4 hours 3 minutes

George M. Johnson, activist and bestselling author ofAll Boys Aren't Blue, returns with a striking memoir that celebrates Black boyhood and brotherhood in all its glory.

This is the vibrant story of George, Garrett, Rall, and Rasul -- four children raised by Nanny, their fiercely devoted grandmother. The boys hold one another close through early... Read more

The Women's House of Detention

A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison

By: Hugh Ryan
Narrated by: Janet Metzger
Length: 13 hours 23 minutes

This singular history of a prison, and the queer women and trans people held there, is a window into the policing of queerness and radical politics in the twentieth century.

The Women’s House of Detention, a landmark that ushered in the modern era of women’s imprisonment, is now largely forgotten. But when it stood in New York City’s Greenwich... Read more

Authentic Selves

Celebrating Trans and Nonbinary People and Their Families

By: Peggy Gillespie
Narrated by: Beckett Isaiah Arnold & Dominique Dibbell
Length: 15 hours 1 minute

Groundbreaking in its depictions of joy and community, Authentic Selves celebrates trans and nonbinary people and their families in stunning photographs and their own words. Foreword by transgender activist Jazz Jennings and her mom and fellow activist, Jeanette Jennings.So often trans and nonbinary people’s stories are told only through the... Read more

Gay Like Me

A Father Writes to His Son

By: Richie Jackson
Narrated by: Richie Jackson
Length: 4 hours 21 minutes

Chosen by Town & Country as one of the most anticipated books of the year | Named ""An LGBTQ Book That'll Change the Literary Landscape in 2020"" by O: The Oprah MagazineIn this poignant and urgent love letter to his son, award-winning Broadway, TV and film producer Richie Jackson reflects on his experiences as a gay man in America and the... Read more

The 57 Bus

A True Story of Two Teenagers and the Crime That Changed Their Lives

By: Dashka Slater
Narrated by: Robin Miles
Length: 5 hours 43 minutes

The riveting New York Times bestseller and Stonewall Book Award winner that will make you rethink all you know about race, class, gender, crime, and punishment. Artfully, compassionately, and expertly told, Dashka Slater's The 57 Bus is a must-read nonfiction book for teens that chronicles the true story of an agender teen who was set on fire by... Read more

Hi Honey, I'm Homo!

Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture

By: Matt Baume
Narrated by: Matt Baume
Length: 6 hours 41 minutes

For decades, amidst the bright lights, studio-audience laughs, and absurdly large apartment sets, the real-life story of American LGBTQ+ liberation unfolded in plain sight in front of millions of viewers, most of whom were laughing too hard to mind. From flamboyant relatives on Bewitched to closely-guarded secrets on All in the Family, from... Read more

A Queer Dharma

Yoga and Meditations for Liberation

By: Jacoby Ballard
Narrated by: Phil Corin & Jacoby Ballard
Length: 10 hours 1 minute

Queer critique, queer practice: embodied teachings for healing from trauma and social injustice.

Jacoby Ballard provides an empowering and affirming guide to embodied healing through yoga and the dharma, grounded in the brilliance, resilience, and lived experiences of queer folks.

Part I deconstructs the ways mainstream yoga perpetuates queer- and... Read more

Sexing the Body

Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality

By: Anne Fausto-Sterling
Narrated by: Carol Monda
Length: 15 hours 2 minutes

Now updated with groundbreaking research, this award-winning classic examines the construction of sexual identity in biology, society, and history.
Why do some people prefer heterosexual love while others fancy the same sex? Is sexual identity biologically determined or a product of convention? In this brilliant and provocative book, the... Read more

One Day I'll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman

A Mother's Story

By: Abi Maxwell
Narrated by: Abi Maxwell
Length: 10 hours 34 minutes

A fiery, heartbreaking, riveting memoir that follows one New Hampshire family over the course of three years, unspooling a story of gender identity, class, trans youth, and a child caught in the riptide of America’s culture wars

        Abi Maxwell grew up in rural New Hampshire, one of eight kids in a poor town abutting a wealthier lakeside... Read more

It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful

How AIDS Activists Used Art to Fight a Pandemic

By: Jack Lowery
Narrated by: Vikas Adam
Length: 14 hours 9 minutes

The story of art collective Gran Fury—which fought back during the AIDS crisis through direct action and community-made propaganda—offers lessons in love and grief.

In the late 1980s, the AIDS pandemic was annihilating queer people, intravenous drug users, and communities of color in America, and disinformation about the disease ran rampant. Out... Read more