To celebrate Pride this week, we're pleased to feature Zoe Whittall's Contempory Queer Fiction List:
Skim: a graphic novel with words by Mariko Tamaki, illustrations by Jillian Tamaki: A story about a lesbian student-teacher affair at a thinly fictionalized Havergal College.
Mosh Pit by Kristyn Dunnion: a YA novel about young punk rock queers.
Missed Her by Ivan Coyote: This is the most recent book I've read by Ivan and it had me weeping and I'm *really* not easily moved but actually I would urge you to buy all of Ivan's books of stories, or Bow Grip, Ivan's novel, which was excellent.
Six Metres of Pavement by Farzana Doctor: A great novel set in Toronto's Little Portugal with an overlapping cast of characters that range from a man who accidently leaves his daughter in a hot car to die, a widow across the street, and Fatima, a young queer academic who comes out in a school newspaper and her parents kick her out of the house. All three characters intersect in interesting ways.
The Night is a Mouth by Lisa Foad: Stunning short stories written in a masterful and imaginative style that blew my mind - impossible to describe in one sentence so I'll just urge you to go buy it.
Monoceros by Suzette Mayr: I'm just reading this now, but it should definitely be on the list. About bullying in a high school. (Read Zoe's review here.)
I am a Red Dress by Anna Camilleri: A beautiful performative memoir about three generations of the author's family and the impact of a violent patriarch.
Cumberland by Michael V. Smith: A novel set in a fictionalized Cornwall about Ernest, a sweet, repressed labourer of few words, and several other heartbreaking characters.
Spelling Mississippi by Marnie Woodrow: a wonderful page-turning literary romp set in pre-Katrina New Orleans. She also has a great book of short stories called In The Spice House.
Cereus Blooms at Night by Shani Mootoo: Or any novel she's written. Read them all!
Pretty by Greg Kearney: Funniest writer in Canada period.