We’re Here. We’re Queer. Get Used to it!

June is LGBTQ Pride Month and June 9-16 is Pride Week at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. Here at the library we pride ourselves on providing access to information and entertainment for everyone. While all of our locations have materials for those wanting to read about gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues, two of our library locations, the Main Library in Oakland and the Allegheny location on the North Side, have separate GLBT genre collections. These collections contain both fiction and nonfiction books and cover all areas of LGBTQ interest. There are mysteries, historical fiction, love stories, family dramas, and erotica. Nonfiction topics include travel, wedding planning, religion, medical, history (or herstory) and biographies.

For LGBTQ Pride month, I created a display for the First Floor, New & Featured. I presented a selection of biographies, memoirs, and tell-alls. Here are some selections from that display…

A Year Straight: Confessions of a Boy-Crazy, Lesbian Beauty Queen by Elena Azzoni

Transparent: Love, Family, and Living the T with Transgender Teenagers by Cris Beam

Coal to Diamonds by Beth Ditto

Family Outing: What Happened When I Found Out My Mother Was Gay by Troy Johnson

Finding the Real Me: True Tales of Sex and Gender Diversity – Tracie O’Keefe and Katrina Fox, editors

The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith by Joan Schenkar

Queers in History: The Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Historical Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals, and Transgenders by Keith Stern

Gypsy Boy: My Life in the Secret World of the Romany Gypsies by Mikey Walsh

Welcome to My World by Johnny Weir

And my absolute favorite title on this display…
Swish: My Quest to Become the Gayest Person Ever by Joel Derfner

Happy LGBTQ Pride Week and Month!
-Melissa M.

Shelf Examination: GLBT Fiction

Today’s installment of Shelf Examination highlights the GLBT fiction collection, which combines genres to please the various reading tastes within the spectrum of people who identify as lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, intersexed, or otherwise queer.  So, whether you’re looking for a good mystery, an inspirational heart-warmer, or a supernatural thriller, you’ll find it here, written by, for, and from folks with alternative gender perspectives.

The book:  Murder in the Rue Chartres, Greg Herren.

Pick this up if you like:  cold cases, inter-related murders, and missing persons; family secrets; the sensuality of the French Quarter; stories where setting and geography play a key role; stories steeped in current events.

The book:  Of Drag Kings and the Wheel of Fate, Susan Smith.

Pick this up if you like:  Star-crossed lovers; fluid gender identity; self-chosen families; pop culture themes and metaphors; ethnic and religious plurality; epic Jungian soul quests; passionate, yet tender, awakenings.

              

The book:  And You Invited Me In, Cheryl Moss Tyler.

Pick this up if you like:  inspirational fiction, social justice, realistic sibling reconciliations, well-rounded characters, stories that explore multiple points of view, or the delicate process of negotiating clashing worldviews.

The book:  American Goth, J.D. Glass.

Pick this up if you like:  Paranormal thrillers, multiple trips to the astral, family bonds and legacies, tough choices between desire and destiny, representations of the goth subculture, or wicked-cool swords.

The book: Friends, Lovers and Roses, V.B. Clay.

Pick this up if you like:  Circles of close friends, multiple narrators, gossipy relationship drama, AfricanAmerican families, sassy narration, or plots where secret-keeping plays a major role.

 

Intrigued?  As ever, you can find more quality GLBT picks by perusing our webrary of booklist goodness.   Tune in next time when we examine more shelves!

–Leigh Anne

 

CLP at PrideFest!

Pride:

• a reasonable or justifiable self-respect
• delight or elation arising from some act, possession, or relationship

PrideFest:

• “A celebration for and about GLBT Pittsburgh”
• “3 city blocks of fun”

This Sunday is PrideFest 2008, and we’ll be there!  Stop by the CLP table to check out bookslists that highlight the library’s GLBT collections, and even check out some books while you’re there.  Did you know that the library has several areas devoted to GLBT literature and non-fiction?  The first floor of the library has a GLBT collection that features new fiction and non-fiction, the teen collection has books that are written for young adults, and you can find even more non-fiction in the mezzanine, mainly under the “HQ” subject heading. At PrideFest we’ll be on Liberty Avenue, between 8th and 9th Streets (just a few tables over from the GLCC table).  We hope to see you there!

Who: CLP

What: PrideFest 2008

Where: Liberty Avenue, between 7th and 10th St.

When: Sunday, June 22, 1:00-6:00

–Irene