Hi everyone! It’s Yashwina, back with my metal detector and everything I’ve dug up on the literary internet over the last couple weeks. I’d like to thank y’all for the warm welcome you’ve given this little column, and to extend my special appreciation for those of you who enjoyed the puns. It simply wouldn’t be a column from Yash Canter without some Trash Banter ;)
I’m having a great reading week; I have a copy of Manywhere sitting on the table next to me for when I finish my reread of Crybaby Butch (which I’m revisiting for a review I’m working on!) and I’ve also been dipping into Coming Out Under Fire periodically too — this history of queerness in the military during WWII is fascinating and surprising. It’s good things to read as far as the eye can see over here!
Alrighty, folks, let’s rumble. On this week’s Rainbow Reading, we’ve got:
Shelf Care: Reviews, Essays, and other Things of Note
- The PEN Awards have announced their finalists, including Torrey Peters, Sarah Schulman, André Aciman, and more!
- Speaking of awards, Darcie Little Badger became the first Native author to win a Newbery Honor, for her book Snakes Fall To Earth, which was also an Autostraddle best book of 2021.
- Melissa THEE Febos wrote a beautiful essay about encountering Jeannette Winterson’s Written on the Body as a young queer kid for NYRB
- NEW CARMEN MARIA MACHADO PEW PEW PEWWWW — so glad we’re getting more speculative short fiction from the GOAT.
- [CN: domestic violence, abuse] Over at The Rumpus, I was so moved by this essay from Kathleen Guillon about abuse in lesbian relationships.
- This profile of Denne Michele Norris, EIC of Electric Literature and the first out black trans woman to lead a major literary organization, made me feel so hopeful about queer literary leadership.
- To celebrate the launch of Manywhere, author Morgan Thomas appeared in conversation with Kristen Arnett, hosted by Powell’s Books!
- On this week’s episode of the Gender Reveal podcast, Tuck sat down with memoirist Krys Malcolm Belc to discuss his memoir The Natural Mother of the Child and they do a fascinating deep dive into the way we read and write about trans parenthood narratives!
- The Yash Award for Best Damn Headline goes to: If You Hate Mitch McConnell and Love Queer YA Fantasy, Read This Book.
- Between this interview and this essay about queer respectability and pedagogy, it’s a great week for Edgar Gomez fans!
- I’m trying to read more queer horror, and this review of Red X got my attention! At the heart of the story are a lesbian couple (one trans, one cis) who emerge as the heroes, which I love. Hopefully this’ll tide me over until Manhunt publishes!
- In celebration of his new book Sticker, author Henry Hoke compiled 8 Books by Queer Writers Who Came Of Age In the 90s for Electric Literature!
- I couldn’t have a column called Rainbow Reading without getting excited about Rainbow Rainbow, Lydia Conklin’s forthcoming collection of short stories!
“Understanding the abundance and expansiveness of gender in history, to me suggests that there is a space for even more abundance and expansiveness in the future.
Autocorrect: Books content from the last couple weeks at Autostraddle!
- For those in the know, Autostraddle Wordle gets its name TIRTL from Riese’s long-running and much-loved Things I Read Lately That I Loved (TIRTIL) column, and there are some real gems in there this week! These two were particular favorites of mine.
- Casey assembled the list of my Stray–City-loving dreams: 8 Queer Punk & Counterculture Books Set In the 1990s!
- Abeni interviewed Morgan Thomas about their debut short fiction collection Manywhere!
Rainbow Reading Superlikes:
This week, I’d like to shout out Megan of @booksnblazers — getting to exist on the same internet as Megan is a delight, and her wide-ranging interests combined with her commitment to queer voices make for a great range of recommendations. She curates some great collaborative Pride content in June, which led me to a handful of other amazing queer bookstagrammers who have brightened up my feed, and Megan also leads some amazing readalongs —who doesn’t love a gay book club?
That’s all she wrote, folks! If you’re a queer writer, particularly an early-career queer writer: I’d love to hear about the cool things you’re up to so that I can share links to your published essays, book reviews, short stories, poems, and longform features on LGBTQ+ topics! Please email me links for consideration at yashwina@autostraddle.com with the subject line “Rainbow Reading Submission” — I’m an avid browser-tab-collector, and I especially want to hear from you if you’ve just landed your first publication or first major byline.
