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 141 - 160 of 266  There are a total of 266 valid entries on the list.
Book cover for "When they tell you to be good"
Star rating for When they tell you to be good
Average Rating:
1 stars
Description:
"After immigrating from Jamaica to the United States, Prince Shakur's family is rocked by the murder of Prince's biological father in 1995. Behind the murder is a sordid family truth, scripted in the lines of a diary by an outlawed uncle hell-bent on avenging the murder of Prince's father. As Shakur begins to unravel his family's secrets, he must navigate the strenuous terrain of coming to terms with one's inner self while confronting the steeped...
Book cover for "A place called home"
Star rating for A place called home
Average Rating:
5 stars
Description:
"As a child, David Ambroz was raised homeless in New York City, the home of Wall Street and more than 100,000 homeless children. For David and his two siblings, their mother's diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia sets them in motion for a life of poverty, violence and instability as they travel across New York and New England seeking shelter. For eleven years, home for David means living in train stations, subway cars, 24-hour diners, and wherever...
Book cover for "Heretic"
Star rating for Heretic
Description:
A memoir of leaving the evangelical church and the search for radical new ways to build community.
Book cover for "Becoming Eve"
Star rating for Becoming Eve
Average Rating:
1 stars
Description:
"Abby Stein was raised in a Hasidic Jewish community in Brooklyn, profoundly isolated in a culture that lives according to the laws and practices of an eighteenth-century Eastern European enclave, speaking only Yiddish and Hebrew and shunning modern life. Stein was born as the first son in a rabbinical dynastic family, poised to become a leader of the next generation of Hasidic Jews. But Stein felt certain at a young age that she was a girl. Without...
Book cover for "The savvy ally"
Star rating for The savvy ally
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"[The book] is an enjoyable, humorous, encouraging, easy to understand guidebook for being an ally to the LGBTQ+ communities"--
Book cover for "The tragedy of heterosexuality"
Star rating for The tragedy of heterosexuality
Average Rating:
4 stars
Description:
"The Tragedy of Heterosexuality is an exploration of the so-called 'straight culture.'"--
Book cover for "We are mermaids"
Star rating for We are mermaids
Description:
"Stephanie Burt's poems in We Are Mermaids are never just one thing. Instead, they revel in their multiplicity, their interconnectedness, their secret powers to become much more than they at first seem. In these poems, punctuation marks make arguments for their utility and their rights to exist. Frozen isn't simply another Disney animated musical but 'the Most Trans Movie Ever.' Mermaids, werewolves, and superheroes don't just fret over divided natures...
Book cover for "Made with love"
Star rating for Made with love
Description:
A British Olympic gold medal-winning diver and beloved LGBTQ icon shares his joy of knitting and crocheting through thirty original projects that run the gamut from toys to clothing for adults and kids to home décor.
Book cover for "Brown neon"
Star rating for Brown neon
Description:
"Part butch memoir, part ekphrastic travel diary, part queer family tree, Raquel Gutiérrez's debut essay collection ... gleans insight from the sediment of land and relationships. For Gutiérrez, terrain is essential to understanding that no story, no matter how personal, is separate from the space where it unfolds. Whether contemplating the value of adobe as both vernacular architecture and commodified art object, highlighting areas of transphobia...
Book cover for "I'll show myself out"
Star rating for I'll show myself out
Average Rating:
4.2 stars
Description:
The best-selling author and Emmy Award-winning writer and producer hilariously destroys the cultural myths and impossible expectations of modern-day motherhood and explores the humiliations, poignancies, and possibilities of midlife.
Book cover for "How we fight for our lives"
Star rating for How we fight for our lives
Author:
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
"Written from the crossroads of sex, race, and power in America, [this is a] coming-of-age memoir and a ... reflection of the nation as a whole"--
Book cover for "Logical family"
Star rating for Logical family
Average Rating:
4.4 stars
Description:

""I fell in love with Maupin's effervescent Tales of the City decades ago, and his genius turn at memoir is no less compelling. Logical Family is a must read.""—Mary Karr

In this long-awaited memoir, the beloved author of the bestselling Tales of the City series chronicles his odyssey from the old South to freewheeling San Francisco, and his evolution from curious youth to ground-breaking writer and gay rights pioneer.

Armistead

...
Book cover for "Naturally Tan"
Star rating for Naturally Tan
Author:
Average Rating:
4.3 stars
Description:

"Tan France's unique accent, chummy intimacy, and cheeky delivery make audio the best way to experience his memoir." — AudioFile Magazine

This program is read by the author, with a special guest appearance!
In this heartfelt, funny, and touching memoir, one of the stars of Netflix's Emmy Award-winning smash-hit Queer Eye reveals how an Englishman raised in a traditionally religious home

...
Book cover for "Over the top"
Star rating for Over the top
Average Rating:
4.5 stars
Description:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

NPR'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR

INDIE BESTSELLER

GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD WINNER: BEST MEMOIR & AUTOBIOGRAPHY



A laugh-and-cry-out-loud memoir from the beloved star of Netflix's Queer Eye, Jonathan Van Ness

Who gave Jonathan Van Ness permission to

...
Book cover for "The black unicorn"
Star rating for The black unicorn
Author:
Book cover for "The collected poems of Audre Lorde"
Star rating for The collected poems of Audre Lorde
Author:
Average Rating:
3.5 stars
Book cover for "The cancer journals"
Star rating for The cancer journals
Author:
Average Rating:
3 stars
Description:
"First published over forty years ago, The Cancer Journals is a startling, powerful account of Audre Lorde's experience with breast cancer and mastectomy. Long before narratives explored the silences around illness and women's pain, Lorde questioned the rules of conformity for women's body images and supported the need to confront physical loss not hidden by prosthesis. Living as a "black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet," Lorde heals and re-envisions...
Book cover for "The unpunished vice"
Star rating for The unpunished vice
Average Rating:
4 stars
Book cover for "The essential dykes to watch out for"
Star rating for The essential dykes to watch out for
Description:
Settle in to this wittily illustrated soap opera (Bechdel calls it "half op-ed column and half endless serialized Victorian novel") of the lives, loves, and politics of Mo, Lois, Sydney, Sparrow, Ginger, Stuart, Clarice, and the rest of the cast of cult-fav characters. Most of them are lesbians, living in a midsize American city that may or may not be Minneapolis. Bechdel's brilliantly imagined countercultural band of friends--academics, social workers,...
Book cover for "We have always been here"
Star rating for We have always been here
Author:
Average Rating:
3.8 stars
Description:
"A queer Muslim searches for the language to express her truest self, making peace with her sexuality, her family, and Islam. Growing up in Pakistan, Samra Habib lacks a blueprint for the life she wants. She has a mother who gave up everything to be a pious, dutiful wife and an overprotective father who seems to conspire against a life of any adventure. Plus, she has to hide the fact that she's Ahmadi to avoid persecution from religious extremists....