LITERATURE

A Great Gay Book: Stories of Growth, Belonging & Other Queer Possibilities

Abrams. May 2024. 432p. ed. by Ryan Fitzgibbon. ISBN 9781419766787. $50. LIT
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Amid the current climate of LGBTQIA+ repression and oppression, this title provides an essential counter-narrative to reactionary forces while simultaneously encouraging new ways of thinking. Edited by artist, activist, and Hello Mr. magazine founder Fitzgibbon, this collection of essays, interviews, artwork, poetry, and stories furthers collective understanding of queer life through the particularities of its contributors. Their contributions vary in topic, from Derek Charm and Steve Orlando’s comic “Violets,” touching on the intergenerational aspects of queer survival; to Davy Pittoors’s “Queering Space,” interviews with artists about heteronormativity, domesticity, and creation, to Daniel Shea’s “Screen Test,” a photographic study of the male form. Some of the offerings are sexually explicit. The majority of contributors are creatives and men, which could limit the book’s scope, but as readers work their way through the richly designed pages, they will not encounter one long narrative, no singular argument. Instead, they will encounter the multiplicity lying underneath the term queer. This title offers readers a means to envision new ways of imagining the lives of queer people.
VERDICT For librarians interested in expanding their LGBTQIA+ studies, literature, or arts collections, this book serves as a valuable source to complement existing scholarly works.
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