13 Books to Celebrate Pride All Year Long

Sunrise over Half-Built Houses by Erin Steele (Caitlin Press)

Erin Steele delivers an authentic, humble and ultimately inspiring story through love, addiction and learning to find peace in the darkest moments of longing.

“This is a beautiful book, drenched in the senses, giving life to the idea that interiority is best captured through an exacting attention to the outside world. I read this work with full engagement at every turn, in awe of its dreamlike textures, swept by its immersion in both description and sound. I knew from the very first page that I was in the hands of a brilliant, singular writer. Sunrise over Half-Built Houses reads like a big piece of music and it remakes the imagination like an ongoing song.” —Paul Lisicky, author of Later: My Life at the Edge of the World

Out now

Queer Country Crossroads by Mabe Kyle (Caitlin Press)

From the publisher: Queer Country Crossroads is an anthology of nonfiction stories and poems written by and for rural 2SLGBTQIA+ folks. Fifty writers, poets, and artists from across Canada share personal stories that explore themes from coming of age and isolation to community and home. Together, these voices offer diverse perspectives and insights into the strengths and hardships that come with living at the intersection of being rural and queer.

Out in September 2025

Growing Up Trans: In Our Own Words edited by Dr. Lindsay Herriot and Kate Fry (Orca Book Publishers)

Growing Up Trans shares stories, essays, art and poetry created by trans youth. In their own words, the works illustrate the trans experience. The collection tells a story of the challenges, big and small, of being a young trans person. It’s also a toolkit for all young people, transgender or not, about what understanding, acceptance and support for the trans community looks like.

“Many trans young people will see themselves reflected in these pages…A good recommendation for cisgender adults wishing to understand the experiences of trans youth…A valuable window in the world of trans young people.”
– Kirkus Reviews

Out now

Pride: The Celebration and the Struggle by Robin Stevenson (Orca Book Publishers)

ike the original version, this new edition of Pride: The Celebration and the Struggle celebrates the LGBTQ+ community’s diversity and the incredible victories of the past fifty years—but it also has a larger focus on activism, the need to keep fighting for equality and freedom around the world and the important role that young people are playing.

The new edition has been updated and expanded to include many new Proud Moments and Queer Facts as well as a profile of LGBTQ+ refugees from Indonesia, a story about a Pride celebration in a refugee camp in Kenya and profiles of young activists, including teens from a Gender and Sexuality Alliance organizing Pride in Inuvik and a trans girl from Vancouver fighting for inclusion and support in schools.

“An indispensable and celebratory primer on the ongoing fight for LGBTQ+ rights. An excellent resource that is as thorough as it is visually appealing.” —School Library Journal, starred review

Out now

Stages of Tanning Words and Remembering Spells: Part 1 by Tawahum Bige (Harbour Publishing)

In their second poetry collection, Tawahum Bige explores belonging and voice of a Two-Spirit Dene youth. These poems are a stark plunge—an answer to how voice emerges for a young Two Spirit growing up in so-called “Surrey, BC,” far from his Łutselk’e Dene territories. Their inner workings are made corporeal through moments of growth from childhood to young adulthood to show how the seeds sprouted for someone who needed to learn to express to find their path.

“Stages of Tanning Words and Remembering Spells is an urgent and vivid testament to the sacredness of wounds and the cracked and luminous glow of the unfiltered human spirit.” –Jess Housty, author of Crushed Wild Mint

Out now

Stigmata by Scott Jackshaw (Talonbooks)

Stigmata is about bodies caught in the crosscurrents of sexual deviancy and religion. Its poems are ruinous encounters between traumatic and historical memory; they transfigure the cult of the wound into a mystic frenzy of sex, grief, and noise. Stigmata draws inspiration from a broad archive of texts and practices: apophatic theology, body horror, gardening, queer theory, classic films, poststructuralism, and bad sex.

Out on September 1, 2025

Emily & Elspeth by Catherine McNeil (Caitlin Press)

Shortlisted for two Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society Awards, this collection of poems takes us on a journey through time and space to understand the inner workings and deepest desires of two women—the eponymous Emily and Elspeth. Weird, wonderful, and slightly dangerous, this is a queer love story that’s anything but typical.

“This collection contains delightful and punchy honesty about love, and the way we wobble towards healing.” —Jónína Kirton, author of Standing in a River of Time

Out now

tours, variously by Drew McEwan (Talonbooks)

This collection of poems asks how words form spaces of shifting relation. In a central guiding poem enriched by numerous detours exploring side passages and related themes, tours, variously forms a network of transformational encounters. tours, variously dwells on narration as an operation that works on spaces and bodies as they negotiate their place among framed exhibits and pinned specimens ready for misrecognition.

Out on September 15, 2025

Time Out of Time by Arleen Paré (Caitlin Press)

Description or additional context (Interesting information to assist RLBC staff in writing compelling copy): Award-winning poet Arleen Paré pays homage to the work of lesbian Syrian American poet Etel Adnan. Both poets pay homage to the world of the lesbian in the twenty-first century and to the world of the small poem. Using clear, crisp, well-defined language, Paré attempts to examine the trials of this new century, the hush around the word lesbian, the hush of the world’s general collapse.

Out now

Pride Puppy! by Robin Stevenson, illustrated by Julie McLaughlin (Orca Book Publishers)

This rhyming alphabet book tells a lively story of a young child and their family as they search for their lost dog at a Pride parade. Colorful, richly detailed illustrations will keep readers hunting for things starting with each letter of the alphabet. An affirming and inclusive book that offers a joyful glimpse of a Pride parade and the vibrant community that celebrates this day each June.

This children’s board book has been at the centre of a US Supreme Court case about parental rights to opt their children out of classes that include storybooks featuring lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer characters. Andrew Woolridge, Publisher of Orca Book Publishers in BC, said that rather than this ostensibly being about “parental rights versus religious freedoms,” it is more about “hate being disguised as parental rights.”

Out now

It’s a They! by Dr. Lindsay Herriot (Orca Book Publishers)

It’s a They! is one of the first baby board books (a rhyming one with adorable photos, no less) acknowledging families choosing to use gender-neutral pronouns for their babies, a choice embraced by more and more families who wish to let their child choose their own pronouns when they are ready.

“The book encourages conversations about gender while offering a departure from traditional binary perspectives.” – BC BookWorld

Out now

We’re Happy You’re Here by Julie Wilkins, illustrated by Brady Sato (Orca Book Publishers)

Shorlisted for the BC and Yukon Book Prizes – Christie Harris Illustrated Children’s Literature Prize in 2025

With inclusive illustrations depicting diverse family journeys, including those of single parents, LGBTQ+ parents and alternative families, this joy-filled picture book invites children and their special people to explore the meaning of family and community, and to marvel at the perfect mix of science, wisdom and love that brought them into the world.

Out now

Allyship As Action: 7 Ways to Advocate for Others by Tanya Boteju, illustrated by Bithi Sutradhar (Orca Book Publishers)

Being an ally is about learning and action. It’s hard work, but everyone can be an ally. In this book, young readers will explore definitions of allyship, privilege, marginalization and more and, they’ll work through realistic scenarios to see allyship in action and they’ll develop tools to be better allies. The book includes key definitions, realistic scenarios that display messy situations young people may encounter, and reflection questions and activities that could be helpful to individuals and in the classroom. There is even a poster you can download for young kids.

Out on August 19, 2025