LGBTQ - Nonfiction

This list has been created by a Library Assistant at Wake County Public Libraries (WCPL) and encompasses *most* of the LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, plus other identitites such as, intersex, asexual, aromantic, demisexual, demiromantic, nonbinary, genderqueer, and more) titles categorized under "Nonfiction" and "Biography" in the WCPL collection as of March 11, 2025.

Showing 121 - 140 of 266  There are a total of 266 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "Building a bridge"
Star rating for Building a bridge
Book cover for "Black folk could fly"
Star rating for Black folk could fly
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"A personal, social, and intellectual self-portrait of the beloved and enormously influential late Randall Kenan, a master of both fiction and nonfiction. Virtuosic in his use of literary forms, nurtured and unbounded by his identities as a Black man, a gay man, an intellectual, and a Southerner, Randall Kenan was known for his groundbreaking fiction. Less visible were his extraordinary nonfiction essays, published as introductions to anthologies...
Book cover for "My greatest save"
Star rating for My greatest save
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"Briana Scurry was a pioneer on the US Women's National Team. She won gold in Atlanta in 1996, the first time women's soccer was ever played in the Olympics. She was a key part of the fabled "99ers," making an epic save in the decisive penalty-kick shootout in the final. Scurry captured her second Olympic gold in 2004, cementing her status as one of the premier players in the world. She was the only Black player on the team, and she was also the first...
Book cover for "Magic season"
Star rating for Magic season
Author:
Description:
"Wade Rouse finds solace with his dying father through their shared love of baseball in this poignant, illuminating memoir of family and forgiveness."--
Book cover for "Miss Memory Lane"
Star rating for Miss Memory Lane
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
An "honest and moving memoir of lust, abuse, addiction, stardom, and redemption from Arrow and Teen Wolf actor Colton Haynes"--
Book cover for "Coming up for air"
Star rating for Coming up for air
Description:
"A deeply personal and inspiring memoir from one of the most celebrated and influential names in British sport. With his unforgettable medal-winning performance in the 2012 London Olympics, double world champion Tom Daley captured the heart of the nation. This year's Games in Tokyo will be his fourth, and Tom is embarking on them with a renewed sense of perspective about what matters in life. Over the years, we have watched Tom go from strength to...
Book cover for "Ma and me"
Star rating for Ma and me
Description:
"The memoir of a woman caught between her identity as a gay woman and the love and life debt she owes her mother"--
Book cover for "Normal family"
Star rating for Normal family
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"In this unputdownable story of nature, nurture, and coming to terms with one's true inheritance, the author, introducing her deeply dysfunctional yet fiercely loving family that is anything but "normal," reveals how a colorful cast of characters were thrown together by chance and DNA"--
Book cover for "My gay church days"
Star rating for My gay church days
Author:
Average Rating:
5 stars
Book cover for "Boys and oil"
Star rating for Boys and oil
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"From a young, gay environmentalist, a searing coming-of-age memoir set against the arid landscape of rural North Dakota, where homosexuality 'seems akin to a ticking bomb.' 'I am a child of the American West, a landscape so rich and wide that my culture trembles with terror before its power.' So begins ... a haunting, bracingly honest memoir about growing up gay amidst the harshness of rural North Dakota, 'a place where there is no safety in a ravaged...
Book cover for "Secret city"
Star rating for Secret city
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"For decades, the specter of homosexuality haunted Washington. The mere suggestion that a person might be gay destroyed reputations, ended careers, and ruined lives. At the height of the Cold War, fear of homosexuality became intertwined with the growing threat of international communism, leading to a purge of gays and lesbians from the federal government. ... Utilizing thousands of pages of declassified documents, interviews with more than one hundred...
Book cover for "Fight like hell"
Star rating for Fight like hell
Author:
Description:
"Freed Black women organizing for protection in the Reconstruction-era South. Jewish immigrant garment workers braving deadly conditions for a sliver of independence. Asian American fieldworkers rejecting government-sanctioned indentured servitude across the Pacific. Incarcerated workers advocating for basic human rights and fair wages. The queer Black labor leader who helped orchestrate America's civil rights movement. These are only some of the...
Book cover for "Black swim"
Star rating for Black swim
Description:
"A collection of poems by Nicholas Goodly"-- A debut collection is at once “forged from the hurt parts of the ground,” and “proof of a miracle,” spinning ache and sweat and sweetness into a new model of feeling through language. Black people, queer/trans/nonbinary people, flamboyant people, lonely people, gaudy people, kind people, witches, artists, and angry people will meet themselves and each other in these pages. Amidst death and against...
Book cover for "Virology"
Star rating for Virology
Description:
"A leading microbiologist tackles the scientific and sociopolitical impact of viruses in twelve striking essays. Invisible in the food we eat, the people we kiss, and inside our own bodies, viruses flourish-with the power to shape not only our health, but our social, political, and economic systems. Drawing on his expertise in microbiology, Joseph Osmundson brings readers under the microscope to understand the structure and mechanics of viruses and...
Book cover for "Ten steps to Nanette"
Star rating for Ten steps to Nanette
Description:
"Hannah Gadsby's unique standup special Nanette was a viral success--and to some, her worldwide fame may have seemed like an overnight sensation. But like everything else about Gadsby, there's more to her success than meets the eye. In her first book, the queer Australian comedian, writer, and actress takes us through the key moments in her life that ultimately led to the creation of Nanette and her startling declaration that she was quitting comedy....
Book cover for "Knocking myself up"
Star rating for Knocking myself up
Description:
"From PEN/America Award winner, 2021 Guggenheim fellow, and ... literary and tarot icon Michelle Tea, the ... taboo-breaking story of her journey to pregnancy and motherhood as a 40-year-old, queer, uninsured woman"--
Book cover for "Fire Island"
Star rating for Fire Island
Description:
A definitive history of New York's Fire Island examines how it has been a vital space in the history of queer America and a key influence on art, literature, culture, and politics.
Book cover for "Who is wellness for?"
Star rating for Who is wellness for?
Average Rating:
3.3 stars
Description:
In this thought-provoking book, part memoir, part journalistic investigation, the acclaimed writer and poet, a Muslim queer Bangladeshi, reveals how wellness culture has become a luxury good built on the wisdom of Black, brown and Indigenous people--while ignoring and excluding them.
Book cover for "All down darkness wide"
Star rating for All down darkness wide
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"When Seán Hewitt meets Elias, the two fall headlong into a love story. But as Elias struggles with severe mental illness, they soon come face-to-face with crisis. All Down Darkness Wide is a perceptive and unflinching meditation on the burden of living in a world that too often sets happiness and queer life at odds, and a tender and honest portrayal of what it's like to be caught in the undertow of a loved one's deep depression. As lives are made...
Book cover for "It came from the closet"
Star rating for It came from the closet
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:
"Twenty-five narrative essays by contemporary LGBTQ writers reflecting on queerness in horror film, from Hitchcock to HALLOWEEN"--