Am I in love with a woman or am I a woman who's in love with women?

Today we meet Lauren Sanders and we’re talking about the queer book that saved her life: Nightwood by Djuna Barnes.

Lauren Sanders (she/they) is the author of the novel Kamikaze Lust, which won a 2000 Lambda Literary Award and was reissued this fall in a 25th anniversary edition. Her other novels include With or Without You (a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award) and The Book of Love and Hate. Short fiction, reviews, rants, etc. have appeared in various publications. By day they run editorial and digital strategy for a national foundation working in education and the arts. Lauren lives in the nation of Brooklyn with her partner and staffie mix, Maverick.

Djuna Barnes (1892-1982) was born in Cornwall-on-Hudson, NY, and worked as a journalist in New York before leaving the country to spend many years in Paris and London. She returned to New York in 1941, and lived in Greenwich Village until her death.

Connect with Lauren

website: laurenisanders.com

instagram: @lisanders99

facebook: facebook.com/lauren.i.sanders
linkedin: linkedin.com/in/lauren-sanders-5345b67

Our Bookshop

Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook

Buy Nightwood: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9780811216715

Buy Kamikaze Lust: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781888451085

Become an Associate Producer!

Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook

Credits

Host/Founder: John Parker
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard.
Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson

Quatrefoil Library

Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1

Support the show

A new episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life drops on November 4th! In our off weeks we play episodes of The Gaily Show which John hosts. The Gaily Show is the only daily LGBTQ progressive news and talk radio show in the country airing in Minneapolis (AM950-KTNF) and Chicago (WCPT 820).

In this episode, Theodor Seuss Geisel Award winner David LaRochelle is back with two new books: How To Draw A Tree and Mr Fox’s Game of “No!”. You can listen to David's episode on this podcast here!

Buy David’s books here:

Mr Fox’s Game of No! https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781536229677

How to Draw a Tree: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781681343211

Watch on YouTube

We're in video too! You can watch this episode at youtube.com/@thegailyshow

Credits

Host/Founder: John Parker (learn more about my name change)
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Production and Distribution Support: Brett Johnson, AM950
Marketing/Advertising Support: Chad Larson, Laura Hedlund, Jennifer Ogren, AM950
Accounting and Creative Support: Gordy Erickson

Support the show

A lot of us get to our 30s and we don't know what the next step is. Sometimes you make a big pivot.

Today we meet Aj Writer and we’re talking about the queer book that saved his life: One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston.

Aj Writer is a nonbinary writer and general dumpster fire of a human being (editor's note: Aj's words!). After a decade in journalism and conversations with top creatives in their field, Aj opened FWDIO Studios, a creative content company, that focuses on making media that is representative of the diversity in LGBT and BIPOC populations. Aj's second book, Strip Me Down, came out in paperback this month and the company is busy working on its first pilot animation. They want to expand to comics and audiobooks next. "If we want to tell our stories, we have to do it ourselves."

Casey McQuiston is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of romantic comedies, including One Last Stop, I Kissed Shara Wheeler, and Red, White & Royal Blue, whose writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Bon Appetit. Born and raised in southern Louisiana, Casey now lives in New York City with a poodle mix named Pepper.

Connect with Aj

website: fwdiostudios.com

patreon: patreon.com/FWDIOStudios

tiktok: @ajwriter
bluesky: @ajwriter.bsky.social or @fwdio.bsky.social

Our Bookshop

Visit our Bookshop for new releases, current bestsellers, banned books, critically acclaimed LGBTQ books, or peruse the books featured on our podcasts: bookshop.org/shop/thisqueerbook

Buy One Last Stop: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9781250244499

Buy Strip Me Down: https://bookshop.org/a/82376/9798304331609

Become an Associate Producer!

Become an Associate Producer of our podcast through a $20/month sponsorship on Patreon! A professionally recognized credit, you can gain access to Associate Producer meetings to help guide our podcast into the future! Get started today: patreon.com/thisqueerbook

Credits

Host/Founder: John Parker
Executive Producer: Jim Pounds
Associate Producers: Archie Arnold, K Jason Bryan and David Rephan, Bob Bush, Natalie Cruz, Troy Ford, Jonathan Fried, Paul Kaefer, Joe Perazzo, Bill Shay, and Sean Smith
Patreon Subscribers: Stephen D., Terry D., Stephen Flamm, Ida Göteburg, Thomas Michna, Sofia Nerman, and Gary Nygaard.
Creative and Accounting support provided by: Gordy Erickson

Quatrefoil Library

Quatrefoil has created a curated lending library made up of the books featured on our podcast! If you can’t buy these books, then borrow them! Link: https://libbyapp.com/library/quatrefoil/curated-1404336/page-1

Support the show