LGBT+ literature is a term that names and gives visibility to books that address the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, non-binary, intersex, and other queer. It is not a literary genre but rather a concept that encompasses a range of classic and contemporary publications. 

With writers who narrate experiences or bring forth other stories linked to diversity, LGBT+ literature offers new perspectives. And it's gaining increasing traction in bookstores, thanks to books that have become mainstream due to the drive of new generations or have inspired series like Heartstopper.  

At Presentes, we asked our community which works of LGBT literature they recommend. These were some of the responses they shared with us on social media. 

1. To those who remain, Jotaelmes Ramírez

Jota Elmes Ramírez is a poet and activist. "A quienes queden" (To Those Who Remain) is his first book of poems, published in 2021 by Sur|Norte editoras (Chile).

2. Opening of the sea, Esther Margaritas

Esther Margarita is a writer and performance artist from Puerto Varas, Chile. This book is a poetry anthology that compiles her work written between 2016 and 2022. It includes a previously unpublished section called “Caléndula: The Ravages of a Trans Girl.” 

3. Carol, Patricia Highsmith

Claire Morgan wrote this novel in 1952 under the title *The Price of Salt* and anonymously. It was recently republished under its original title, *Carol*, now signed by the author. It tells the love story of two women. At the time, it was one of the first novels to depict a homosexual love without a tragic ending. 

4. How We Fight, Our Lives, Saed Jones

The story follows the life of a gay Black man in the American South, from the perspective of Saeed Jones, an American writer and poet. This book won the 2019 Kirkus Book Award and the Stonewall Book Award. It is also one of The New York Times' 100 best books of the year.

5. As if I had to pay him with my sadness, Ayito Cabrera

Ayuto Cabrera is a disabled artist from Argentina and an accessibility consultant. She wrote this autobiographical novel, which falls within the realm of transvestite, disabled, and marginalized literature. It explores the childhoods of disabled and trans people in dysfunctional, neoliberal, and Kirchnerist families. 

6. You let me burn and now we are ashes on the ground, Gerund

Gerundio is a Chilean cultural manager and artist. He defines his book, Dejaste que me quemara y ahora somos cenizas en el suelo (You Let Me Burn and Now We Are Ashes on the Ground), as “the conversation I never had with my mother,” recounting his life as a gay child in a context of abuse and deprivation. 

7. Love on the Cutting Board, Izumo Marou and Claire Maree

Izumo Marou is known for her feminist and LGBT activism in Japan. She was part of the first lesbian feminist collective in 1977. Claire Maree is originally from Australia but lives in Tokyo. This book is a "duobiography" in which they both tell their love story amidst cultural clashes. 

8. Kiss of the Spider Woman, Manuel Puig

This work by the Argentine writer and LGBT activist Manuel Puig is a classic of literature. It tells the story of two men who share a cell during the Argentine military dictatorship: Molina, a gay man, and Valentin, a political activist. 

9. The Unicorn, Manuel Mujica Lainez

The Unicorn is a medieval fiction novel, where the Argentine writer Manuel Mujica Láinez narrates an erotic story, which plays with gender and corporeality in fantastic characters.

10. Soon to be in jail, Sylvia Molloy

Sylvia Molloy wrote this novel during the height of the State Terrorism in Argentina. It is considered a pioneering work of Argentine lesbian literature, and at the time it was deemed too subversive to be published in the country. It tells the story of a woman who waits for another, knowing she will never arrive. 

11. Written on the Body, Jeanette Winterson

Jeanette Winterson is English and wrote a novel where the protagonist is genderless. It tells the stories of her lovers, almost all women but also some men. 

12. La Chaco, Juan Sola

Chaco tells the story of Ximena, a trans girl in Buenos Aires, who escapes her father's violence and her conservative town. In the city, she encounters other trans women and a different life. 

13. The Adventures of China Iron, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara

Gabriela Cabezón Cámara burst onto the Argentine literary scene in 2009 with the story of the Virgin Cabeza. It told the love story between Qüity, a crime reporter, and Cleo, a trans woman who communicated with the Virgin Mary and would become the political leader of the shantytown where she lived. In The Adventures of China Iron, the author narrates a kind of queer utopia of cultural diversity. It is a journey undertaken by two women through the Argentine pampas at the end of the 19th century, with references to Martín Fierro and the genocidal plan against Indigenous peoples. For this book, which is a textbook in some secondary schools, Cabezón Cámara—a multi-award-winning writer—received attacks on social media from anti-rights groups who questioned its inclusion in the school curriculum.  

14. The unsubmissive one, Cristina Peri Rossi

The Uruguayan writer, translator, and political activist wrote this autobiography about her childhood and youth. She addressed the tensions between desire and societal expectations placed on women. 

15. The Henna Wars, Adiba Jaigirdar

This novel is on Time magazine's list of the 100 best young adult books of all time. It was written by Adiba Jaigirdar (Dhaka), a Bangladeshi-Irish lesbian Muslim writer.

16. Poetry in Transition, Daniel Nizcub

Daniel Nizcub is a trans writer from Mexico City and Oaxaca. He recounts his experiences in 17 poems that make up his first poetry collection, *Poesía en transición* (Poetry in Transition). Available here. 

17. Cruel Plastic, José Sbarra

It tells the story of unrequited love between Bombom, a transvestite, poet, and sex worker, and a 17-year-old boy. Axel arrives in the city from the countryside and falls in love with Linda Morris, a well-to-do girl from Buenos Aires. José Sbarra was an Argentine writer, playwright, poet, and screenwriter.

19. I'm afraid, bullfighter, Pedro Lemebel

Pedro Lemebel was a Chilean writer and visual artist, co-founder of the collective "Yeguas del Apocalipsis" (Mares of the Apocalypse), with a vast body of audiovisual and literary work. His gay love story, set against the backdrop of the 1986 assassination attempt against Pinochet, is now a classic.

20. A Place Without Limits, José Donoso

The Chilean José Donoso published this short novel in 1966. It was adapted into a film by the Mexican director Arturo Ripstein in 1977. It tells the story of Manuela, a transvestite who works in a brothel in a small town. 

21. Rooms, Emma Barrandeguy

Habitaciones is a work rewritten at the end of the 20th century and rescued fifty years later by María Moreno. Reissued by La Parte Maldita, the work of Emma Barrandéguy (Gualeguay, Entre Ríos) anticipates the decade of demands for sexual liberationand theories about sexual minorities.

22. The Bad Ones, Camila Sosa Villada

Las Malas is the debut novel by renowned Argentine writer Camila Sosa Villada and won the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Prize at the Guadalajara International Book Fair. It explores Camila's childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, and the bonds of community support she forges with her transvestite friends in Sarmiento Park in Córdoba. We also recommend another excellent book by the author: El viaje inútil (The Useless Journey).

23. They rip your head off, Franco Torchia

Journalist and writer Franco Torchia makes his fiction debut with this marvelous novel about childhood, abuse, hegemonic masculinities displayed in a club, and the memory of the 1980s and the post-dictatorship era in Argentina. The monologues infuse the oral tradition of the time with a narrative that departs from any heteronormative voice. And the voices of popular culture filter through, in a style reminiscent of Manuel Puig. Published by Mansalva in 2022.

24. With my memory I lit the fire, the biography of Mónica Briones Puccio, Erika Montecinos.

Journalist, writer, and activist Erika Montecinos (Santiago, Chile, 1972) began investigating the story of Mónica Briones Puccio, a lesbian artist, in 2006. Her *With My Memory I Lit the Fire*, recently published by Planeta, reconstructs much more than just the life of Mónica, who was beaten to death on July 9, 1984, in downtown Santiago during the dictatorship, while waiting for a bus with a friend after celebrating her 34th birthday. The crime was committed under circumstances about which very little is known and remains unpunished. It was not just another violent death. It is recorded as the first documented case of lesbicide in Chile, although that does not mean it was the first. In memory of Mónica, July 9 is commemorated every year in Chile as Lesbian Visibility Day.

24. The Bad Habit, Alana S Portero

“The Bad Habit” (Planeta) is a dazzling, at times heartbreaking novel that combines a portrait of Madrid’s working class in the 1980s, historical erudition with its myths and monsters, and transvestite fury. “I wanted to include everything: the neighborhood, the nightlife, prostitution, the music, because I live with the urgency of the last time,” Alana S. Portero said in an interview with Presentes. This coming-of-age novel, told from a trans and working-class perspective, became a publishing phenomenon.

25. Stone Butch Blues, Leslie Feinberg. Stone Butch Blues tells the story of Jess Goldberg, a working-class butch lesbian from the northern United States. It is an autobiographical novel. The author recounts her daily life in the second half of the 20th century living in New York City. 

More Recommendations:

From What Was Before, Gisela Maioli.
Lara is a woman who had a happy childhood until the death of her parents changed her life when she was only twelve years old. Living by trial and error, at fourteen she began to delve into a path full of prejudice and loneliness when she soon discovered she was intersex. Today, at twenty-six and determined not to change her body, she collides head-on with a mysterious woman with an unexpected story. This will give Lara a present full of new questions, new situations, and love.

Do you have any other LGBT literature recommendations you'd like to share? You can leave your recommendations in the comments for another post.