Year of Queer Lit

I don’t make New Year’s resolutions. Never have. Instead, every year on my birthday I make goals. Real ones, the kind that actually mean something to me personally.

So on August 26, 2023, I made a decision. For one full year I was going to read only queer lit. No exceptions, no cheating. Just queer books, all year long.

That was how Year of Queer Lit was born.

I started the social media accounts pretty simply. I wanted to find more queer books to read and I figured there had to be other people out there who felt the same way. What I did not expect was that out of that very simple idea, we would build an actual community. People who love queer lit, who want to talk about it, recommend it, celebrate it, and find more of it. That is what this little corner of the internet has become and honestly it still surprises me sometimes in the best way.

The Book Blasts

On August 26, 2024, we hit our first anniversary and I wanted to celebrate. So I hosted our first Everything Under the LGBTQIA+ Umbrella Book Blast, a day where authors could offer their queer books for free or at $0.99 so readers could stuff their kindles and discover new voices. It was a big deal for me and for the community and it turned out to be a big deal for a lot of readers too.

Now here is where my family history comes in. Growing up we did not just celebrate birthdays in my house. We celebrated half birthdays too. So naturally my brain went there. Why not do another book blast on my half birthday? And if the anniversary blast was everything under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella, what would the half birthday one be?

Sapphic. Obviously.

That is how the Sapphic Shelf Explosion came to life. Our second annual Sapphic Shelf Explosion just happened in February and it was even bigger than the first. Over 200 sapphic titles were available for free or $0.99 and the response from readers and authors alike was incredible.

The YoQL UNO Reading Challenge

Every June for Pride Month we run our UNO Reading Challenge inside the Discord and it is one of my favorite reading challenges that I am so excited to play with my Discord Buddies.

Here is how it works. At the start of the month every player gets dealt two hands of seven UNO cards. Each card has a set of reading prompts attached to it and you read queer books to match them. Number cards, skip cards, wild cards, color cards, they all have their own rules and point values. The player with the most points at the end of June wins a book off their wishlist.

It sounds simple but it gets surprisingly strategic and incredibly fun watching everyone in the Discord share what they are reading and help each other figure out which books match which cards.

Sign ups for the June challenge open in May and you need to be in the Discord to participate. Come join us now so you are ready to go when we kick things off.

Join the Discord here: https://discord.gg/6fb475q76B

What’s Coming Next

We are not slowing down. Here is what is on the horizon for Year of Queer Lit:

In June we are opening sign ups for our next Everything Under the LGBTQIA+ Umbrella Book Blast, which will be happening on August 26, 2026, our third anniversary. If you are an author who wants to participate, stay tuned for details.

Whether you have been here since the beginning or you just found us through a Pinterest pin or a Reddit rabbit hole, welcome. This community exists because queer stories deserve to be celebrated loudly and often. We are just getting started.