2019 Over the Rainbow List released, over 100 fiction and non-fiction titles

SEATTLE - The Over the Rainbow Booklist Committee of the American Library Association's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table (GLBTRT) considered 469 books this year, 284 fiction and 185 nonfiction titles. After careful reading, wide-ranging discussion, and due deliberation, the final Booklist consists of 50 fiction titles in five categories (Short Stories, Poetry, Literacy and General Interest [combined], Graphic, and Genre [all genres]) and 54 nonfiction titles in four categories (Academic, Memoirs/Biographies, History, and General Interest). 

With the expansion of queer publishing across the rainbow, the committee read an incredibly diverse collection of titles from major, independent, and self-publishers. Themes running through books this year include: the pros and cons of visibility; the resilience of individuals telling complex stories in their own voices that blurred lines between queerness and disability, class, ethnicity, race, religion and age; a "second phase" of publishing, past the introduction of issues, that addressed law and medical practices; resilience in the face of oppression and violence; and the effects of history on both individuals and culture, envisioning a future outside current circumstances. 

The top ten fiction and nonfiction titles for the 2018 Over the Rainbow Booklist are:

"Bingo Love" by Tee Franklin, published by Image Comics

"David Bowie Made Me Gay" by Darryl W. Bullock, published by Overlook Press

"Harvey Milk" by Lillian Faderman, published by Yale University Press

"Her Body and Other Parties" by Carmen Maria Machado, published by Graywolf Press

"House of Impossible Beauties" by Joseph Cassara, published by Ecco/HarperCollins

"Living Out Loud" edited by Michael Murphy, published by Routledge

"Mean" by Myriam Gurba, published by Coffeehouse Books

"Othered" by Randi M. Romo, published by Sibling Rivalry Press

"So Lucky" by Nicola Griffith, published by Macmillan

"Trap Door" edited by Reina Gossett, published by MIT Press

To view the complete 2019 bibliography, please visit: https://www.glbtrt.ala.org/overtherainbow/

The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association is the oldest professional association for GLBT people in the United States. It is committed to serving the information needs of the GLBT professional library community and information and access needs of individuals at large. It is home to GLBT Book Month (tm), a nationwide celebration every June and the Stonewall Book Award, the oldest award honoring GLBT books. GLBTRT is committed to encouraging and supporting the free and necessary access to all information, as reflected by the missions of the American Library Association and democratic institutions.