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Kirkus Reviews has released their picks for the Best Books of the 21st Century (So Far) in five categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Teens and Young Adult, Middle Grade, and Picture Books. Last time, I shared the queer titles included on their fiction list, so naturally, I’m back with the queer titles included on the nonfiction list! These are just the titles that leapt out at me, so let me know if I missed any other queer books on the list.
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel
After seeing a number from the musical Fun Home on the Tony Awards, I decided I needed to read this book, and it did not disappoint. Bechdel was in college when she came out as lesbian, and soon after discovered that her father was gay as well. A few weeks later, he was dead. She tells of her childhood, her relationship with her father, and her experience of coming out and falling in love. Bechdel’s literary prose and insightful illustrations make this an affecting journey. —Heather Bottoms
How to Write An Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee
It’s hard for me to put my finger on the thing that elevates an essay collection from a handful of individual pieces to a cohesive book. But Chee obviously knows what that thing is, because this book builds on itself. He writes about growing roses and working odd jobs and AIDS activism and drag and writing a novel, and each of these essays is singularly moving. But as a whole they paint a complex portrait of a slice of the writer’s life. They inform and converse with each other, and the result is a book you can revisit again and again, always finding something new. —Laura Sackton
How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones
Being Black in the South is difficult. So is being queer in the South. Being Black and queer? Far, far more difficult than it should be. Saeed Jones knows and tells us about it in vignettes about trying to find a place to belong, his difficult relationship with his family, and each fleeting relationship that came and left his life. Transitioning between prose and poetry and full of the biting humor he’s known for on Twitter, he tells the story of how he turned himself into a weapon growing up in the South in the ’90s and 2000s. —Caitlin Hobbs
The Argonauts by Maggie Nelson
The Argnonauts is a memoir focused on love, sex, pregnancy, and parenthood. Using philosophy and theory to guide her thinking, Nelson contemplates her experiences of falling in love with the genderfluid artist Harry Dodge, getting married, giving birth, and living through the early days of motherhood. Nelson’s deep engagement with ideas to understand her experience of the world makes this heady, ground-breaking memoir unforgettable. —Rebecca Hussey
Let the Record Show by Sarah Schulman
At 736 pages, this book is a commitment—but it’s one worth making. Sarah Schulman’s political history of ACT UP and the AIDS activism that grew out of it is not a dry recitation of numbers and facts. It’s a vivid, living, complicated exploration of the inner workings and revolutionary lessons of a radical organization that changed the world. The book is based on interviews with over two hundred ACT UP members, and their voices shine through loud and clear, right alongside Schulman’s rigorous analysis and insight. —Laura Sackton
40 New Queer Books Out This Week: May 13, 2025
As a bonus for All Access members, here are 40 new queer books out this week, including Trans History: A Graphic Novel: From Ancient Times to the Present Day by Alex L. Combs and Andrew Eakett; So Many Stars: An Oral History of Trans, Nonbinary, Genderqueer, and Two-Spirit People of Color by Caro De Robertis; and Sage, the newest collection by trans Palestinian poet Yaffa
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