13 LGBTQ Writers You Should Read

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He was a research editor with Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. from 2008 to 2016 and worked on Britannica Blog from 2010...</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Richard Pallardy</span>, <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/editor/timothy-lake/12849178" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Timothy Lake</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Timothy Lake was an Editorial Intern at Encyclopædia Britannica.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Timothy Lake</span></div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div></div> </div> <article class="topic-content content"><div class="topic-paragraph font-serif md-list-intro pt-15 pb-20"><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/60/144760-131-5E258FAB/Rainbow-flag-Sign-diversity-Gilbert-Baker-hope-1978.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*0"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/60/144760-131-5E258FAB/Rainbow-flag-Sign-diversity-Gilbert-Baker-hope-1978.jpg?w=1000" alt="Rainbow flag. Sign of diversity, inclusiveness, hope, yearning. Gay pride flag popularized by San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker in 1978. Inspired by Judy Garland singing Over the Rainbow. gay rights, homosexual, gays, LGBT community" data-width="900" data-height="675" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif "><span></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">© Hemera/Thinkstock</cite></figcaption></figure><p class="topic-paragraph">Shrewd observers and lavish prose stylists, the writers on this list deserve your readership. Their variously humane and hilarious portraits of queerness and same-sex love and lust—and the everyday lives of those who experience them—are illuminating, whether you’re <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/gay-rights-movement" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">gay</a>, straight, or somewhere in between. </p><span class="MOD"></span></div><ul class="md-list-order-numeric md-mendel-list" style="counter-reset: item 0"><li><h2>Patricia Highsmith</h2><div><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/160995-050-43876F4E/Patricia-Highsmith.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*189880"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/160995-050-43876F4E/Patricia-Highsmith.jpg?w=1000" alt="Patricia Highsmith appears as a guest on the British late night talk and discussion television program After Dark." data-width="914" data-height="998" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif "><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/160995-050-43876F4E/Patricia-Highsmith.jpg" data-href="*189880">Highsmith, Patricia</a><span>Patricia Highsmith.</span></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">Open Media Ltd</cite></figcaption></figure><p class="topic-paragraph">Known for her impish depictions of violence and amorality in such novels as <em>Strangers on a Train</em> (1950) and <em>The Talented Mr. Ripley</em> (1955), <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Patricia-Highsmith" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Highsmith</a> took a somewhat lighter touch in <em>The Price of Salt</em> (1952), a lesbian romance.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-1"></span></li><li><h2>Jean Genet</h2><div><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/48/11548-004-A5D8EBFA/Jean-Genet.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*26576"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/48/11548-004-A5D8EBFA/Jean-Genet.jpg?w=1000" alt="Jean Genet" data-width="238" data-height="300" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif "><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/48/11548-004-A5D8EBFA/Jean-Genet.jpg" data-href="*26576">Jean Genet</a></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">© Jerry Bauer</cite></figcaption></figure><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-Genet" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Genet</a> turned the anarchic and crude into high art. Drawing on his experiences as a prostitute and drifter, he summoned the pungent dissoluteness of pre-<a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">World War II</a> Paris in <em>Our Lady of the Flowers</em> (1943), a tale of a cross-dresser and his colorfully deviant cohort.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-2"></span></li><li><h2>Ocean Vuong</h2><div><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ocean-Vuong" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Vuong</a> is a celebrated poet and author who was born in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and raised in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S. He is best known for his poetry collections, including <em>Night Sky with Exit Wounds</em> (2016), and his semi-autobiographical novel, <em>On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous</em> (2019). His work features themes including familial ancestry, violence, the experience of immigrants in America, and the complexity of sexuality. Vuong’s writing frequently draws upon his multifaceted identity as a queer Asian American immigrant who was raised by a single mother.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-3"></span></li><li><h2>Mary Renault</h2><div><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Renault" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Renault</a>’s ability to conjure visceral images of ancient Greece is unparalleled. Meticulously researched and tautly plotted, books such as <em>The Last of the Wine</em> (1956) and <em>The Persian Boy</em> (1972) naturalistically depict gay love against a vivid, beautifully rendered backdrop of war and political upheaval.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-4"></span></li><li><h2>James Baldwin</h2><div><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/6195-004-A6D78C3D/James-Baldwin.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*8718"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/6195-004-A6D78C3D/James-Baldwin.jpg?w=1000" alt="James Baldwin" data-width="322" data-height="450" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif "><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/6195-004-A6D78C3D/James-Baldwin.jpg" data-href="*8718">James Baldwin</a></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">UPI/Bettmann Archive</cite></figcaption></figure><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Baldwin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Baldwin</a>’s seminal novel <em>Giovanni’s Room</em> (1956), about a tragic love affair between a confused American man and his Italian boyfriend in Paris, unflinchingly examines the societal prejudices that kept (and continue to keep) many people from acknowledging their sexual orientation.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-5"></span></li><li><h2>Ryka Aoki</h2><div><p class="topic-paragraph">Aoki is an American writer of Japanese descent who is best known for her collections, including <em>Seasonal Velocities</em> (2012) and <em>Why Dust Shall Never Settle upon This Soul</em> (2015), and her novels, including <em>He Mele a Hilo</em> (2014) and <em>Light from Uncommon Stars</em> (2021). Many of Aoki’s books and poems reflect the struggles she has experienced as a transgender woman of color.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-6"></span></li><li><h2>Alan Hollinghurst</h2><div><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/20/178420-050-0E552552/Alan-Hollinghurst-British-2011.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*190098"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/20/178420-050-0E552552/Alan-Hollinghurst-British-2011.jpg?w=1000" alt="British writer Alan Hollinghurst, 2011. (2004 Book Prize)" data-width="750" data-height="1000" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif "><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/20/178420-050-0E552552/Alan-Hollinghurst-British-2011.jpg" data-href="*190098">Alan Hollinghurst</a></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">Larry D. Moore (CC BY-SA 3.0)</cite></figcaption></figure><p class="topic-paragraph">Hollinghurst won the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Booker-Prize" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Booker Prize</a> for his 2004 novel <em>The Line of Beauty</em>, a chronicle of the romantic vicissitudes of a young middle-class interloper in 1980s British high society. The story contrasts ruminations on beauty with the harsh realities of Thatcherism and the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/AIDS" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">AIDS</a> crisis.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-7"></span></li><li><h2>Michael Chabon</h2><div><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Chabon" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Chabon</a> has long had a gay following due to his 1988 novel <em>The Mysteries of Pittsburgh</em>, which features a protagonist who has both homosexual and heterosexual encounters. Many of his later works feature gay characters, though their sexuality is ambient rather than topical.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-8"></span></li><li><h2>Audre Lorde</h2><div><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Audre-Lorde" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Lorde</a>’s writing reflects her experience as a Black lesbian and a mother. Her writing supplemented her work in civil rights, women’s liberation, and antiwar movements during the 1960s. She published poetry while she worked for the women’s rights and LGBTQ rights movements. Lorde’s work analyzes the intersection of race, class, and gender, and she used poetry to address her own identity as a lesbian. Some of her most prominent works include <em>Cables to Rage</em> (1970), <em>Coal</em> (1976), and <em>A Burst of Light</em> (1988).</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-9"></span></li><li><h2>Evelyn Waugh</h2><div><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/88/66588-050-449048B2/Evelyn-Arthur-St-John-Waugh-1955.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*56980"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/88/66588-050-449048B2/Evelyn-Arthur-St-John-Waugh-1955.jpg?w=1000" alt="English author Evelyn Waugh (1903-1966) at his home in Gloucestershire, England, July 2, 1955." data-width="1165" data-height="1600" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif "><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/88/66588-050-449048B2/Evelyn-Arthur-St-John-Waugh-1955.jpg" data-href="*56980">Evelyn Arthur St. John Waugh, 1955.</a></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">Kurt Hutton—Picture Post/Hulton Archive/Getty Images</cite></figcaption></figure><p class="topic-paragraph">The relationship between the two main characters in <em>Brideshead Revisited</em>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Evelyn-Waugh" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Waugh</a>’s 1945 novel of religious crisis and upper-class strife, has long been the subject of speculation. The closeness of the friendship between the two young men hints at homosexuality. Waugh’s own homosexual relationships lend credence to that interpretation.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-10"></span></li><li><h2>Christopher Isherwood</h2><div><figure class="md-assembly md-feature-assembly print-false" data-type="1" data-descid="1"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/19/24919-004-FF5577A2/Isherwood-1966.jpg" target="_blank" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center " data-href="*11991"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/19/24919-004-FF5577A2/Isherwood-1966.jpg?w=1000" alt="Christopher Isherwood, 1966" data-width="200" data-height="300" loading="eager"><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class=""><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif "><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" target="_blank" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/19/24919-004-FF5577A2/Isherwood-1966.jpg" data-href="*11991">Christopher Isherwood</a><span>British-American novelist and playwright Christopher Isherwood, 1966</span></span></div><cite class="credit d-block mt-5">Camera Press/Pictorial Parade</cite></figcaption></figure><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christopher-Isherwood-British-American-author" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Isherwood</a>’s 1964 novel <em>A Single Man</em> follows a gay man grieving for his lover over the course of a day. The book describes with painful clarity the repressive social mores of the time and movingly depicts the complexities of his close friendship with a straight woman.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-11"></span></li><li><h2>Armistead Maupin</h2><div><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Armistead-Maupin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Maupin</a>’s effervescent novels about gay life in San Francisco, starting with <em>Tales of the City</em> (1978), brought to life a milieu foreign to much of the world.</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-12"></span></li><li><h2>June Jordan</h2><div><p class="topic-paragraph"><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/June-Jordan" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jordan</a> primarily wrote through the lens of bisexuality and racial injustice. Born in Harlem in New York City to Jamaican immigrants, she was often the only Black student at the prep schools she attended in her youth. The liberatory themes in her poetry have granted her the moniker “Poet of the People.” She is perhaps best known for her 27 published works, including <em>Some Changes</em> (1971) and <em>Living Room</em> (1985).</p><span class="MOD"></span></div><span class="LIST-ITEM-13"></span></li></ul><span class="AM-END-OF-ARTICLE am-inline"></span></article> </div> </div> </div> <aside class="cm-rightrail d-none d-md-block ad-rail"></aside> </div> </div> </div> <div class="grid gx-0"> <div class="col"> <div class="md-loading hidden display-4 font-weight-normal"></div> <div class="text-center my-20 mb-100"> <button class="md-infinite-load-next btn btn-blue" data-value="next-page">Load More</button> </div> </div> <div class="col-md-da-320 hidden-xs"> </div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"List","templateName":null,"pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":10,"pageId":3860,"pageLength":null,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/list-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"B","adLeg":"B","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"List","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":null,"gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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13 LGBTQ Writers You Should Read | Britannica