Happy Pride Month! As folks in the LGBTQIA+ community continue to fight against attempts at erasure and ongoing discrimination, this month-long celebration of identity and culture is more important than ever. And there’s no better opportunity to explore what’s fresh in the world of queer audiobooks written by queer creatives. Here are the very best new LGBTQIA+ listens of 2024 (so far!) to queue up this June.
Written and read by award-winning scholar Judith Butler, Who's Afraid of Gender? is a frank exploration of how and why gender has become such a hot-button issue. This is the perfect listen for anyone seeking to understand how such a personal conversation became so public, and how you can recognize and guard yourself against harmful rhetoric.
Hosted by Niecy Nash-Betts, this Audible Original podcast dives into the history of the Wild West and the LGBTQIA+ folks who have helped shape it. Whether you’re into the culture and iconography of the West, looking for more queer rep, or just into history in general, don’t wait for the dust to settle to give Queer West a listen.
Author Steven Rowley narrates this thoroughly entertaining sequel to The Guncle, which sees gay actor Patrick O'Hara once again called upon to look after his young niece and nephew. This time, he accompanies them on a European tour that will culminate in their father's remarriage—a prospect unappealing to both children. Now it's up to Patrick to help the kids accept their new family while grappling with his own relationship troubles.
After a troubled childhood and struggles with mental illness, Shilletha Curtis had finally built a career as a vet technician—only to see it vanish during the COVID-19 pandemic. With unlimited, unexpected free time on her hands, she decided to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine, as a way of coping with unprocessed grief and trauma. Pack Light is a moving memoir of healing amidst the great outdoors, narrated with heart by Curtis herself.
When Max, a transgender teacher, is put on probation, he goes back to the small Massachusetts town where he grew up and first realized he was trans. Max's return forces him to reckon with his past and with the memory of the brave trans woman who helped him come to terms with his own identity. Read brilliantly by trans actor Petey Gibson, Some Strange Music Draws Me In is a gift.
Sade's first night at a prestigious boarding school ends with her roommate, Elizabeth, going missing—and Sade seems to be the only one who cares. To find the missing girl, Sade must work with Elizabeth's best friend and a small clique of notorious students, including the alluring Persephone. Narrated by Outlander actor Natalie Simpson, Where Sleeping Girls Lie is a harrowing YA mystery about becoming the hero of your own story.
Former child actor Mara Wilson reads The Z Word—the funniest, gayest zombie story you'll listen to this year. All Wendy wants to do is get over her ex-girlfriend. Instead, she ends up fighting alongside said ex and a few of their closest friends and enemies as a zombie plague rips through their Arizona community. What will get them first: the zombies or their grudges?
Cactus Country is a memoir releasing in late June by nonbinary writer Zoë Bossiere, who also narrates. In the trailer park where Bossiere grew up, gender was a definitive binary. Though they grew up identifying more with masculine pursuits than feminine ones, the prospect of becoming like the small-minded, violent men they knew was frightening. They would have to leave their familiar but stultifying community to truly find themself.
Author J.R. Yussuf reads Dear Bi Men, an illuminating listen about the persistent stereotypes regarding bisexual and pansexual men and the continued erasure of men of color from the conversation. While aimed at helping bi and pan Black men live better and happier lives, listeners of any sexual orientation and race can benefit from the information and advice included here.
Lucky has been anything but. Now, though, she finally gets a chance to turn that around, showing off her ghost-hunting skills while investigating a haunted house that keeps sending TV actors scurrying. At the same time, Lucky must face something far more daunting: a crush on a seriously hot guy. Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places is an asexual romance from Claire Kann, narrated by Broadway actor Zenzi Williams.
Award-winning narrator Natalie Naudus reads Perfume and Pain, which follows an author, Astrid, struggling both professionally and personally. On the writing side, Astrid first faces controversy but is then overwhelmed by an offer to adapt one of her novels. Romantically, she is caught between two different women. Smart, funny, and steamy, this lesbian listen is ripe with melodrama and satire.
Speaking of Natalie Naudus, this summer also welcomes the fan-favorite narrator's writerly debut. Gay the Pray Away is a novel heavily inspired by Naudus's own childhood in a religious cult. Shot through with hope, this is a YA story for those who are looking for the bright side to all the darkness in our world.
Jonathan Corcoran's relationship with his mother was filled with ups and downs—they supported each other during his harsh childhood, only for her to disown him when he came out as gay. When she passed away from COVID-19, he was devastated—and left to grapple with a complicated mix of emotions. Read by experienced narrator Christopher P. Brown, No Son of Mine is a gutting biography of two resilient people: Corcoran and his mother.
Jin is a photographer burdened by a failing marriage and a family curse. Lidija is a ballerina who was injured under hazy circumstances. Both women are seeking a new start in life, but will the curse prevent them from finding happiness with each other? Ami Park and Sue Jean Kim narrate Exhibit, a sexy novel about two women learning to explore their own desires honestly.
Carl Siciliano has advocated for unhoused queer youth for decades. In Making Room, which he narrates himself, Siciliano looks back on the young people who have made the greatest impact on his life and career, uncovering why so many LGBTQIA+ youth continue to suffer a housing crisis, and sharing what the rest of us can do to make the world a little safer for them.
Voice-acting veteran Gillian Wiggin reads Julie Winfield Is Not Getting Married Today, a lesbian romance set in the mid-1980s. Julie has been so busy planning her future with Doug, who is definitely her dream man, that she refuses to consider she might not actually want that future. Then she meets their attractive female wedding singer, and Julie's predictable world takes a most unexpected turn.
In Hollywood Pride, author and narrator Alonso Duralde recounts the surprisingly long history of queer people in Hollywood. Though they could not live openly until fairly recently, LGBTQIA+ creatives both on screen and behind the scenes have long played a critical role in the development of many beloved films and of Hollywood itself.
LGBTQIA+ listens arriving later this year
Award-winning narrator André Santana epitomizes both humor and horror in Bury Your Gays, a clever take-down of the entertainment industry. Misha is on the cusp of the successful acting career he has always wanted. But when he refuses to go along with his bosses' plan to kill off the gay characters on his streaming series, Misha finds himself on the run from movie monsters made all too real.
Four years ago, Theo and Kit broke up on the way to a tour of Europe's finest foods and wines. Now, as their tour vouchers are set to expire, each of them gets the idea to use the voucher before it's too late, unaware that their ex has had the same idea. The Pairing, the latest heartfelt rom-com from Casey McQuiston, has two narrators—Emma Galvin and Max Meyers—to add extra verve to this story of feuding (yet still smitten) exes.
Fans of The House in the Cerulean Sea, the wait for the sequel is nearly over! Narrator Daniel Henning returns in Somewhere Beyond the Sea, which tells the story of Arthur Parnassus, a man who has always done everything possible to protect the orphaned, magical children in his care. But what happens when the thing endangering the children's future is his own past?
So Witches We Became is a YA horror novel about a group of friends trapped on an island by a curse driven by their own dark pasts. Now, their only options are to let the curse consume them all or to embrace and draw strength from their most feared secrets. Two narrators, Jeremy Carlisle Parker and Kristin James, are sure to bring a chilling atmosphere to this empowering audiobook.
The Maxwell siblings moved away from the haunted house they grew up in as soon as possible. But their parents, who fought so hard to make a life as a Black family in a white suburb, refused to leave—and paid the ultimate price. The surviving Maxwells are the only ones who can get to the truth about their childhood home, but will that truth kill them as well?
Eileen Gonzalez is a freelance writer from Connecticut. She has a master's degree in communications and years of experience writing about pop culture. She contributes to Book Riot, Foreword Reviews, and Popverse.
