“…I thought about glitter, I thought about a metaphor for his queer identity…So I wanted to pay homage to his queer identity…”-Quartez Harris on writing Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer.
June is Pride Month, and readers can treat themselves to two exceptional picture books about the life of the extraordinary and prolific writer James Baldwin. And that’s not all; there are more biographies by Black authors about historical figures, like Bayard Rustin, Pauli Murray, Marsha P. Johnson, and Lorraine Hansberry. Award-winning creators George M. Johnson and Charly Palmer deliver Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, BYR, 2024). For fiction reading, explore stories for all ages. Happy Pride Month! Our stories matter.
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1. One Day in June: A Story Inspired by the Life and Activism of Marsha P. Johnson
Tourmaline | Charlot Kristensen | G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR | May 20, 2025 | PB
2. Go Tell It: How James Baldwin Became a Writer
Quartez Harris | Gordon C. James | Little, Brown | January 7, 2025 | PB
Allen R. Wells | Dia Valle | Farrar, Straus and Giroux BYR | May 7, 2024 | PB
Joëlle Retener | DeAnn Wiley | Barefoot Books | April 2, 2024 | PB
5. What I Must Tell the World: How Lorraine Hansberry Found Her Voice
Jay Leslie | Loveis Wise | Hillman Grad Books/Zando | October 22, 2024 | PB
6. Dominique’s Thrifted Treasures
Margarett McBride | Ryan Middaugh | Free Spirit Publishing | February 27, 2024 | PB
7. Jimmy’s Rhythm and Blues: The Extraordinary Life of James Baldwin
Michelle Meadows | Jamiel Law | HarperCollins | January 30, 2024 | PB
8. A Song for the Unsung: Bayard Rustin, the Man Behind the 1963 March on Washington
Carole Boston Weatherford | Rob Sanders | Byron McCray | Henry Holt | November 8, 2022 | PB
9. Calvin
J.R. Ford | Vanessa Ford | Kayla Harren | G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR | November 9, 2021 | PB
10. In Search of Superpowers: A Fantasy Pin World Adventure
Briana Lawrence | Joanna Cacao | Andrews McMeel Publishing | January 30, 2024 | MG
Leah Johnson | Disney Hyperion | May 2, 2023 | MG
Jazz Taylor | Scholastic Inc. | April 4, 2023 | MG
13. Pauli Murray: Shouting for the Rights of All People
Deborah Nelson Linck | Angela Corbin | Morehouse Publishing | May 17, 2022 | MG
14. In the Key of Us
Mariama Lockington | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) | April 26, 2022 | MG
15. Hurricane Child
Kacen Callender | Scholastic Press | March 27, 2018 | MG
Ciera Burch | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) | May 20, 2025 | YA
17. Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson
Tourmaline | Tiny Reparations Books | May 20, 2025 | YA
18. I Can’t Even Think Straight
Dean Atta | Quill Tree Books | May 6, 2025 | YA
19. Nav’s Foolproof Guide to Falling in Love
Jesica Lewis | Inkyard Press | HarperCollins | April 29, 2025 | YA
Zakiya N. Jamal | HarperTeen | April 22, 2025 | YA
21. The Corruption of Hollis Brown
K. Ancrum | HarperCollins | April 22, 2025 | YA
22. We Are Villains
Kacen Callender | Amulet Books | March 25, 2025 | YA
23. Brewed with Love
Shelly Page | Joy Revolution | January 14, 2025 | YA
Keith F. Miller, Jr. | HarperCollins | January 7, 2025 | YA
25. Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known
George M. Johnson | Charly Palmer | Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) | September 24, 2024 | YA
26. Till the Last Beat of My Heart
Louangie Bou-Montes | HarperCollins | September 10, 2024 | YA
Julian Winters | Viking | August 20, 2024 | YA
28. The Queens’ English: The Young Readers’ LGBTQIA+ Dictionary of Lingo and Colloquial Phrases
Chloe O. Davis | Simon & Schuster BYR | April 30, 2024 | YA
29. How the Boogeyman Became a Poet
Tony Keith, Jr | Katherine Tegen Books | February 6, 2024 | YA
30. Pauli Murray: The Life of a Pioneering Feminist and Civil Rights Activist
Rosita Stevens-Holsey | Terry Catasús Jennings | Yellow Jacket | February 8, 2022 | YA
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