https://www.glbtrt.ala.org/overtherainbow/archives/658
SEATTLE – The Over the Rainbow Booklist committee of the American Library Association’s Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table (ALA-GLBTRT) considered 469 books this year, 284 fiction and 185 nonfiction titles. After careful reading, wide-ranging discussion, and due deliberation, the final Booklist consists of 50 fiction titles in 5 categories (Short Stories, Poetry, Literary and General Interest (combined), Graphic, and Genre (all genres)) and 54 nonfiction titles in 4 categories (Academic, Memoirs/Biographies, History, and General Interest).
With the expansion of queer publishing across the rainbow, we read an incredibly diverse collection of titles from major, independent, and self-publishers. Themes running through books this year include: the pros and cons of visibility; the resilience of individuals telling complex stories in their own voices that blurred lines between queerness and disability, class, ethnicity, race, religion and age; a ‘second phase’ of publishing, past the introduction of issues, that addressed law and medical practices; resilience in the face of oppression and violence; and the effects of history on both individuals and culture, envisioning a future outside current circumstances.
The top ten fiction and nonfiction titles for the 2018 Over the Rainbow Booklist are:
Bingo Love by Tee Franklin, Image Comics
David Bowie Made Me Gay by Darryl W. Bullock, Overlook Press
Harvey Milk by Lillian Faderman, Yale University Press
Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado, Graywolf Press
House of Impossible Beauties by Joseph Cassara, Ecco/Harper/Collins
Living Out Loud, Michael Murphy, editor, Routledge
Mean by Myriam Gurba, Coffeehouse Books
Othered by Randi M. Romo, Sibling Rivalry Press
So Lucky by Nicola Griffith, Macmillan
Trap Door, Reina Gossett, editor, MIT Press